These are excerpts from Jim Palmquist's presentation - anyone who would like a copy of the entire transcript, please click here:
There is more that we can do to build peace. And the timing of the decision on the next global effort at Rotary coincides with the realization Rotary is one of the best organizations in the world to lead peacebuilding while the world is hungering for more of it.
But first here are three definitions:
- Peacekeeping – The prevention or ending of violence within or between nation-states through the intervention of an outside third party that keeps the warring parties apart. Unlike peacemaking, which involves negotiating a resolution to the issues in conflict, the goal of peacekeeping is simply preventing further violence.UN blue helmets
- Peacemaking – The term used to refer to negotiating the resolution of a conflict between people, groups or nations. It goes beyond peacekeeping to actually deal with the issues in dispute, but falls short of peacebuilding, which aims toward reconciliation and normalization of relations between ordinary people, not just the formal resolution which is written on paper.Camp David Peace Accords in 1978-Jimmy Carter, Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin
- Peacebuilding – The process of restoring normal relations between people. It requires the reconciliation of differences, apology and forgiveness of past harm, and the establishment of a cooperative relationship between groups, replacing the adversarial or competitive relationship that used to exist.Peacebuilding involves expanding the capacity of communities, organizations, countries to resolve and prevent conflict.
It is becoming clear that the potential to end war in the world in this century is possible. Many forces and achievements are pointing to this reality. They are well documented in the 2011 book From War to Peace – A Guide to the Next Hundred Years, by Kent D. Shifferd. Though war is in the news every day, we actually live in a more peaceful time than ever before in recorded history. Many forces are converging on the idea that war is so costly, painful, devastating and usually resolves nothing permanently. Many actions throughout the world are moving us toward structured conversations and win-win processes to resolve conflicts and avoid war. Measurable trends supporting the emergence of this global peace system include:
- Global institutions like the United Nations formed to prevent war among other goals
- Realization that nonviolence is more effective than armed resistance in changing societies
- Proliferation of peace education programs like Rotary Peace Fellows and many other university programs
- Favoring the economics of peace over the economics of war
- We spend billions to destroy cities and then it is a struggle to find billions to rebuild destroyed infrastructure - Examples: Aleppo 4.6 million people; Homs 800,000 people; Mosul 1.8 million in Iraq
- There are no current country to country wars going on at this time. There are numerous examples of internal armed conflicts being resolved through negotiations and peace processes. For examples: Colombia Farq Rebellion and Aceha Rebellion in Indonesia.
- Human rights are recognized in much of the world as a cornerstone of basic governance
