The Ministry of Peace would shift the paradigm towards a new architecture of peace by supporting and establishing activities that promote a culture of peace in the United Kingdom and the world.

A UK Ministry of Peace would be a cabinet-level office in the UK government, securing enlightened dialogue to elevate, articulate, investigate, and facilitate non-violent strategic solutions to domestic and international conflict.   'The Ministry would provide within government an expertise in non-violent conflict resolution, through which government could be advised on how policies can be developed across government to reduce the potential for conflict.   Secondly, it would provide and co-ordinate Government resources to foster greater understanding in the UK and the world of how war can be avoided and peace achieved'  John McDonnell,  MP

So imagine if you will, for only 5% of the current Ministry of Defence budget, a Ministry of Peace could expand the work of domestic and international peace builders by keeping the dream alive and Being the change in the philosophy of those who effectively organise peace and the creation of the Beloved Community.

"Let's take a stand for peaceful evolution, despite the extraordinary material forces arrayed against it.   The ways of violence and brute force have always amassed material power, but don't let that stop you.   Love has cosmic support."   Marianne Williamson, Democratic Candidate for President of the United States.

This International Peace Day 21 September 2020 let us #StandInPeace again with Social Justice, Equality, Intersectionality, Environmental and Economic Sustainability.

The paradigm shift is this; we are beginning to understand our commonality and the connections that bind us together in our world more than ever before, so much so that peace on earth embraces infinite possibilities to cultivate peace.  This is beyond the national boundaries of politics, language, religion, culture and spirituality, we are one people, we are human Beings.  We all, at some stage in our lives, experience love, fear, and pain as well as a deep concern about the future; for ourselves, and for those held lovingly in our hearts, whether they are family, or children living in poverty at home, or even a geographical location far away land.

It is becoming clearer, with great advances in technology, educational attainment, political and economic aspirations that the need for violence and warfare significantly declines.  We are global citizens and we share responsibility for what is happening around the world.   Together we can create the shift to multi-dimensional approaches to peace 'a more beautiful world our hearts know is possible. . .'  Charles Eisenstein, Author 

This change is realistic via appropriate budget reallocation, the simplest of equations: less taxes spent on war, means more resources available to be spent on peace and security.   We strongly support the redistribution of funding from offices such as the Department of Defence in order to make this happen, we are confident that sufficient protection for the United Kingdom will continue even with a reduced defence budget.

The proposed Department of Peace could be aligned with the following benefits through its mission, values and outcomes:

·       Implement the UN Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace (1999) to safeguard human rights and enhance the security of persons and their communities

·       Implement UN Resolution 1325 on the key role played by women in the wide spectrum of peacebuilding work

·       Establish a Civilian Peace Service that, with other training organisations, will recruit, train and accredit peace professionals and volunteers to work at home and abroad, as an alternative to armed intervention

·       Support for our Armed Forces via complementary approaches to ending violence 

·       Promote peace-building among conflicting cultures, both domestically and internationally 

·       Establish a United Kingdom Peace Academy to train international peace-builders 

·       Rehabilitate prison populations

·       Participation by the secretary of peace as a member of the National Security Council 

·       Monitoring of all domestic arms production, including non-military arms, conventional military arms, and of weapons of mass destruction 

·       Development of an educational media programme to promote peace-building in the domestic media 

·       Monitoring of human rights domestically and internationally 

·       Making regular recommendations to the Prime Minister for the maintenance and improvement of these human rights 

·       Provide peace-building skills, conflict resolution initiatives, and meditation to school children in classrooms as an elective or requirement, providing them with the communication tools they need to express themselves beginning from Key Stage 1 through to 4.

We, the undersigned, support the creation of a Ministry of Peace within the government of the United Kingdom.  During such a transitional period for our country, we strongly believe there is no better time to join other leaders of world peace.  The desire for such an office has emerged from our recent history, and we fully support the use of available governmental resources to establish such a department now; not just for the evolution, prosperity and wisdom of the United Kingdom; but also for the evolution, prosperity and wisdom of all people, for humanity.