CJI supports a project in Chiapas, Mexico, that focuses on peacebuilding from an Indigenous perspective. Photo: CEDIAC
On the International Day of Living Together in Peace, May 16, Canadian Jesuits International (CJI) renews its commitment to promoting a culture of peace and reconciliation through the projects it supports in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The unrelenting wars and conflicts that continue to plague our world underscore the importance of initiatives that promote social justice, respect, hospitality, inclusion, and solidarity.
In Mexico, CJI supports Conflict Resolution from the Tseltal Normative System, a project that focuses on peacebuilding from an Indigenous perspective. The Chiapas-based project, initiated by the AC Indigenous Rights Centre (CEDIAC), promotes conflict resolution mechanisms based on reconciliation and community integrity. It also supports Indigenous Peoples’ rights self-determination and governance, which are at the basis of reconciliation and peace.
The Tseltal Normative System involves a mediation process that seeks reconciliation and forgiveness, and takes into account issues such as poverty, exclusion, and forced migration that Indigenous communities experience.
CJI-supported projects that address issues of forced displacement of people also include a component that promotes hospitality and compassion. In Venezuela and South Sudan, for example, CJI supports the work of Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), whose programs address the growing xenophobia toward refugees and other forced migrants by members of host communities. JRS conducts education and advocacy campaigns on the rights of migrants and the importance of creating a culture of peace and hospitality.
As the UN has stated when it declared May 16 the International Day of Living Together in Peace back in 2017, “living together in peace is all about accepting differences and having the ability to listen to, recognize, respect and appreciate others, as well as living in a peaceful and united way.”