Prepare: Read the required material for the week.
Reflect: In this discussion consider children as peacemakers. While children are routinely ignored or silenced during peacemaking process, the effect war and violent conflicts have on children has been documented, yet the agency of children during peacemaking process is not well known. In fact, children are ignored. In many respects, this makes sense given their age; however, for this week, please consider the relationship between peacemaking and children and why their needs are disregarded.
Write: In Ilene Cohen’s article “U.N. Efforts to Promote Child-Conscious Peacemaking and Peacekeeping,” she writes (2005), “Children suffer disproportionately in war and benefit disproportionately less in peace” (p. 99). What does she mean? Why do peacemakers routinely ignore children during the process? How did the U.N. reshape peacemaking efforts to address the needs of children? What are the obstacles and challenges when incorporating protections for children? What are the appropriate or traditional steps to ensure children are protected during peacemaking efforts? How can peacemakers address children’s rights? How can they mitigate the effects of war?
Lastly, as you will read in Pauline Kollontai’s “Healing the Heart in Bosnia-Herzegovina,” how does she examine how art provides an outlet to address and heal the damage to children caused by war?
