Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice. - Martin Luther King Jr.

As technology brings the world closer together, it also changes the way we communicate and socialize. A breakdown of a sense of community belonging has led to greater isolation, especially for vulnerable groups like the elderly who may feel left behind. Youth can also be affected by a loss of community support systems. This can reinforce vulnerabilities and foster the appearance of different forms of communities such as gangs, particularly in urban settings. There is a growing level of intolerance in many countries, especially between local and immigrant populations. A lack of cultural awareness can channel this intolerance into violent clashes that oppose segments of the population along lines of cultural or religious belonging and lead to exclusion. Violence, discrimination and exclusion affect people in every corner of the globe, endangering health, lives and livelihoods and limiting human potential. While their effect is most severe on the vulnerable, no one is immune. Changing a culture of violence into a culture of peace requires a transformation of problems to creative and constructive solutions that answer the needs of those involved.

What is Violence
Violence is "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation. iolence, however, is preventable. Evidence shows strong relationships between levels of violence and potentially modifiable factors such as concentrated poverty, income and gender inequality, the harmful use of alcohol, and the absence of safe, stable, and nurturing relationships between children and parents. On the other hand

Types of violence
Self-directed violence refers to violence by an individual against oneself. It is subdivided into suicidal behaviour and self-abuse. Suicidal behavior includes suicidal thoughts, attempted suicides and completed suicides. Self-abuse covers self-mutilation and substance abuse or misuse. Interpersonal violence is violence that occurs between individuals. It can occur in homes, schools, workplaces and institutions. Examples include child abuse, bullying and harassment, family violence and abuse of the elderly. Community violence is a type of interpersonal violence that takes place at the community level (e.g. in urban settings) between people who may or may not know one another. (Ibid) Common forms of community violence include gang violence, violence by supporters of sports teams, mob attacks and sporadic crime. Collective violence that is committed to advance a particular social agenda includes, for example, crimes of hate committed by organized groups, terrorist acts and mob violence.

Political violence includes war and related violent conflicts, state violence and similar acts carried out by larger groups. Economic violence includes attacks by larger groups motivated by economic gain such as attacks carried out with the purpose of disrupting economic activity, denying access to essential services, or creating economic division and fragmentation. Clearly, acts committed by larger groups can have multiple motives. Non-physical violence includes those acts that result from a power relationship, including threats and intimidation, neglect or acts of omission, in addition to more obvious violent acts. Violence has a broad range of outcomes including psychological harm, deprivation and maldevelopment. Violence that does not necessarily result in injury or death, but nonetheless poses a substantial burden on individuals, families, communities and health care systems worldwide. Many forms of violence against women, children and the elderly, for instance, can result in physical, psychological and social problems that do not necessarily lead to injury, disability or death.

Non-violence
Nonviolence is the practice of being harmless to self and others under every condition. It comes from the belief that hurting people, animals or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and refers to a general philosophy of abstention from violence based on moral, religious or spiritual principles. Non-violence had always been the founding principle of Gandhian spirituality, and his bedrock of his political philosophy. Gandhi's distrust of violence as a mode to assume political power and as a tool of revolution was ingrained in his world-view from the very early days of his political career. Gandhi's political goals were ultimately specific correlatives of higher commitments to humanity and world peace. In modern times, nonviolent methods of action have been a powerful tool for social protest and revolutionary social and political change.

Non-violent Actions
It consists of acts of protest and persuasion, noncooperation and nonviolent intervention designed to undermine the sources of power of the opponent in order to bring about change. Nonviolent protest and persuasion is a class of methods which are 'mainly symbolic acts of peaceful opposition or of attempted persuasion, extending beyond verbal expressions'. These methods include marches, vigils, pickets, the use of posters, street theatre, painting and protest meetings. Noncooperation - the most common form of nonviolent action - involves the deliberate withdrawal of cooperation with the person, activity, institution or regime with which the activists have become engaged in conflict. These methods include the provision of sanctuary (social); strikes, boycotts and war tax resistance (economic) and boycotts of legislative bodies and elections (political). Political noncooperation also includes acts of civil disobedience - the 'deliberate, open and peaceful violation of particular laws, decrees, regulations ... and the like which are believed to be illegitimate for some reason'.

Nonviolent intervention is a class of methods involving the disruption or destruction of established behaviour patterns, policies, relationships or institutions which are considered objectionable, or the creation of new behaviour patterns, policies, relationships or institutions which are preferred. The disruption class of methods includes nonviolent occupations or blockades, fasting, seeking imprisonment and overloading facilities (such as courts and prisons). The creation class of methods includes establishing alternative political, economic and social institutions such as non-hierarchical cooperatives, markets, ethical investment groups, alternative schools, energy exchange cooperatives as well as parallel media, communications and transport networks. This last class of methods is what the Gandhian literature refers to as the constructive program.

Concept of Peace Education

Peace education is more effective and meaningful when it is adopted according to the social and cultural context and the needs of a country. It should be enriched by its cultural and spiritual values together with the universal human values. It should also be globally relevant. Peace education could be defined in many ways. There is no universally accepted definition as such. Peace education in UNICEF refers to the process of promoting the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values needed to bring about behavior changes that will enable Skills, such as being able to: solve problems and conflict in positive ways including through negotiation and mediation communicate feelings and perspectives and transform anger understand others' feelings and perspectives cooperate with others think independently and critically take part responsibly in decision making Attitudes, such as having: concern for others and the environment a desire to help and be of service honesty, trustworthiness and fairness respect other cultures, religions and lifestyles tolerance (rangimarie), generosity (manaakitanga) and compassion (aroha) Knowledge of: how problems and conflicts can be solved the values of oneself and others human rights and responsibilities the roles and effectiveness of local, national and international organizations that promote peace and help solve conflicts

developing peace at home andinternationally.

Peace education as a tool for preventing violence

Values and skills-based education instills humanitarian values, like respect for diversity, compassion, care and friendship, mutual understanding, cooperation, equality and peace. In addition, it enables the development of interpersonal skills to live peacefully and interact harmoniously together, such as empathy, active listening, non-violent communication and peaceful resolution of tensions. This type of education is participatory and stimulates critical thinking and independence. It puts those involved at a level of equality, where both learners and transmitters learn from each other and value this as part of a lifelong learning process. An integral part of values and skills-based education is a non-cognitive methodology, as an entry point for learning. Values are core beliefs that guide and motivate attitudes and actions. Therefore, starting values and skills-based education as early as possible is essential. This can be done in a variety of settings such as family, preschool and school, sport clubs and social activities. The culture of peace and non-violence is a commitment to peace-building, mediation, conflict prevention and resolution, peace education, education for non-violence, tolerance, acceptance, mutual respect, intercultural and interfaith dialogue and reconciliation. It is a conceptual as well as a normative framework envisaged to inspire thoughts and actions of everyone. Therefore, it requires cognitive as well as the emotional abilities to grapple with our own situation in a rapidly changing world as well as with the emerging world society. This aim entails not just more factual knowledge, but also the broadening of our consciousness and the willingness to develop a new awareness, a new way of being in this world, a new mental mapping. The culture of peace continuously brings new challenges prompting us to reconsider the fundamental principles of humanity by highlighting what binds cultures and societies to each other and from within. Since what unites us is deeper than what separates us, there is a true ethic of living together that is taking shape in the culture of peace and non-violence process.

Peace Education as :
Conflict resolution training Peace education programs centered on conflict resolution typically focus on the socialbehavioural symptoms of conflict, training individuals to resolve inter-personal disputes through techniques of negotiation and (peer) mediation. Learning to manage anger, fight fair and improve communication through skills such as listening, turn-taking, identifying needs, and separating facts from emotions, constitute the main elements of these programs. Participants are also encouraged to take responsibility for their actions and to brainstorm together on compromises. In general, approaches of this type aim to alter beliefs, attitudes, and behavioursfrom negative to positive attitudes toward conflict as a basis for preventing violence (Van Slyck, Stern and Elbedour, 1999, emphasis added).

Democracy education Peace education programs centered on democracy education typically focus on the political processes associated with conflict, and postulate that with an increase in democratic participation the likelihood of societies resolving conflict through violence and war decreases. At the same time, a democratic society needs the commitment of citizens who accept the inevitability of conflict as well as the necessity for tolerance (U.S. Department of State, The Culture of Democracy, emphasis added). Thus programs of this kind attempt to foster a conflict-positive orientation in the community by training students to view conflict as a platform for creativity and growth. Approaches of this type train participants in the skills of critical thinking, debate and coalition-building, and promote the values of freedom of speech, individuality, tolerance of diversity, compromise and conscientious objection. Their aim is to produce responsible citizens who will hold their governments accountable to the standards of peace, primarily through adversarial processes. Human rights education Peace education programs centered on raising awareness of human rights typically focus at the level of policies that humanity ought to adopt in order to move closer to a peaceful global community. The aim is to engender a commitment among participants to a vision of structural peace in which all individual members of the human race can exercise their personal freedoms and be legally protected from violence, oppression and indignity. Approaches of this type familiarize participants with the international covenants and declarations of the United Nations system; train students to recognize violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and promote tolerance, solidarity, autonomy and self-affirmation at the individual and collective levels. Worldview transformation New approaches to peace education are starting from insights gleaned from psychology which recognize the developmental nature of human psychosocial dispositions. Essentially, while conflict-promoting attitudes and behaviours are characteristic of earlier phases of human development, unity-promoting attitudes and behaviours emerge in later phases of healthy development. H.B. Danesh (2002a, 2002b, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008a, 2008b) proposes an "Integrative Theory of Peace" in which peace is understood as a psychosocial, political, moral and spiritual reality.

Peace Education Initiatives

Global Campaign for Peace Education (GCPE) Founded in 1999 at The Hague Appeal for Peace Conference in the Netherlands, the Global Campaign for Peace Education (GCPE) is an international organized network that promotes peace education around the world. In seeking to foster a culture of peace in communities around the world the Global Campaign has two goals:

1) To build public awareness and political support for the introduction of peace education into all spheres of education, including non-formal education, in all schools throughout theworld. 2) To promote the education of all teachers to teach for peace. The GCPE publishes a monthly newsletter featuring articles and news as to how and where peace education is active and growing. It includes reports from the field chronicling successes and challenges; profiles of peace educators; listing of events, conferences, and trainings in peace education from around the world; new publications in the field; and job postings. International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE) Founded in 1982, the IIPE is an annual week-long residential learning experience in peace education. Each year the IIPE is hosted by a partner organization in a different region of the world. The IIPE is not a traditional conference but rather a learning community in which the organizers and participants work together to nurture an inclusive, highly interactive learning environment. It is an intensive multicultural and cooperative learning opportunity in which participants learn from and with each other about substantive peace issues and interactive teaching approaches. The IIPE is also an opportunity for networking and community building among those who educate and work for a culture of peace in the host region and around the world. Community-Based Institutes on Peace Education (CIPE) A Community-based Institute on Peace Education (CIPE) is a sustainable and recurring learning opportunity that enables formal and non-formal educators in local communities to learn with and from each other about "the role and possibilities for education in the prevention of deadly conflict; the rethinking of global security; preparing individuals for engaged, democratic citizenship; and the realization of human rights, social justice and ecological balance." CIPEs are informed by six strategic goals: 1) to provide local support for peace educators; 2) to provide opportunities for educators to learn from each other about best practices; 3) to address current and relevant local content and issues; 4) to support school and community based peace education initiatives; 5) to increase the possibility for affecting policy locally, nationally, and globally; and 6) increase potential for research and new developments in the field of peace education.

Van Slyck, M.R., Stern, M., and Elbedour, S. (1999). Adolescents beliefs about their conflict behaviour. In A. Raviv, L. Oppenheimer, and D. Bar-Tal (Eds.), How Children Understand War and Peace (pp. 208-230). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Information Programs. (n.d.). The culture of democracy. Retrieved January 13, 2003, fromhttp://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/whatsdem/whatdm6.htm Deutsch, M. (1993). Educating for a peaceful world. American Psychologist, 48, 510517; Hakvoort, I. and Oppenheimer, L. (1993). Children and adolescents conceptions of peace, war, and strategies to attain peace: A Dutch case study. Journal of Peace Research, 30, 65-77; Harris, I.M. (1999). Types of peace education. In A. Raviv, L. Oppenheimer, and D. BarTal (Eds.), How Children Understand War and Peace (pp. 299-317). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_education International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies The Red Cross Red Crescent approach to Promoting a culture of non-violence and peacehttp://www.ifrc.org/PageFiles/53475/1205900-Advocacy%20report%20on %20Promotion%20of%20culture%20of%20peace-EN-LR%20(2).pdf http://www.unesco.org/new/en/bureau-of-strategic-planning/themes/culture-of-peaceand-non-violence/ http://www.mapsofindia.com/personalities/gandhi/non-violence.html