What is Ownership of Peace.

 

What is Ownership of Peace.

 

In this article, the idea of peace ownership will be discussed. For the purpose of this article, ownership are the roles/actions each individual person and/or organization acknowledges and works towards to ensure peace. Ownership is linked with responsibility and are cornerstones of peace. As an example, ownership is illustrated with this phrase by Judi Chamberlin, “Nothing about us, without us”. That simple phrase is seeking ownership and involvement. The simplicity of that quote holds a very complex reality about the efforts of ownership needed for peace.

One complicated area of peace ownership is the reality of a person who has been a child soldier. The life of Dominic Ongwen is one such example. Dominic was forced into the Lords Resistance Army as a child. He lived many years as a member of that group which is known for committing crimes against humanity. He was brought to the International Criminal Court and found guilty of such crimes. His story is well documented as he lived as a victim and a perpetrator. The questions that are debated in the example of Dominic Ongwen reach deep into the complexities of peace. One such question asked by Renée Nicole Souris (2023), concerns the issues of passive victim, political actor and, moral character. Souris states that we need to “construct a new narrative that accounts for the coexistence of agency and vulnerability”, (2023, pg. 696).

 The two words, agency and vulnerability stand out as important markers of peace ownership. As in the quote “nothing about us, without us” there are elements of agency and vulnerability. In the case of child soldiers or youth gang members, they experienced a cycle of vulnerability and agency.

In the case of Ongwen, the reality of forced events and choices made is the area of question where ownership of peace is concerned.  The vulnerability portion is being made to commit crimes or be punished. As the experiences and time in such an organization, a person can become numb to the disintegration of peace. Each of us also have such realities take place, perhaps not to the degree of a child soldier yet realities none the less. As we comprehend the disintegration of peace, those are the moments of most need to be aware of agency, vulnerability and what ownership of peace will be.

What is provided here is an example of the complexities involved in peace ownership. Questions of personal survival and societal survival are all involved in this example. In another similar example are the youth who endure gang violence in Central American, (Moreno, 2023).

In the article written by Moreno, the question of peace ownership is dealt with through understanding, “how youth morally deliberate about conditions of gang violence shaping their communities”, Moreno, 2023, pg., 1). The reality that youth “deliberate on the shaping of their communities” provides evidence of ownership. Also. The similarities between these youth and Ongwen are relatable. Decisions of survival and moments of forced actions would be present in each situation. As the forced actions reality evolves, at some point the argument will be made that a person was “just following orders”. In such circumstances the consequences of not “following orders” is physical harm and perhaps death.

In the two examples of child soldiers and youth gang members, the individual is met with an organizational force based on violence. This shows the importance of societal/organizational ownership towards peace. These organizations span communities and the world. To have a look at the complexity mix of global peace and community peace scale, ownership rings loud in this quote, “More often than not, stakeholders and official agencies do not give proper attention to community members to become central in the processes of peace”, (Idebe, 2023). The term “proper attention to become central” is echoed in the Judi Chamberlin quote, “Nothing about us, without us”. In those two quotes, the systems that are built to provide peace have become systems that hinder peace. The hinderance of peace is not only criminal organization. There are systemic factors in organizations that are built to protect and maintain peace.

Perhaps the top of the heap of organizational peace is the United Nations Security Council. To that point, The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) sponsored a discussion concerning global perspectives on United Nations Security Council Reform. Now, this has been a topic of great discussion for years. It is noted in the CEIP work that the United Nations General Assembly formed a working group concerning equitable representation in 1992, “More than three decades later, that body continues to meet—with no tangible results”, (Patrick, 2023, pg., 1). Further to that quote are more remarks of peace ownership, “The permanent members have stymied progress. Each of the Permanent 5 (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and, the Republic of the United States) are determined to maintain its permanent seat and veto - power”, (Patrick, ed, 2023, pg., 4). This reality puts the question of ownership of peace in a global complex cycle. This are more sparks of debate when we equate the individual person as though that individual were a member state of the United Nations.

To live in peace and to build peace so we share ownership is what we strive to accomplish. There exist are responsibility of actions and, those actions either builds or destroys peace. For example, going back to the gangs “gang membership seldom provides the supportive, family type advantages that entice youth into belonging”, (Beare and Hogg, 2013, pg.,421). In this quote the “family advantages” speaks to the peace that a youth is seeking. The organizational composition of the gang sells that family yet, “are characterized more by tension, violence, and betrayal, both from rival gangs and from fellow gang members”, (Beare and Hogg, 2013, pg.,421).

These elements of selling family and delivering much less is a path of many. Such paths are destructive yet those who sell it prosper from the destruction, and thus a cycle of violence begins. To stop such cycles, those who take great ownership of peace battle against the cycle. That battle is a direct reality for the quote, “nothing about us, without us”. The battles of racism, hatred, injustice, inequality, etc… rage on as we seek the answers to questions such as, what is ownership of peace.

 

 

Bibliography

Beare, Margaret E., and Chris Hogg. "Listening in to Gang Culture." Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, vol. 55, no. 3, July 2013, pp. 421-452.

Moreno, Franklin. “Moral reasoning about gang violence in context: A comparative study with children and adolescents exposed to maras in Honduras and not exposed in Nicaragua.” Child Development, Wiley. 2023.

Souris, Renee Nicole. “Child Soldiers, Agency, and Aristotelian Virtue Ethics”. The International Journal of Children’s Rights. Brill, 31(2023), pages 698 – 728.

Patrick, Stewart. Editor. UN Security Council Reform: What the World Thinks. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 2023.