Peace building

A tough, complex task, but tackled with passion.

Child soldiers holding guns in Sierra Leone. (photo from Rumiko Seya)

Throughout the world, there are people passionately engaged in peace building activities. In post-conflict areas, this also involves rebuilding the country's infrastructure and the people's way of life. Of course, many Japanese are active in peace building work, too.

In the near future, a number of people now training in Hiroshima will leave for the world to receive further training overseas and participate in peace building activities. These 30 participants, from Japan and other Asian countries, are taking part in a new program led by experts with experience working for the UN and other international organizations.

The junior writers attended several workshops in this program. One of these workshops was led by Rumiko Seya, 30, Secretary General of the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention and covered the subject of reintegrating soldiers into society by collecting their arms and supporting their return to a normal life.

Through this program, bringing people together to become involved in peace building activities, Hiroshima has launched another project for peace.

Workshop by Rumiko Seya

of the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention

Rumiko Seya Born in Gunma prefecture in 1977. Graduated from Chuo University then studied in the Conflict Resolution Course at Bradford University in England. She has worked in Rwanda and Afghanistan as a member of the UN Peace Keeping Operations and a staff member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She is an expert on collecting arms from soldiers in post-conflict settings and reintegrating them back into society. Since April of this year, she has been the Secretary General of the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention.

We took part in a workshop led by Rumiko Seya, a specialist on the reintegration of soldiers into society after a state of conflict. Ms. Seya is Secretary General of the non-profit organization, the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention. She explained the reintegration efforts in several countries while sharing photos and videos of these areas.

She showed us the photo of a soldier, just a boy, proudly holding a gun and then posed the question: "Which one should we help, an orphaned 10-year-old girl who lost her parents or a boy who killed 50 people with a gun?" When we all responded that the girl should be helped, she told us, "A case could be made that the boy, in fact, needs help even more."

Ms. Seya went on to explain that a boy with no means of survival except as a child soldier may continue to hurt other people, thus producing more victims. And, commonly, these boys are victims themselves. Their families may have been killed by someone else before they became soldiers.

The idea that perpetrators might need support, too--even more than victims--surprised us. We discovered that peace building is a complicated challenge and support for both sides must be properly balanced.

To reintegrate former soldiers into society, five steps are needed: (1) Make lists of soldiers (2) Put out a call for the soldiers to assemble (3) Disarm the soldiers by collecting their weapons (4) Demobilize the soldiers (5) Provide vocational training, for about three months, so they can find work in fields such as farming and carpentry; at the same time, these children return to school.

Japan has contributed more than 10 billion yen to Afghanistan, resulting in the successful disarming of 63,000 soldiers.

At the same time, three months for vocational training is often not enough to develop marketable skills and land a new job. Meanwhile, former soldiers who were responsible for killing people in the village can be shunned by the community.

Despite these difficulties, we were impressed with Ms. Seya's passion for this challenge. Her presentation made the conflicts feel very real and we clearly broadened our understanding far beyond what little we had known before. (Aya Tsuchie,15, Masashi Muro,15, Reika Konno,13)

Click to view the workshop led by Ms. Seya.

Trainees discussing how to build peace. (photo by Masashi Muro)

A "school for peacebuilders" opened in Higashi-Hiroshima this past September.

At the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hiroshima University established the Hiroshima Peacebuilders Center. In the first training program, 29 trainees--15 from Japan and 14 from other parts of Asia--are studying about such peace building ideas as conducting democratic elections and reorganizing police forces. The training program in Hiroshima will last until the end of October and then the trainees will continue their studies overseas for another five months in such places as East Timor.

The junior writers attended a session of the program on October 6th. On that day, experts affiliated with the UN and other international organizations explained the process of disarming former soldiers. After this lecture, the trainees were divided into five groups and each group discussed ways to build a peaceful society. Their ideas were then presented to the class as a whole and the debate was so spirited that the time for the session had to be extended. Only English was used throughout these activities.

On September 29th, in conjunction with this training program, a symposium was held. Speakers included professionals in the peace building field from the UN and other international organizations. About 200 people attended the event, from high school students to adults.

One trainee, Guon Sokveng, 34, from Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, remarked, "Contacting the pain of the bombing and understanding the history of reconstruction in Hiroshima has made me determined to succeed with peace building work in Cambodia." After completing the training in Hiroshima, he will head to East Timor. He added, "I want to rebuild the infrastructure of the community, including public health and education." (Masashi Muro,15, Shotaro Takata,13)

Click this link to read the trainees" blog:http://hpchpc.exblog.jp/

Click to view the symposium.

Click to view the lecture and the interview with Dr. Uesugi.

Interview with Yuji Uesugi, Associate Professor of Hiroshima University

Dr. Uesugi (right) discusses the training program. (photo by Masashi Muro)

Professor Yuji Uesugi, organizer of the training program for the Hiroshima Peacebuilders Center, told us, "Hiroshima, a place that experienced its own rebirth after the bombing, becoming a city of peace, is an ideal location for others seeking to rebuild their countries from catastrophe."

One of the advantages of conducting this project in Hiroshima is the fact that trainees can experience the A-bomb Dome and Peace Memorial Museum. Also, many of the professionals from the UN and other organizations gladly take part because the activity is held in Hiroshima.

The training program emphasizes "guidance that can be put to immediate use" as well as networking opportunities with the experts now actively working in the field. It includes not only lectures, but discussions, since the idea of sharing a range of opinions from people who have different cultural or religious backgrounds is "very useful as a model of peace building".

In the future, Dr. Uesugi hopes to create more opportunities for the community to become involved in this project by having Japanese specialists offer presentations at Hiroshima-area high schools. (Ryu Kanchika,18)