Peace-building

From Kosovo and Bosnia to Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine - young people are highly vulnerable to the effects of war and violence. Bearing a heavy burden in situations of conflict, young people continue to be forcibly recruited as soldiers and/or displaced from their communities and homes, leaving them without access to basic social services such as education and health care.

The Peace-Building workshops to be conducted at Oxfam IYP2004 will be used to highlight practical methods for achieving sustainable peace. They will be an environment in which action partners have an opportunity to have their voices heard, share experiences and further develop individual peace building strategies employing a wide of techniques including public education, advocacy and community campaigns.

Some Words from the Action Group 

In our group we discussed issues of conflict and peace and explored key aspects of peace building and notions of justice.

We agreed that despite the unique socio-cultural and historical contexts of violent conflict, every conflict has at its core basic human needs that are not met, such as freedom, security, shelter, identity and education. We noted that the continued neglect of basic human needs gives rise to violent conflict.

We emphasised that young people must be an essential part of a fully inclusive peace process. We recognised that in order for peace processes to be just and sustainable, peace building initiatives must address the concerns, fears and aspirations of youth.

For us peace is more than the absence of violent conflict. We see peace building as a dynamic, people-driven, inclusive and sustainable process rather than a static goal. Furthermore, we emphasised the importance of looking at peace building holistically, realising that peace is made within ourselves as well as between peoples.

Recognising the multi-dimensional nature of conflict transformation, we engaged in many debates and discussions on peace building that were fertilised by the rich personal experiences of members in the group.

We found that the games and role plays we participated in at the Parliament helped us to understand key lessons in peace building and the complexities of conflict.