U.S. Department of Peacebuilding Act Introduced

The Department of Peacebuilding Act of 2023 (DoP 2023/ H.R. 1111) was recently introduced by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12). The bill is "calling for a cabinet-level Department of Peacebuilding and a Secretary of Peacebuilding to sit at the table of our government and to ensure that peacebuilding is an ongoing and prominent national priority." Learn more in the post below and on the Peace Alliance's website linked here.

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Department of Peacebuilding Act of 2023 Introduced

The Department of Peacebuilding Act of 2023 (DoP 2023/ H.R. 1111) was just introduced by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12).  This historic and transformative legislation calls for a cabinet-level Department of Peacebuilding to make peace a much-needed national and ongoing focus.  It is time to re-imagine and build a world without violence. Read more in the announcement here.

The DoP provides for collaboration and cooperation of governmental entities, applicable experts, nongovernmental organization stakeholders, appropriate non-profit organizations, individuals, state, tribal, and local leaders to develop, enact and promote peacebuilding efforts and programs, including consultation with those who are most impacted by related programs. 

What will a DoP do?

• Research and promote best practice violence prevention & reduction tools, programs & policies
• Consult with and advise applicable entities and individuals on peacebuilding
• Assist with development and dissemination of peace education curriculum
• Develop violence prevention and violence de-escalation training for the general public -- in the domestic and the international arenas -- to provide tools and educate about peacebuilding skills and to promote sustainable peace, peacebuilding buy-in and peacebuilding awareness
• Provide grant monies relating to peace education, development of school and neighborhood programs for nonviolent conflict resolution and creating local peacebuilding initiatives, establish a Cultural Diplomacy for Peace grant program to promote diplomacy and cultural understanding between and within neighborhoods, establish an International Cultural Diplomacy for Peace program to promote diplomacy and cultural understanding between the U.S. and other nations.

Some DoP Act of 2023 provisions and updated language include:

• Confronting and uprooting systemic racism in America will require efforts by the Federal Government to properly acknowledge, memorialize, and be a catalyst for progress toward permanently eliminating persistent racial inequities, including through a US Commission on Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation and a US Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans (Finding #15)
• Include in peace education not only anti-bullying/ anti-harassment, nonviolent conflict resolution skills, mindfulness and restorative practices, but also study of the US civil rights movement and human rights and liberties movements; contributions to the US of its diverse ethnicities, races and religious communities; and practices that enhance peace and peacebuilding (Sec. 102, 104)
• Including peace education curriculum development consultation with Indigenous communities as well as with the US Institute of Peace, the Department of Education and other concerned individuals and organizations (Sec. 102, 104)
• Developing community building and violence prevention and violence de-escalation training for the general public -- in the domestic and the international arenas -- to provide tools and educate about peacebuilding skills and to promote sustainable peace/ peacebuilding buy-in and peacebuilding awareness (Sec. 102, 105, 106)
• Encouraging all nations to create infrastructures for peace within their nations and among nations (Sec. 102)

If you are interested in contacting your elected officials to encourage them to support H.R.1111 to establish a US Department of Peacebuilding, check out this petition linked here.

Learn more at www.peacealliance.org/issues-advocacy/department-of-peace/.