PEACE
PRACTITIONER AGREEMENT 1)
Peace practitioners need to be respectful of the human rights of all persons and
groups with whom they work. They especially need to guard the human rights of
individuals and groups lacking power/or influence in their society (such as
women, children, the elderly) and groups which suffer from discrimination and
hatred (such as gays and lesbians, and ethnic and religious groups that suffer
from prejudice). 2607
Connecticut Ave. NW Washington,
DC 20008 USA email:
psysrusa@interserv.com
I, _____________________________________, in order to be a member of the
International Peace Practitioners' Network as an agent of peace on individual,
group, social, and political levels, agree to uphold the following ethical
responsibilities:
1) to be respectful of the human rights of all persons and groups with whom I
work;
2) to refrain from exploitation, abuse and derogatory language about anyone;
3) to speak out against unethical behavior, exploitation and abuse committed by
others;
4) to work to support and educate my own employees, and to support and consult
with colleagues in the peace advocacy community as needed;
5) to use my role and power to empower others, instead of doing for them what
they can do for themselves;
6) to work to empower local authorities, mechanisms and peaceworkers;
7) to ensure that my participation is invited and welcome by local peoples if at
all possible;
8) to focus on restoring the healthy functioning of communities as I work with
them;
9) to be honest and give full information about the agendas, dynamics and
limitations I am aware of for those parties involved in negotiations;
10) to strive to make clear financial arrangements that respect the best
interests of my clients;
11) to practice respectful journalism and research that guards against violating
the confidentiality of people discussed or otherwise harming our clients,
especially those who are victims of trauma;
12) to encourage conservation of the natural environment;
13) to seek continuing education, consultation or supervision to gain a broader
perspective on my work;
14) to withdraw or seek help if I suffer impairment of my judgment or burnout;
15) to work to see the peace process through to its end and to avoid abandoning
the situation is possible.
EXPLANATIONS
OF ETHICAL PRINCIPLES FOR PEACE PRACTITIONERS
2) Peace practitioners refrain from exploiting or abusing physically,
emotionally or sexually anyone with whom they work. This includes not using
derogatory humor or language about anyone because it demeans the dignity of
other human beings. Peace workers also strive to be aware of the power they have
through their positions and strive to use it fairly because to temptation is
always to use power to the advantage of those we favor and against those we
dislike.
3) In addition to monitoring their own behavior, peace practitioners speak out
against unethical behavior, exploitation and abuse committed by others in our
organization or by figures or groups with power and influence. When aware of
unethical or harmful behavior, peace practitioners are as active in speaking up
against this as is wise and appropriate given the cultural and political
realities of the setting. In order to facilitate lasting peace on all levels,
peace practitioners must do what they can to promote change to higher ethical
behavior in all situations in which they have influence.
4) Peace practitioners work to provide opportunities for their own employees to
receive training and to talk about the work and their difficulties in order to
release stress and develop their understanding of the peace work they are
involved in.
5) Peace also comes from within each individual, group and community as they
discover the needs that underlie the conflicts and are able to listen to those
needs and address them. Thus it is important that peace practitioners remember
that their role is to assist and facilitate the decisions of our clients, rather
than to tell, direct and decide for them.
6) A sustainable peace that does not rely on outside assistance and interference
requires empowerment of local authorities, community justice mechanisms and
peace workers.
7) Peace practitioners agree to be a party to peace negotiations only when
invited by local people or able to otherwise ensure that their participation is
welcome by locals. In some situations, it may be necessary for peace
practitioners to make respectful requests to inform local officials about their
services and the potential impact of peace interventions on a local situation.
8) It is important that peace practitioners remember to ensure that the peace
process focus beyond the reparation of the past to also facilitate the
restoration of the community, its economy, human rights and justice mechanisms
in order to prevent future violence.
9) Peace practitioners strive to be as fully honest in this work as possible
because any form of dishonesty can later cause a balance of peace to break
apart. For this reason, it is essential to make a clear agreement with the
groups with whom they work about their roles and responsibilities in the peace
process. Also, it is important to fully inform clients about the agendas,
dynamics, and limitations that they are aware of about the peace process, the
organizations involved, and themselves (e.g., political agendas, and plans for
development or publications).
10) Whenever there are financial considerations, it is important to strive to
make all financial arrangements clear and understandable to their clients and to
make these arrangements respectful of the best interests of their clients.
11) Peace practitioners agree to practice and encourage responsible journalism
and research that respects the dignity of community members. They will
especially guard that interviews of victims of violence do not pressure them to
disclose before they are ready, and will see that support is provided after
these interviews to encourage their emotional healing from these traumas. Also,
peace practitioners will not publish or share what clients confide in us without
their overt permission.
12) To safeguard a community's well-being in the future, peace practitioners
will try to encourage the conservation of the natural environment whenever
possible, as long as these ecological concerns fit within the community's long
term needs and do not represent an imposition of outside political interests.
Peace practitioners also agree to respect the natural environment of the places
they work with their own practices, regardless of the practices of others.
13) To gain broader perspectives in their work, peace workers agree to seek
continuing education, professional consultation or supervision to analyze
previous and ongoing projects regularly. Peace practitioners will allow
professional review and evaluation of their work by others when requested.
14) Peace practitioners work to monitor their own impartiality and mental
health. They agree to withdraw their involvement as peace practitioners if they
suffer impairment of judgment, or become too emotionally involved to be
objective practitioners. They will also watch for the symptoms of burnout (e.g.,
careless or negative behavior toward ourselves, our work, or the people or the
principles involved in peace work), and will seek remedies if that occurs.
15) For continuity's sake, peace practitioners and organizations strive to
continue their involvement in peace projects until they are completed. Although
the whims of political systems and organizations often make this difficult, it
is important that outsiders supporting local proponents of peace in a conflict
situation strive to avoid abandoning that process until some resolution has been
achieved.
INTERNATIONAL
PEACE PRACTITIONERS' NETWORK (IPPN)
MISSION, GOALS, AND ORIENTATION
In many countries, violence exacts a horrible toll on individuals, families,
communities, ethnic groups, and societies. Worldwide, violence against women and
minorities is prevalent. Most large cities include zones where violence, gang
activity, and homicide are part of daily life. This violence leaves deep
psychological wounds and plants seeds for future violence. Armed conflict, too,
creates deep emotional wounds and encourages cycles of violence. Because the
fighting in wars such as those in Bosnia and Rwanda often occurs between former
neighbors and involves atrocities such as mass rape and "ethnic
cleansing," powerful fears and hatreds remain long after a cease-fire has
been signed. These feelings and the communal memories of mistreatment generate
additional violence, intolerance, and human rights abuses.
Building peace requires psychosocial intervention-changing people's minds and
hearts and improving intergroup relations must accompany political and economic
reforms for peace. The sequence below illustrates some interconnected
psychosocial tasks that deserve attention at all levels:
1. healing wounds of war
2. education for peace, tolerance, & human rights
3. supporting work on social justice, human rights, & sustainable
development
4. nonviolent conflict resolution/reconciliation
To build peace, it is vital to address violence-related stresses and heal the
wounds of armed conflict. It is inappropriate to wait for violence to occur-the
emphasis must always be on prevention. Fears need to be addressed, and
nonviolent options for handling conflict should be developed from the family
level to the international level. Since peace cannot exist without justice,
psychologists should help to build equitable social systems that respect human
rights, encourage citizen participation, and enable sustainable development.
This requires an education, formal and informal, to nourish tolerance, respect
for human rights, and peaceful values and behavior. These interacting, mutually
supportive tasks form an ongoing, circular process. To be effective, these tasks
should be undertaken with an eye toward meeting human needs, and they should be
coordinated with wider tasks of political and economic reconstruction, ending
poverty, and correcting oppression.
Why
Is a Network Needed?
IPPN is needed for five key reasons"
1. Support. Psychologists working in violence-torn areas need current
information about which they can contact for advice and support in their highly
stressful work and situations. War isolates, and people in neighboring countries
who need each other's assistance are often unaware of their colleagues or how
contact them. Similarly, psychologists visiting developing countries often need
in-country contacts. Collaboration often grows out of contact.
2. Cultural Relevance. Many tools for addressing war-related stress and
resolving conflict nonviolently are Western and may not apply in other cultures.
In addition, many cultures use traditional methods that are not widely known but
that may be instrumental in addressing human needs. There needs to be dialogue
and mutual learning between Western psychologists and people working in diverse
countries. The essential first step, networking, is to identify and create a
means of contacting people doing culturally relevant work in different contexts.
3. Project Development. Governments, UN agencies, and NGOs often need to
identify people having the technical and language expertise to do psychosocial
work in a particular area. Current networks are very limited.
4. Holistic Approach. Existing networks tend to be regional and organized by a
specific task such as trauma reduction. On the ground, problems are systemic and
interconnected, creating a need for holistic approaches. There needs to be means
of identifying people working on all the psychosocial tasks pertaining to peace.
5. Readiness. In a network, psychologists can provide information about various
country situations, help to alert donors and others to the needs that exist and
preventing crises. Networks also make it possible to collaborate in the work of
psychological relief, development, and reconstruction.
Goals
of the IPPN
The mission of the IPPN is to promote holistic, culturally appropriate
applications of psychology for building peace at all levels. To meet the needs
listed above, the IPPN has a mix of short-term and long-term goals. The
immediate goals are (1) to identify psychologists, other mental health
professionals and practitioners, and paraprofessionals who identify themselves
as doing applied, culturally appropriate psychosocial work in different parts of
the world on issues of peace such as trauma reduction, peace education,
nonviolent conflict resolution, reconciliation, and sustainable development; (2)
to construct a database of people doing psychologically relevant work for peace;
(3) to provide NGO, UN agencies, governments, and relevant organizations with
information about peace psychology practitioners and the means of contacting
them. The longer-term goals are (1) to encourage communication, learning, and
dialogue across cultural boundaries; (2) to identify best practices; (3) to
provide training to expand the pool of psychologists who are prepared to do
applied work on issues of peace; and (4) to encourage holistic approaches,
ethical behavior, cultural sensitivity, and respect for human rights in the
practice of peace psychology.
The IPPN is a joint project of Psychologists for Social Responsibility and the
Division of Peace Psychology of the American Psychological Association. It is a
network and does not itself engage in interventions or contract specific people
to do interventions. The IPPN welcomes people of all culture, nationalities, and
disciplines who do psychologically relevant, applied work for peace who work in
a culturally sensitive manner, and who respect human rights and local
communities.
International Peace Practitioners' Network
(202) 745-7084; Fax (202) 745-0051