Global peace: The only way forward

Aneesh
Indus International School
India

Many wars are being fought right now all over the world causing untold suffering and misery to a great many people. There are many reasons for conflicts in the world. There are conflicts due to ethnic differences. Some wars are fought over religious differences. Others have been fought over economic assets such as diamonds or oil. Some others are fought purely to distract the citizens from bad governance. Whatever the reason for these conflicts, they lead to a lot of suffering for the common people by denying them the right to enjoy a peaceful life.

During these conflicts, troops are deployed in countries and they often unnecessarily kill civilians. During their forays into enemy territory, they also cause a lot of destruction to the environment and make it unsuitable for agriculture and this can cause famine. In addition, terrorists and militants are also illegally testing bombs and this threatens the world with weapons of mass destruction. Some of the well-known conflicts in the world are occurring in the Sudan and Rwanda in Africa; Iraq and Israel in the Middle East; and in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan in Asia.

One difference between past and present wars is that weapons of the past were less sophisticated and that weapons of today are deadly enough to blow up the whole world. In today's conflicts, because of various means of communication, news about wars can spread all over the world in an instant. This attracts people who are drawn to such wars and they start supporting one side or the other. In the past, there were not many instances of this happening. It must be noted, however, that the crusades did draw a lot of Christians from all over Europe to fight in the Middle East against the Muslims for control of Jerusalem. International bodies were not there to stop wars from happening in the past, but now there are a lot of organisations to stop wars or even to stop poverty. However, the reasons for past wars were no different than they are today: ethnic conflicts or religious conflicts. In 1933, for example, Hitler started a pogrom against the Jews that eventually led to his control of Germany and in 1939 the start of World War Two. During his rule, he ordered the elimination of Jews, gypsies, and other minorities that led to more than seven million people being killed purely because of their heritage.

What is peace? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines peace as a state or period of mutual concord between governments. I define peace as a time when there are no wars and no one threatens to start a war.

International bodies like the UN can help by imposing sanctions on countries that are fighting or illegally testing stuff such as missiles, bombs, or tear gas. Sanctions are a condition, which only the UN can impose on other countries. It means that a particular country cannot sell or buy items, such as, gas, food, steel or other commodities. Usually sanctions only allow humanitarian aid. This aid allows those items to be sold to the country to keep the sanctioned country's civilians healthy.

Individuals can help by endorsing bodies like UNICEF and by making donations. Many famous people from all over the world help in this manner. Football stars like Zinadine Zidane and Ronaldinho go to countries where wars are being fought and help the local community by giving food and other commodities. Even the Spanish football (soccer) club FC Barcelona is helping UNICEF by advertising them on their jersey. This brings about awareness in fans and other people. Famous people can also run charity drives to help refugees. Since prevention is better than cure, international bodies can encourage the education of people and help them understand the value of tolerance and peace. Other leaders who belong to the communities in conflict must also step forward and rally people around peace and love as opposed to war and hate. Peace also has economic benefits as more trade can be conducted.

We have read articles from around the world about how people protest and set up peace assemblies. These are gatherings where people state their views about what they think about the war and how they think it can be resolved. Even the internet can help by posting messages on well known sites like Yahoo!, Orkut and Google. Schools can even help by starting a fundraiser program for students to participate in.

After a conflict, when peace is established, it is important to ensure that peace lasts for a long time. For example, in South Africa they established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This commission asked the perpetrators of evil to come forward and recount their crimes. The victims or their relatives, in case the victims were no longer alive, were also present during the proceedings. This helped in the healing process as the crimes came out in the open and allowed both the victims and the guilty to reconcile with the past and move on. Another way to maintain peace is to continue to foster the value of diversity. To prevent the misuse of resources, the UN can establish a world body to regulate the trade of those commodities, such as oil or diamonds, that are often the major sources of conflict.

Conflicts occur in many parts of the world. Governments and international bodies have a big role to play by ensuring that militants or terrorists are not allowed to carry out their crimes with impunity. Individuals must also help by respecting each other's differences and not resorting to violence. It is hoped that, as the world gets smaller, all people and governments learn to deal with differences in a non-violent manner. One day, let us all pray that violence becomes extinct.

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