People want Peace! In their millions, all over the world, they demonstrated peacefully against the bombing of Iraq to express their yearning for peace.

It is now time to go beyond demonstrations and for governments everywhere to meet this global yearning for peace by installing a Culture of Peace at the very heart of the seats of power all over the world. Peace needs to be part of government vocabulary everywhere.

A Culture of Peace, for us, is a situation in which it is taken for granted that differences between individuals, groups, communities, religions and nations can and must be resolved with justice and fairness and without resort to intimidation or violence. A massive advance towards this happy state could be achieved if some (or all) of the following measures were taken.

Central Governments, in the UK, in Europe, in the Commonwealth and, indeed, all over the world, establish Ministries or Departments of Peace and appoint a Minister/ Secretary of State (or equivalent) for Peace in their Cabinets.

The European Union appoints a Commissioner for Peace in the Commission. The Council of Europe and the Commonwealth appoint a Committee for Peace and also produce Conventions for Peaceful Co-existence (using the example of the European Convention for Human Rights), which can be signed up to by member countries.

Major countries adopt the practice of appointing Peace Attache's (similar to cultural or defence attache's) to their diplomatic missions.

If these ideas seem unrealistic, remember that the Incorporation of Human Rights into national legislation was also thought unrealistic by some when it was first suggested. Today, Human Rights are incorporated into most European legislation.

The hope is that national and international affairs everywhere will increasingly be rooted in the Culture of Peace and that the Culture of Peace will eventually be accepted by everyone all over the world as an essential part of our human activities and existence.

Like the saying, "Justice has not only to be done but has to be seen to be done", everyone needs to see a culture of peace firmly installed in the structures of their governments and see it being put into practice in its everyday workings. This can only be achieved if peace is seen to be receiving at least equal prominence in national affairs (including the media) to that given to "defence" or "trade". Some call this process Mainstreaming Peace.

Our aim is to focus the attention of concerned citizens and their leaders to bring about the necessary changes in government thinking to Mainstream Peace and we welcome similar efforts by like-minded people and organisations everywhere.

(Comments and feedback are very welcome)

Vas and Lisa Shend'ge
Shend'ge Trust
115 Erskine Hill
London NW11 6HU


Tel: +44 (0)20 8458 2408
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