International Peace Day 21st September Resource for Schools

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1 International Peace Day 21st September Resource for Schools Curriculum links: Year 6 Civics and Citizenship The obligations citizens may consider they have beyond their own national borders as active and informed global citizens (ACHASSK148) Year 7 Humanities and Social Sciences Collaborate to generate alternatives in response to an issue or challenge, and compare the potential costs and benefits of each (ACHASSI160) Year 10 Civics and Citizenship Use democratic processes to reach consensus on a course of action relating to a civics or citizenship issue and plan for that action (ACHCS100) Catholic Social Teaching links: Common good Dignity Solidarity Promotion of peace Introduction: What is the International Day of Peace? The International Day of Peace falls on 21 September. Every year on this day, the United Nations calls on the people of the world to remember their common humanity and join together to build a future free of conflict. The theme for 2016, The Sustainable Development Goals: Building Blocks for Peace, highlights how ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring prosperity for everyone, all contribute to global harmony. This vision of global harmony is at the heart of Catholic Social Teaching on Peace. If we look to the words of Pope Paul VI in his encyclical Gaudium et Spes Peace is not merely the absence of war; nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies; nor is it brought about by dictatorship. Instead, it is rightly and appropriately called an enterprise of justice. We can see that peace is the fruit of justice and is dependent upon right order among human beings. Working together, we can creatively overcome inaction and indifference and work toward peace and respect for the lives and dignity of all people. If you want peace, work for justice. Pope Paul VI What are the Sustainable Development Goals? In 2000, the then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs ranged from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education. The MDGs formed a blueprint agreed to by all the world s countries and all the world s leading development institutions. By setting a target date of 2015 the MDGs helped galvanize unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world s poorest. The SDGs are a new set of 17 universal goals aimed at achieving three extraordinary things in the next 15 years: End extreme poverty. Fight inequality & injustice. Fix climate change. They were adopted by the United Nations in September 2015 and run until How are they different from the Millennium Development Goals? The United Nations says the SDGs go much further than the previous goals, because they address the root causes of poverty and pledge to leave no one behind, including vulnerable groups. The SDGs are intended to be universal, applying to all countries rather than just the developing world. Goal 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. Learn more about the SDGs Explore the SDGs through cartoons by Margreet de Heer.

2 Cartoons by Margreet de Heer.

3 Cartoons by Margreet de Heer.

4 Cartoons by Margreet de Heer.

5 Cartoons by Margreet de Heer.

6 What is conflict? Conflict is a struggle between two groups or nations *. This means that conflict can be positive. A struggle could identify a situation that needs to be changed and lead to new ways of relating and a new experience of peace. But conflict can traumatise individuals and devastate communities when the causes aren t addressed, when the struggle is characterised by physical, sexual or other types of violence and when it is ongoing or a repetitive cycle. What can cause conflict? Poverty and inequality are the most common causes of conflict. Common causes of conflict: Economic Injustice Low income levels; Youth unemployment; Unequal access to benefits from natural resource wealth; Corruption that favours a few over many; Urbanisation; Effects of Climate Change; Competition between groups for resources such as land and/ or water; Real or perceived discrimination; Human Rights abuses; The link between poverty and conflict Poverty is about unequal access to income, resources and/or services. This inequality may be because of geographical isolation, gender, discrimination over ethnicity, religious beliefs, or social or economic levels, to name just a few. When there is an imbalance of power and sections of the community are left out of decision-making, this inequality can flourish. If resources such as water or land are limited, the excluded groups can be restricted from equal access to these resources, limiting their income and reinforcing the poverty. They may resort to fighting for access and equality. Groups who hold the power may exert violence on the excluded groups to reduce the competition for the limited resources. Some impacts of conflict: Conflict can result in Poverty: Conflict can be caused by poverty but is also a cause of poverty. During conflict, crops can be destroyed, water sources poisoned and livestock killed or stolen, reducing food, water and income for local people. Injury and disability resulting from conflict can make it impossible for people to grow food, collect water or earn an income, even after a conflict subsides. Migration Local people may be forced to flee the area to escape the threat of harm to themselves and their families. If they leave their country, they become refugees. Impact on Women and Children Women and children are often the most impacted by conflict. They are often targeted by the violence, can have limited access to food, water and income and children miss out on school. Peace Peace is more than just the absence of physical violence. Communities where human rights violations occur are not peaceful communities even when violent conflict is absent. Violations of human rights include restricted access to resources and services necessary for a life of dignity. Also, active Peace can still exist in communities when a struggle emerges, so long as everyone is working together towards a new way of relating that counteracts the inequality. Peace building Peace building provides a safe space for people to meet and talk together, to better understand the cycle of conflict, to recognise where inequality exists, to build relationships, and to change unfair structures within the community. All sections of the community should participate, including men, women, boys and girls. Development as a tool for peace Development is the process of working with communities who are experiencing poverty on programs that increase the availability of and access to limited resources and services. Good development works alongside communities, within their cultural contexts, identifying the causes of the poverty to make long-term sustainable changes. Increasing the availability of limited resources has the potential to relieve pressures that can lead to conflict. However, unless this increased availability is equally accessible to all, the development could actually reinforce conflict. Therefore it is vitally important that the development helps to improve the balance of power and overcome inequality. Working together on a development program within a community experiencing conflict can enable different sides to work together respectfully and come to recognise everyone s right to be * Road to Peace: A Teaching Guide on Local and Global Transitional Justice Table 1: Common causes of Conflict as identified in the 2011 HDR

7 Activity: What does peace mean to me? Brainstorm with a partner: What does the word peace mean to you? Create a response using words, actions, images, symbols, animation or music. You may use examples from media, literature or personal experience. Share your work and display it in the classroom. Identify and discuss key words and phrases that reflect your thoughts and ideas about peace, working in small groups or as a class. You may want to use and add to the following list: peace human rights relationships justice solving conflict Create a word cloud or other graphic to reflect your thinking. Websites to help with creating word clouds include Wordle and Word it out. Activity: Peace is possible opportunity equality democracy tolerance Brainstorm What do you think of when you hear the word conflict? Describe some situations where you might experience conflict. You might like to focus on things that could happen at school eg someone blames you for something you didn t do, someone calls you or your friend names, someone takes something that belongs to you or has something you want and won t share. Use movement and sound to act out how you feel when there is conflict. You could also role-play some of the situations identified in your brainstorming, then discuss and act out what could help to resolve the conflict. Complete a Y-chart showing what conflict looks like, sounds like and feels like. Discuss What do you know or think about how children in other places might experience conflict? What causes of conflict could there be? How might the conflict affect children and their families and communities? Complete a Y-chart showing what peace looks like, sounds like and feels like. Activity: Peace and conflict tree Brainstorm the causes and impacts of conflict and peace. people displaced/ refugees food insecurity/ food shortages/ hunger contaminated water supplies domestic violence lack of income Share your thoughts on a tree with the causes being the roots and the impacts being the branches. What does conflict look like? Branches- impact on community poverty inequality power struggles Roots causes of conflict Food for all Access to water Education People working together infrastructure destroyed crops destroyed people killed or injured orphans and vulnerable children Poverty divided community limited access to resources disputes over land Sustainable livelihoods Gender equality Healthy people What does peace look like? Branches Sustainable livelihoods Roots participation/choices inclusion shared decision making/opportunities Gender equality Healthy people dignity respected healthy environment equality Activity: How does Caritas work for peace? Research Caritas Australia s work in the area of peace and development. Take notes on how Caritas Australia s values influence their work in this area. Identify the causes and impacts of conflict in at least one of the programs Caritas Australia supports which aims to build peace. Create a public display which highlights the work Caritas is doing to build peace. Share this display with your class or wider school community. Brainstorm ways in which your class or school community could support the work of Caritas Australia in the area of peace. Activity: What does the Catholic Church say about peace in the world? Watch the Catholic Social Teaching on Peace and Conflict PowerPoint. Brainstorm with a partner: how can we be instruments of peace in our school, family, community etc? Create a response using words, actions, images, symbols, animation or music. Share your work and display it in the classroom.

8 Y-Chart feels like looks like sounds like

9 Peace and Conflict Tree

10 Act: Raise Awareness: Organise an event at your school for International Day of Peace, 21st September. At the event raise awareness about The Sustainable Development Goals. Donate: Use the Donate/Fundraise section of the Caritas website to learn about the different fundraising ideas that can be done at any time of the year. Take a stance for peace: Declare your support of SDG 16. Step 1. Print the Support SDG 16 Sign or Peace Quote Sign Step 2. Write I/We or your schools name across the top Step 3. Take a selfie/group photo with the sign Step 4. Share via social media #CaritasAustralia #Global Goals # Pray: Invite students to write their own prayers for peace and display these around the classroom. These could then be incorporated into daily class prayer. Download Pope Francis Prayer for Peace PowerPoint to pray as a whole class or to use for school assembly prayer. Download the Catholic Social Teaching on Peace and Conflict PowerPoint and use it for discussion and reflection in class. Download the Peace Liturgy PowerPoint and Peace Liturgy Leader Notes to use for school assembly or class prayer on or around International day of Peace.