PEACEBUILDING CORNERSTONES SHOULD BE CORE PUBLIC POLICY PRIORITIES

We live in a world that faces constant and debilitating conflict and violence. As we see daily, this trauma intimately touches our lives, our families, our communities and reaches across the planet. From an economic standpoint, research has shown that U.S. national violence containment costs are over $1.7 Trillion every year.

Current policies and methodologies in this realm have proven at best limited and often ineffective. The good news is that emerging peacebuilding approaches focusing on conflict resolution are proving to be highly practical and effective, saving both lives and money. The science and practice of peacebuilding and conflict resolution have transcended where we presently invest our collective time, money and energy. Our social policies urgently need to catch up with proven capacities to turn these challenges around.

The following categories represent key sectors of society where peacebuilding is showing tremendous strides. These five key Peacebuilding Cornerstones offer great hope, demonstrate proven effectiveness and are ready to forge comprehensive national policies:

EMPOWERING COMMUNITY PEACEBUILDING: Supporting comprehensive activities and strategies in communities working to address such challenges as crime, violence, and gangs. Effective programs may include hands-on street outreach and intervention, mental health services, out-of-school programs, police/community relations, and arts-based practices.

TEACHING PEACE IN SCHOOLS: Bringing into our schools conflict resolution curricula with tools such as social-emotional learning, communication techniques, restorative processes, mindfulness and other proven peacebuilding skills to increase graduation rates and transform violence, bullying, truancy, and other challenges facing youth.

HUMANIZING JUSTICE SYSTEMS: Moving away from overly punitive policies,  toward healing-oriented criminal and juvenile justice approaches. Restorative justice, diversion/alternative incarceration programs, and prisoner rehabilitation & re-entry programs are among the most promising solutions.

CULTIVATING PERSONAL PEACE: Integrating peace in our own lives, with our children, in our relationships, in the workplace, and in our approach to activism, through such methods as compassionate communication, mindfulness, empathy, and stress reduction.

FOSTERING INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Championing peacebuilding approaches to international conflict and atrocity prevention in hotspots through mediation, diplomacy, and effective on-the-ground programs. Important components may involve development, post-conflict justice, humanitarian aid, mediation and support for frameworks necessary for democratic processes.

As a signer of this platform, I am urging you, President Obama and Members of Congress to legislate a bold, comprehensive, public policy platform that reflects these cost-effective and life-affirming conflict resolution and peacebuilding approaches.