Kluwer Mediation Blog

This month´s article was written together with Emmanuela Cipriano, University Professor and Doctoral Student at the University of Fortaleza, Collaborative Lawyer and Conflict Mediator

Talking about a Culture of Peace nowadays is a challenge and implementing a culture of peace in different spaces is essential to reduce the escalation of conflicts, we are faced with a challenge and a need. In Brazil we are working with some practices that encourage the promotion of the Culture of Peace, contemplating its pillars which, according to UNESCO, are Education for a culture of peace, tolerance and solidarity, democratic participation, flow of information, disarmament, human rights, sustainable development, gender equality.

The daily approach, in the most diverse spaces, of themes related to the conflict and the possibility of its good administration is important so that, in the face of the need, the interest of citizens is also aroused in implementing practices to encourage the Culture of Peace that facilitate prevention and consensual conflict resolution. Contact with practices for the Culture of Peace has been essential for us to advance in the understanding that conflicts are part of daily life, and that the complexity of relationships has multiplied conflicting situations, which requires advancing in the perspective of creative and sustainable solutions considering all people involved. Actions to prevent conflicts and to promote the development of skills are part of the promotion of non-violent education that can facilitate both the prevention and the consensual resolution of conflicts.

Currently, the Secretariat of Citizen Security of Sobral, in the State of Ceará, through the Coordination of Diagnosis and Culture of Peace, proposes practices, access to tools, theories and training that seek to contact the community and the Municipal Civil Guard of Sobral with skills to deal with conflict effectively, consciously, and constructively. In addition, it seeks to provide experiences that connect the Secretary of Citizen Security, communities, universities, the Municipality’s support network, schools, families, entrepreneurs, and mediation centers, in the search to expand and create educational possibilities for dialogue that provide a perspective of redesigning the future of community relations. It seeks to think of the Municipal Civil Guard as an agent of peace, with skills to create less violent spaces of coexistence, of community appreciation, of understanding of territories, to identify the realities and destructive patterns, creating strategies that stimulate positive transformations in society. Having been worked in various spaces, peace building circles, training in non-violent communication and for the development of communication skills.

In fact, the culture of peace presents itself as a grouping of values and ways of living based on respect for life, prevention of violence, solidarity, sustainable development, empathic listening, among others. Values that can be implemented in different spheres of society, the Instituto Terre des hommes Lausanne in Brazil (TDH) works with prevention, carrying out training with managers, teachers and students with the objective of making the school environment a safe and protective place, contributing for the prevention of situations of violence and infractions that occur in the school space, having as beneficiaries the children and adolescents of municipal and state schools in the city of Fortaleza. In addition, TDH provides training and awareness-raising on the principles of Restorative Juvenile Justice to strategic actors such as judges, public defenders, prosecutors, professionals in the socio-educational system and direct care for adolescents.

Applying a Culture of Peace in the most diverse environments can multiply the agents of peace in society and help the daily practice of violence prevention, consensual conflict resolution and promotion of non-violent education, all together for peace.

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