Peace Commissions
Encyclopedia
Peace Commissions are formal or informal organizations that operate at local, regional and national levels within a country to reduce, counter or prevent conflict. Typically a Peace Commission will involve local communities and individuals in the peace building process.
A Truth and reconciliation commission
is a form of Peace Commission that discovers and reveals past wrongdoings in the hope of resolving conflict left over from the past. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission is an example.
A commission such as the Southern Sudan Peace Commission
is less concerned with the past, and more with finding ways to prevent ongoing ethnic violence from escalating, but instead to move towards a more peaceful society.
Another sense for the term is a commission that represents a country negotiating the terms of a peace during or immediately after a war.
A Truth and reconciliation commission
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was a court-like restorative justice body assembled in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid. Witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations were invited to give statements about their experiences, and some were selected...
is a form of Peace Commission that discovers and reveals past wrongdoings in the hope of resolving conflict left over from the past. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission is an example.
A commission such as the Southern Sudan Peace Commission
Southern Sudan Peace Commission
The Southern Sudan Peace Commission was established in 2006.The purpose of the Peace Commission is promote peace among the people of South Sudan and to help consolidate the results of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in January 2005 between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the...
is less concerned with the past, and more with finding ways to prevent ongoing ethnic violence from escalating, but instead to move towards a more peaceful society.
Another sense for the term is a commission that represents a country negotiating the terms of a peace during or immediately after a war.
Peace promotion
Examples of Peace Commissions that promote the peace in unstable situations:- Assessment and Evaluation Commission, a commission in the Republic of the Sudan that monitors and supports the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace AgreementComprehensive Peace AgreementThe Comprehensive Peace Agreement , also known as the Naivasha Agreement, was a set of agreements culminating in January 2005 that were signed between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan...
- Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in ZimbabweCatholic Commission for Justice and Peace in ZimbabweThe Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe is a non-governmental organization whose aim is to highlight the plight of the Zimbabwean people and assist in cases of human rights abuse....
, established in 1972 to assist in cases of human rights abus - National Commission for Justice and PeaceNational Commission for Justice and PeaceThe National Commission for Justice and Peace was formed in 1985 by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Pakistan. It provides services in the field of human rights advocacy. It has six regional offices in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Multan, Hyderabad and Quetta, and a head office in...
, formed in 1985 by the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference - Peacebuilding CommissionPeacebuilding CommissionThe Peacebuilding Commission was established in December 2005 by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council acting concurrently...
, established in December 2005 by the United Nations as an inter-governmental advisory body - Southern Sudan Peace CommissionSouthern Sudan Peace CommissionThe Southern Sudan Peace Commission was established in 2006.The purpose of the Peace Commission is promote peace among the people of South Sudan and to help consolidate the results of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in January 2005 between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the...
, established in 2006 to promote peace among the people of South Sudan.
Peace negotiation
Examples of Peace Commissions established to negotiate terms of peace:- American Commission to Negotiate PeaceAmerican Commission to Negotiate PeaceThe American Commission to Negotiate Peace, successor to The Inquiry, participated in the peace negotiations at the Treaty of Versailles, January 18 — December 9, 1919. Frank Lyon Polk headed the commission in 1919...
, delegation from the United States that participated in the peace negotiations at the Treaty of VersaillesTreaty of VersaillesThe Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
in 1919 - Arbitration Commission of the Peace Conference on the former YugoslaviaArbitration Commission of the Peace Conference on the former YugoslaviaThe Arbitration Commission of the Conference on Yugoslavia was a commission set up by the Council of Ministers of the European Economic Community on 27 August 1991 to provide the Conference on Yugoslavia with legal advice...
, established in 1991 by the European UnionEuropean UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958... - Carlisle Peace CommissionCarlisle Peace CommissionThe Carlisle Peace Commission was a group of British negotiators who were sent to North America in 1778, during the American War of Independence, with an offer to the rebellious Thirteen Colonies, who had declared themselves to be the United States, of self-rule within the British Empire...
, a group of British negotiators who were sent to North America in 1778, during the American Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary WarThe American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the... - Indian Peace Commission, established in 1867 to negotiate peace with Plains Indian tribes who were warring with the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...