MOSAIC - The training kit for Euro-Mediterranean youth work

2
251
Peace can be built by actions in three main areas:
stopping violence and its effects,
addressing the root causes of conflict,
creating the means to confront violence.
An armed conflict has terrible consequences, from the immediate victims of violence
to longer-term damage, such as hatred or psychological trauma. Many actions can be
undertaken in the shorter term, for instance by denouncing the use of violence through
symbolic acts, delivering training about the effects of landmines, addressing refugees or
displaced people’s basic needs, giving threatened people protective escorts or offering
psychosocial support to victims of violence.
Identifying the original causes of violence and intervening in them is the best way to
make sure that violence will not resume. These actions must be considered from a much
longer-term perspective. Actions that may be undertaken include creating job opportunities,
enforcing democratic participation and favouring democratic structures.
To stop violence, it is important to help the opposing parties reach agreement, by such
means as promoting dialogue between them. At the same time, it is possible to work
to empower people against an armed conflict while trying to maintain neutrality with
regard to the opposing parties; as a result, people can learn how to reject violence
and to act to promote peace. Possible methods include advocacy and lobbying of
politicians to negotiate, facilitating dialogue in and between communities, and training
people on how to keep neutral from armed actors.
Figure 9.6 shows various actions that could be developed and undertaken in different
phases of an armed conflict. Figure 9.7 mentions only a few examples of what can be
(and has been!) achieved by young people in different phases of an armed conflict.
Figure 9.6: Possible actions for peace during an armed conflict
Themes