Looking back at 2023, one bright spot has been the continued advance of the culture of peace in Latin America and Africa.

In Latin America, this has been particularly dramatic in the case of Colombia, which is emerging from decades of civil war. Last month we featured articles from the cities of Armenia, Cúcuta and Florencia. Earlier in 2022, we published articles from Cartagena, Viotá, Medellin and Tuluá, as well as numerous articles on national initiatives for the culture of peace.

In Armenia, the Observatory for the City, Peace, Coexistence and Citizen Culture has been created so that organizations, associations and foundations, public and private entities, as well as members of civil society and victims of armed conflict can contribute to the construction of the peace of the municipality. Armenia is the second city in Colombia to establish such an observatory.

In Cúcuta, during the Nights of Peace. the neighborhoods of Cúcuta and the adjacent rural area will be visited for 17 days, with different entertainments including a theatrical presentation, puppet shows, musical acts and, of course, the traditional prayer of the Novenas of Bonus. All these are framed under the message of the culture of peace and the promotion of the values of respect, forgiveness and reconciliation.

In Florencia, 45 university students, social leaders and victims of the armed conflict attended a course and received the diploma “Transitional justice: a contribution to the construction of territorial peace”. The course started last July for which ten accredited national and international organizations contributed their knowledge and experience.

Mexico, too, is heavily involved. In 2022, we published articles on the Mexican cities and states of Oaxaca, Zacatecas, Alamo and Queretero, Jalisco and Chihuahua, as well as national government initiatives for a culture of peace. Additionally, in December, we published the following:

In San Juan del Rio, various commitments have been established by Rotary International as part of the project “Building a culture of positive peace”,

In Atlixco, the First Day of Culture of Peace included a discussion with local actors “to generate a space for the exchange of knowledge, dialogue and learning for reconstruction of the social fabric and the construction of a Culture of Peace..”

In Jalisco, the “V Global Forum on the Culture of Peace” was held to analyzing the conflicts and problems that trigger violence, as well as proposing solutions to promote social reconciliation.

In Hidalgo, networks of Women Peace-Builders (MUCPAZ) were created in Apan, Tula de Allende and Pachuca, strategic municipalities for the reconstruction of the social fabric.

In Brazil, the project “Weaving Networks for a Culture of Peace and Violence Prevention” was part of the Culture of Peace Fair of Juiz de Fora, dedicated to the establishment of an effective network for preventing and coping with the various forms of violence in the city.

Also in Brazil, the XII Educational Guidance Forum in Brasilia addressed the theme “Educational Guidance for a Culture of Peace”, to prevent violence and for a culture of peace in the daily lives of schools.

In Honduras, the Festival of Inclusion of Cerro Juana Laínez was dedicated to strengthen the inclusion and participation of women, youth, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, people with disabilities, the LGBTIQ+ community and Honduran citizens in the processes of social oversight and participation politics, as a contribution to the culture of peace.

As for Africa, during last year we carried articles on the culture of peace from Togo, Mali, Guinea, Gabon, Madagascar, Nigeria, South Africa, Angola, Chad, Niger and Zimbabwe.

In December alone, here are additional articles from Africa.

In Chad, the provinces of Lac and Hadjer-Lamis came together for a sports cultural festival focused on the culture of peace and living together.

In Morocco, the city of Agadir hosted the the 6th Edition of the African Forum of Territorial Managers and Training Institutes targeting Local Governments. One of the themes was “Capacity building for the promotion of the Culture of Peace and the art of negotiation.”

In Burkina Faso, it was announced that the 28th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival will take place in February with the theme “African Cinemas and Culture of Peace”.

And in the Gambia, the West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP) convened a day’s ‘bantaba’ (group discussion) on youth participation in decision-making and peace-building to strengthen the capacity of peace building practitioners, governmental and non-governmental institutions, and to develop conflict prevention networks and mechanisms to promote the culture of peace.

Finally, the results of the World Cup of Football were celebrated in terms of the culture of peace in Latin America and Africa. From Argentina, Alicia Cabezudo considers that World Championship as an opportunity for education for cultures of peace. And from Africa, the embrace of footballers Achraf Hakimi of Morocco and Kylian Mbappe of France but African ancestry was celebrated as “the spirit of sport which is the culture of peace”.

As we have previously remarked in this bulletin most recently in 2020 and 2016, the leadership for a culture of peace is often taken by cities and towns, since, unlike nation-states, they are not heavily invested in the culture of war and since they tend to be more responsive to the needs of their citizens.

This month, there are four articles in this regard from Mexico.

The mayor of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, has emphasized the social programs that she has implemented during her mandate to improve security conditions. She explains that “security is also the result of social justice, that is why we address the causes of violence with programs that allow access to education, culture and sports.” She emphasized the projects that have been the foundations of her government in the capital of the country: the Points of Innovation, Freedom, Art, Education and Knowledge (Pillars), Yes to disarmament, yes to peace, Inside the Neighborhood and Wellbeing for Girls and Boys, My Scholarship to Get Started.

Mayor Sheinbaum also hosted the third World Forum on Cities and Territories of Peace in Mexico City. The Forum demonstrated the power of women and their influence in the most important positions to run large cities in the world. In the first session of the event, all the participants were women. Claudia Sheibaum (representative of Mexico City), Claudia López (mayor of Bogotá), Ada Colau (mayor of Barcelona), Manuela Carmena (former mayor of Madrid) and Reyna Rueda (mayor of Managua).

Women have also taken the lead for a culture of peace in the Mexican city of Chihuahua. Their network, the Red Mesa de Mujeres, highlights the importance of training women leaders in this area. “We started with the idea of building a group of ten women and we already have 65 of all ages.”

In the Mexican city of Saltillo, the Mano Cadena program works to create, implement and disseminate preventive strategies for conflict resolution that promote a culture of peace. Actions include more than 138 information and awareness talks on the subject of alternative justice, 30 workshops on Peace Circles, and more than 50 training courses-workshops in community, school and alternative justice mediation given to more than 1,800 participants, community representatives and teachers.

Other articles come from Spain, United States, Japan, China, United Kingdom and France.

In Spain, United States and Japan, organizations of cities are putting pressure on their national governments to join the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which so far has only been signed by non-nuclear countries. Details are provided in the newsletter of Mayors for Peace.

Also in the United States, the city of Pittsburgh is taking steps to create “a city of peace with a culture of nonviolence.” A group, which called the Black Elected Officials Coalition, announced it would begin a series of community events to promote peace in the streets.

In China, the city of Nanjing hosted the 2021 Nanjing Peace Forum, co-sponsored with UNESCO. The Forum conducted a lively and in-depth discussion on the natural environment and human destiny, sustainable development goals and green investment, environmental challenges and youth actions, global green recovery and good business, peace actions and international practices. The “2021 Nanjing Peace Consensus” was passed. This has become an annual event, as the 2020 Forum was described in CPNN.

In the United Kingdom, the city of Coventry, the current City of Culture, which is known as a city of peace and reconciliation, welcomed Little Amal, a giant puppet of a child, as she nears the end of a 5,000-mile walk from Syria to “rewrite the narrative about refugees”. Coventry is home to about 1,500 people seeking refuge.

In France, the welcome of refugees also contributes to a culture of peace. The lead in this regard is being taken by small villages that have lost population in recent years and that find a revitaliization by refugees. In Notre-Dame-de-l’Osier, the refugees have engaged in gardening and a weekly market, as well as pottery workshops, cooking and honey harvesting that have enlivened village life. In Pessat-Villeneuve, the immigrants took responsibilty for the creation and distribution of masks that were needed to combat the epidemic of COVID.

The mayor of Grigny, France, Philippe Rio was chosen as best mayor in the world by the London association “ City Mayors Foundation ”to reward his management of the Covid crisis, and his fight against poverty in his city.” He has also taken part in the welcome of refugees and the struggle to abolish nuclear weapons.

Mayor Rio spoke at the first national forum of the AFCDRP (Association of Mayors for Peace, France) that took place October 13 in Montpelier.

At the Forum I was privileged to deliver an address that described how cities can contribute to the culture of peace, with reference to the Declaration for the Transition to a Culture of Peace in the 21st Century.