From climate change and pandemic disease to rising authoritarianism, today’s global crises require a complete shift in U.S. foreign policy approaches. Prioritizing Peace, a new report by Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), recommends a set of actions Congress can take to address twenty-first-century challenges without resorting to military intervention. Designed with bipartisan congressional action in mind, Prioritizing Peace details specific legislation, appropriations, and other needed tools for U.S. foreign policy in peacebuilding, diplomacy, and development. The recommendations include making peacebuilding a priority, doing no harm, strengthening the voice of peacebuilding and human rights, increasing staff diversity and capacity to build peace, positioning peace at the center of U.S. foreign assistance, and reaffirming the U.S. commitment to multilateralism. Requiring significant investment in resources, this is long-term work often shunned by lawmakers who favor quicker responses to global challenges. However, as FCNL’s Ursala Knudsen-Latta said, “[T]he investment is worth it—this work gets to the root of violent conflict before fighting breaks out by resolving injustices, healing fractured societies, and improving governance.” As 20 years of militarized approaches have proven ineffective and worsened humanitarian crises worldwide, Prioritizing Peace urges and equips lawmakers to re-evaluate and re-invent U.S. foreign policy for the better.
Learn more: Friends Committee on National Legislation
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