Introduction

A peaceworker is an individual or member of an organisation that undertakes to resolve violent conflict, prevent the rise of new violent conflicts, and rebuild societies damaged by war.

The term peaceworker is usually reserved for civilian, unarmed members of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Peacework is also carried out by many armed organisations such as the United Nations (UN), but armed personnel are seldom called peaceworkers.

Peacework

Peaceworker duties include the following:

• Bringing conflicting parties together, opening channels of communication and helping to broker a ceasefire or peace agreement
• Monitoring voting booths, providing technical expertise and other forms of support in order to help ensure a free and fair electioneering environment
• Providing protective accompaniment of people at risk, monitoring borders and other actions for stabilising preserve ceasefire agreements and preserving human life
• Reintegrating ex-combatants into society
• Promoting a respect for human rights within the local and national legal system, strengthening local institutions and civil society organisations that defend human rights

Peaceworker Training

Peaceworker training and guidance are provided by organisations such as International Alert. University-provided peace and conflict studies courses also provide valuable and relevant knowledge. As peace work can utilise a very wide variety of skills, it allows those with established, unrelated careers to take up peace work without having to abandon what they have already learned.

Peaceworker Organisations

Any organisation dedicated to human rights, humanitarian aid and conflict management could be said to employ peace workers. The following is just a small sample of the dozens of organisations worldwide that provide these services.

• Nonviolent Peaceforce
• International Alert
• Peace Brigades International
• Christian Peacemaker Teams

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaceworker >; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.