Global Alliance for ministries & Departments of Peace Summit in Governments of Countries

- By N. Radhakrisahnan*

Victoria, the capital city of the state of British Columbia in Canada was venue of a unique event of a four day people's Summit for the creation of Ministries and Department of Peace between June 19-22, 2006.

The Summit organized by people's Initiatives for Departments of Peace was attended by approximately 60 citizen representatives from 20 nations, double the number of countries present at the first Peoples departments/Ministries of Peace in London, UK, last year. This year's representation reflected diverse cultures, nations, ages, and languages. Government and civil society delegates from Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Palestine, Philippines, Romania, Solomon Islands, Spain, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States united to develop an effective global and national architecture for peace. Speaking with me one voice they called on countries around the world to establish government structures whose goal is to work hand in hand with civil society reflecting, building, and sustaining a culture of peace.

The delegates who represented a wide spectrum of the Global Peace Movements after deliberating the various issues confronting humanity and reviewing country wise initiatives and situations in each other country resolve to give birth to the global alliance for Ministries and Department of Peace and to post an effective global and national architecture for peace. The Summit also established an inter generational steering committee and five working groups (communications, networking, youth, research and field operations, and finance) to develop and carry out a plan of work up to the next summit Communiqué the Global Alliance affirmed its commitment to partner and cooperate with governments and civil society organizations nationally and globally in promoting peace by peaceful means and recognized the governments of the Philippines and the Solomon Islands, which have already established secretariats and departments for peace building, conflict transformation, and reconciliation, as pioneers and examples to the world.

As a result of this wide participation, a key outcome of the summit was the creation of a Global Alliance of Department and Ministries of Peace. The discussions dealt with identifying ways to broaden the base of countries with DOP/MOP initiatives, sharing valued experience of current 20 national campaigns their successes and problems encountered in building networks. Topics were aimed at; raising awareness of politicians, voters, peace activists and organizations; ways to enhance engagement of youth; and training of peace workers for national campaigns. Additionally, decisions on international initiative structure, its mandate strategy, fund raising aspects were discussed. A Steering Committee and number of Working Groups were found to deal with issues in more details.

The Communiquè issued at the end of the summit read as follows:

The Global Alliance calls upon governments of the world and civil society organizations to:

• Develop necessary resources and infrastructure for resolving conflicts effectively by peaceful means
• Establish, train and develop civil peace services and the human resources and capacities for peace building and conflict transformation
• In corporate conflict resolution and peace building into school curricula from primary schools through university
• Actively engage youth, women, and all communities to participate as equals in peace building, to ensure participation and representation of all
• Support and encourage coordinated efforts to gather lessons learned and best practices from peace building experiences around the world.

The Global Alliance is committed to partnership co-operation with governments, organizations, and institutions nationally and internationally working for the achievement of these goals and the promotion of peace by peaceful means. Governments such as those in the Philippines and Solomon Islands who have already established secretariats and departments for peace building, conflict transformation, and re-conciliation are pioneers and examples to the world.

Post summit initiative:

There is an urgent and immediate need for effective action to the end the current and continuing cycles of violence in Lebanon Israel Palestine and th4 broader Middle East.

The following actions are proposed as elements of such a strategy.

Conference On peace and Security in the Middle East:-

An immediate priority is the calling of a Conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East involving all countries in the region to establish a regional framework for the development of effective mechanisms for strengthening cooperation and resolving the inter locking and inter conflicts in the region.

Reciprocal recognition for the Human Rights and Human Security of all Peoples as Fundamental to peace building.

A lasting and sustainable peace for all parties has to be based on the mutual and reciprocal recognition of human fights and respect, and the provision for human security of all peoples in the Middle East.

Support for and Coordination of National and Regional Peace building Initiatives -

Substantially increased support for and coordination of peace building efforts and government and civil society engagement in conflict transformation and violence prevention at the local, community based, national and retinal levels within each country and across the Middle East.

Strengthening International Engagements in Peace building in the Region -

Including coordinated engagement and immediate action by the Quartet (USA, Russia, EU, UN) and international government and non-governmental organizations to halt the violence and strengthen peace-building efforts and the cessation of armed conflict.

Immediate Cessation of the Violence -

To act for the immediate cessation of violence in order to provide the space for effective mechanisms for resolving the conflict and meeting the legitimate needs of all parties.

Review Peace building Experiences- The Global Alliance supports all the people being affected by the current and past conflicts in the region, and calls upon citizens, governments, the United Nations, and international institutions, to take immediate and effective action to halt the violence devastating the region and to engage in committed and sustained peace building efforts.

Reflections and DoP Summit and World Peace Forum -

Let me reproduce a short reflection I wrote to Mike Abkin on the Summit and World Peace Forum as a postscript to this note:-

The DoP Summit at Victoria was an unforgettable event to me since it was refreshingly different from the kind of Conferences or Training Programs I had the privilege to organize or attend to during the last 35 years in India and in different parts of the world.

When Prof. Bill Bhaneja of Canada first hinted me about the DoP Summit about five months ago I was not quite convinced of the need for a summit of this nature since the Global initiative on DoP was in its initial stage with only about a dozen countries evincing interest in the program, in India itself, our efforts for the establishment of a full-fledged ministry for peace which began in 1969 during Gandhi's Birth centennial had not made much progress.

My first meeting in Washington in 2001 with Senator Kucinich convinced me that we should not give up and continue our efforts with added courage and conviction. On my return to India we made the DoP as a major focus of activities of the Indian Council of Gandhian Studies. New Delhi of which I have the honor to be its National Chair. Prof. Glenn D. Paige had sent me a copy of the bill senator Kucinich had introduced in the American Senate. I brought these developments to the notice of the former President of India, Dr. K.R. Narayan and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and both of them were very favorably disposed to the idea of a separate Ministry or Department for peace in the Government of India. The Prime Minister even suggested me to send a note on it. Unfortunately the two notes I sent consequently did not evince any response from the Prime Minister's Office. At a meeting of India International Centre, New Delhi sometime in 2004 January I discussed the DoP with former Prime Minister Sri I. K. Gujral and a few members of Parliament who were also sympathetic to the DoP cause.

It was in the backdrop of these developments that the Victoria Summit came up.

The summit was organized by a very dedicated team of peace activists and trainers who knew their job well. What attracted me most at the summit was the liberal, democratic and friendly atmosphere that characterized all the proceedings. It was learning and sharing of experiences in a relaxed atmosphere. Nobody was trying to teach anything. This made all the difference.

The World Peace Forum at Vancouver where the proceedings of the Victoria Summit were discussed and released to the International Community was also an event of great significance. Both the events appeared to me complementary and could be described, without any hesitation, to be the two great and major events to promote peace since the advent of the 21st Century.