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GLOBAL MOVEMENT FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE

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Switzerland 2013: Nesting Peace - Sixth Summit of the Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace
an article by Global Alliance for Ministries & Infrastructures for Peace (abridged)

Nesting Peace is the Sixth Summit of the Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace (Geneva, September 16-20, 2013), a worldwide community of individuals in civil society, business and government who work toward a Culture of Peace by promoting the development of infrastructures for peace at various levels.



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The traditional or liberal peacebuilding paradigm is in crisis. Infrastructures for peace provide a much-needed alternative and effective framework for peacebuilding.

Infrastructures for peace are social structures that support and facilitate the manifold processes of peace. These include dialogue, reconciliation, mediation, peace education, restorative justice, and many others. They need to be carried out with continuity, supported socially, and engaged by all stakeholders, starting at the local level. This is made possible by infrastructures for peace, which function as the implementing mechanisms or enabling environments of peace. They take the form of restorative circle systems, local peace committees, national Ministries for Peace, peace academies, peace museums, among others.

This Summit grows out of and has a role to play at an important moment in the history of infrastructures for peace. Just in the last 12 years, the world has seen the creation of the first four Ministries for Peace, as well as Offices, Departments and other institutions for the promotion of peace within governments. Outside of government, countless more infrastructures for peace have been developed by civil society around the world, including with the support of the United Nations Development Program and many other actors. These experiences are the object of several studies that will be published in 2013, marking the coming of age of this concept. This Summit will thus provide the space to share these developments and their impact, focusing on both successes and challenges.

In order to effectively contribute to this momentum, however, we will do more than share. The Summit, largely organized by youth, will be designed to connect participants in innovative ways in order to catalyze engagement. In fact, the Summit aims to be an infrastructure for peace itself as it demonstrates the processes that a social group experiences within these kinds of infrastructures. Restorative circles, peace resource corners, empathy sessions and artistic exhibits are just some examples of what will be available to engage with. Indeed, we believe that experience and co-creation enables the kind of transformative learning necessary for the work of peace. We also believe that diversity is the best guarantee of the sustainability of peace. The Summit will take advantage of Geneva’s unique character to gather a heterogeneous group of actors, coming from governments, civil society organizations, the United Nations system, academia, business, youth, artists, the justice system, religious groups, indigenous peoples, the police and others. This year the Summit program will also include a high-level government segment on the topic. In addition, a special effort will be made to ensure that financial factors be not an impediment to the participation of individuals. . .

We invite you to be part of this. Click here for information on registration.

(Click here for a French version of this article)

DISCUSSION

Question(s) related to this article:


Can the culture of peace be established at the level of the state?,

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Latest reader comment:

The state has come, over the centuries, to monopolize the culture of war.  It would require a radical change in its very nature for it to abandon the culture of war and adopt a culture of peace.

For details on how the state has come to monopolize the culture of war, see The History of the Culture of War


This report was posted on April 22, 2013.