Dot Maver's Opening Remarks
at the
Third Global Summit For Ministries and Departments of Peace
Kisarazu, Japan
September 21, 2007

This is an historic occasion. For the first time in modern history we have Ministries of Peace in two countries and another pending, and their primary job is to provide choices to deal with conflict wisely and responsibly before it escalates to violence:

We are part of a social change movement, perhaps the largest social change movement in the history of humanity. All over the world individuals and groups are working to create the conditions that support Life itself. So many of you here tonight are helping to lay the foundation stones for a culture of peace in the work that you do in the world. Thank you. We are grateful to celebrate together the International Day of Peace. 

We live in challenging times. The human family faces a crisis of epidemic proportion. And its name is violence. And yet humanity is on the verge of taking a step no less significant than the one we took from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance as we shift from living in a culture of violence to living in a culture of peace.  We know how to deal with conflict wisely and responsibly and are doing it effectively in some places around the world. It is time to make peacebuilding our top priority and our first course of action when faced with conflict. In fact it is time to make violence history.

The Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace is honored to celebrate the United Nations International Day of Peace here in Japan, a country that actually already contains the seed for a culture of peace in its constitution . Article 9 . I wish every country had an Article 9.

Japan is also one of the very few countries, out of 192 . who since WWII ended have not gone to war - Arigato. You are helping lead the way to the end of the beginning of all war.

And this is part of our work in the Global Alliance as we call for ministries and departments of peace. We are calling for a Fresh Approach; ministers and secretaries at the highest level of government whose job it is to offer nonviolent and peaceful means of resolving conflict. Applied peacebuilding as a leading political stance; government and civil society cooperation in the peace process; creating the conditions for a culture of peace.

We call on governments around the world to make it a top priority to provide coordination and funding to support the prevention of violence at the level of root cause . all kinds of violence . violence against women, school violence, ethnic violence, gang violence, prison violence, environmental violence, and, yes, war.

As we open our Global Alliance Summit and work together to create a world that works for everyone I cannot help but think that one day the International Day of Peace will fade into memory as every day will be an international day of peace.

Imagine a world where our children learn conflict resolution, mediation and peacebuilding skills at a young age; a world where we experience human security as supporting civil society infrastructure; a safe, sustainable world where conflict is welcome and as a matter of course we deal with it peacefully.

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