Peace for our time

At the very least, we can do better at protecting people in conflict-zones. Ensuring the protection offered to Australian staff overseas is stronger and that safe zones for civilians, are safe.

We know that violence is not just in war zones. We know that there is violence in homes and communities around the world.

Here again, governments are not that committed to peace.

Poverty has long been linked to crime, but not enough is being done to eradicate it.

Alcohol plays a significant role in violence in Australia. Many of the people getting arrested are under the influence at the time of arrest.

Yet, reducing alcohol does not receive the same attention as smoking does. Alcohol can still be advertised on television, and taxes are not increased to the same extent. In order to reduce the consumption of alcohol. Free and effective services to address excessive alcohol consumption, continues to be inaccessible to many.

Ask the Australian government, or state governments, how frequent and quickly prisoners get to see a psychologist.

Ask them what kind of support prisoners are offered on release, to reduce the chances of reoffending, of committing violence.

Not enough support is offered to them in prison, and they are usually released with little support.

The public's commitment to peace is not that impressive either.

Drugs fuel a significant amount of violence, so using drugs contributes to that.

There is also "privileged violence" discussed by Rachel Kleinfeld at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. We dismiss violence if it is happening to people, we deem less important, in bad parts of the community, we do not visit.

If we really care about peace, we will demand that governments do more to address violence in those areas as well.