The GHFP’s research in the area of peace and peacefulness involves both grassroots peacebuilding projects in post-conflict societies and dialogue amongst interdisciplinary specialists, thinkers and practitioners.
Peace is a human concept, and peace can only be achieved when people are in touch with their own humanity. — Simon Xavier Guerrand-Hermès, co-Founder and Chairman
So far, we have developed ethically attuned understandings of positive peacefulness, which are not neutral with regard to the political structural features of society. It requires us to translate such understandings into socio-economic political systemic terms.
Currently, we are investigating questions such as: “What implications such understandings of peacefulness may have for questions concerning international organisations and socio-economic and political structures and systems?” More positively, “What systemic changes are necessary for humans to realise more fully our nature as peaceful beings?”
More about our work in peace can be found in these two books:
Understanding Peace Holistically: From the Spiritual to the Political Read the excellent reviews here:
Peacefulness: Being Peace and Making Peace (published by Spirit of Humanity Press)
Example of our projects on positive peace include:
Daughters of Peace in Colombia or the Hijas de la Paz Project that has provided psychosocial processes of healing, training in vocational skills, peace circles, and human-centred education. The nurturing has enabled vulnerable young women to experience their intrinsic value as persons. From a place of deep quiet, they learned to become future leaders and peacemakers.
See Scherto’s presentation on how positive peace can be a meaningful perspective for integrating refugees and migrants in Europe.