Department of Peacebuilding Act of 2023

Short title— This Act may be cited as the “Department of Peacebuilding Act of 2023”.

Table of contents— The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously declared the independence of the 13 colonies, and the achievement of peace was recognized as one of the highest duties of the new organization of free and independent States by declaring, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”.

The Constitution of the United States, in its preamble, further sets forth the insurance of the cause of peace in stating, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”.

The United States has been at peace for only 21 entire years since its birth during the Revolutionary War. During the course of the 20th century, more than 100,000,000 people perished in wars. Thus far in the 21st century, nearly 1,000,000 people have died in conflict and war. Many of our citizens today have never known a peaceful year in their lifetimes. In 2022, over 88 million people were forcibly displaced due to violence in its many forms.

Since late 2001, the United States appropriated and was obligated to spend an estimated $6.4 trillion through Fiscal Year 2020 in budgetary costs related to and caused by post 9/11 wars and an additional minimum of $1 trillion to care for veterans of these wars for several decades.

The physical, emotional, monetary, and other costs of violence are enormous, cut across all sectors of society in the United States, disproportionately impact people of color, and are interrelated. A World Health Organization report estimates that interpersonal violence within the United States costs approximately $300 billion annually, not including war-related costs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports one in four children experience some form of child abuse or neglect in their lifetimes; nearly one in four women report having experienced severe physical violence from an intimate partner; Native American women are sexually assaulted, murdered and disappeared at higher rates than other American women. There are 3.3 million reports of violence against children that result in foster care placements every year; 25 percent of kids in foster care experience PTSD, fewer than 3 percent earn a college degree; 20 percent become homeless after the age of 18; and only 50 percent will be employed by the age of 24. One in five high school students reported being bullied at school during 2017 and cyberbullying impacts many young people. Criminalization disproportionately impacts African Americans and other people of color, including high rates of school suspensions and expulsions and incarceration. African Americans are incarcerated at more than five times the rate of Whites. Suicide impacts young people in both affluent and non-affluent communities. In 2015, 17 percent of students considered attempting suicide. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Natives aged 10 to 34. Approximately 20 veterans a day commit suicide nationwide. About 14 young people die from homicides each day. Research shows victims of one form of violence are more likely to experience other forms of violence. A past history of violence, including domestic violence; use of alcohol or illegal drugs; being young and male; or a personal history of physical or sexual abuse or trauma, increases the risk of more violence, obesity, high-risk sexual behavior, depression, academic difficulties, school dropout and suicide.

More people have died from guns in the United States since 1968 than on battlefields of all the wars in United States history. Every year 250,000 people are killed by gun violence around the world, a third of those in Brazil and the United States. Firearms are the second leading cause of death for American children and teens and the first leading cause of death for Black children and teens. Every day 47 children and teens in the United States are shot and 96 Americans are killed by gun violence. During 2017 and 2018, there was one mass shooting almost every day in the United States. Young people go to school wondering where to hide when a shooter enters their classroom. Each gun injury and fatality results in trauma to family members and loved ones.

According to reports by the Institute of Economics and Peace (in this Act referred to as “IEP”), which measures the economic impact of violence and conflict to the global economy, the economic impact of violence to the global economy was $16.5 trillion in 2021. One IEP report found that the regional impact of violence in North America, 99 percent of which can be attributed to the United States, amounted to $2.73 trillion in 2017. If violence containment spending was reduced by 15 percent, the world would save $1.4 trillion, which would be the funding required to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals of halving extreme poverty rates, ensuring healthy lives for all, halting the spread of HIV and AIDS, providing universal primary education, decent jobs, gender equality, promoting peaceful, inclusive and just societies, and more. Three percent of United States military spending could end starvation on earth.

Peace is a human right and a security issue. Peace is the essential prerequisite for the survival of humanity as we know it in the 21st century. The United Nations defines human rights as those rights which are inherent to our nature, and without which we cannot live as human beings.

Violence prevention is cost effective. For every dollar spent on violence prevention and peacebuilding, thousands of lives and dollars are saved. Research indicates that investing early to prevent conflicts from escalating into violent crises is, on average, 60 times more cost effective than intervening after violence erupts. The philosophy and techniques of nonviolence and the science of peacebuilding provide tools and techniques that can be applied not only at the levels of individual and community growth, but also within the Federal Government and at national and international levels.

The United Nations recognizes that promotion of peace is vital for the full enjoyment of all human rights and the United Nations Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace mandates that preservation of the right to peace is a fundamental obligation of each country. In 1999, the United Nations adopted a Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, stating that a culture of peace is an integral approach to preventing violence and violent conflicts, an alternative to the culture of war and violence, and is based on education for peace, the promotion of sustainable economic and social development, respect for human rights, equality between women and men, democratic participation, tolerance, the free flow of information, and disarmament. The United Nations declared the years 2001 through 2010 an International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, and the United Nations supports a culture of peace. In 2015, the United Nations adopted 17 sustainable development goals, including promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies which recognize the link between justice, human rights, and government based on the rule of law and peace.

Peacebuilding is defined by the United Nations as a range of measures targeted to reduce the risk of lapsing or relapsing into conflict by strengthening national capacities at all levels for conflict management and to lay the foundations for sustainable peace and development. Peacebuilding is built upon research into the root causes of violence in the United States and the world, through promotion and promulgation of effective policies and programs that ameliorate those root causes of violence, and through providing all citizens, organizations, and governmental bodies with opportunities to learn about and practice the essential tools of nonviolent conflict resolution and peacebuilding.

In 2000, the Earth Charter Commission released the Earth Charter, an international declaration of fundamental values and principles created to build a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society. The preamble of the Earth Charter provides, “To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.”. Peacebuilding is working together with all nations to protect both life and land and hold the Earth in balance.

Anthropomorphic climate change threatens not only the earth and all beings, but also impacts the present lives of our children and robs them of hope for a safe future. A 2021 Lancet global health study of 10,000 youth found 59 percent are “very” or “extremely concerned” about climate change and its impact on their mental health.

Nuclear weapons expose the world to harm on a vast scale. It has long been held that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. Yet, over the next 30 years, the United States plans to spend some $1.7 trillion to replace its entire nuclear weapons infrastructure and upgrade replacement of its nuclear bombs and warheads and the bombers, missiles and submarines that deliver them.

Systemic racism is a significant driver of violence and key obstacle to peace in the United States. Confronting and uprooting systemic racism in America will require efforts by the Federal Government both to properly acknowledge, memorialize, and be a catalyst for progress toward permanently eliminating persistent racial inequities, including through a United States Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation, and to develop material remedies for the institution of slavery, including through a United States Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans.