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Proposed
law would create
"Department of Peace"
Bill has 39 liberal sponsors in Congress
Washington, DC: While the President
of the United States and the Department of Defense is pursuing war against terrorism,
a group of liberal lawmakers are pushing a bill through Congress that would
create another large, cabinet level bureaucracy called the Department of Peace.
H.R. 2459 was first introduced on July
11, 2001 with 39 sponsors. The bill has been referred to the Committee
on Government Reform, as well as the Committee on International Relations and
the Committee on Education and the Workforce.
The proposed Department of Peace would be headed
by the Secretary of Peace, a member of the President's Cabinet. The wording
of the bill questions "whether the structure of thought,
word, and deed which the people of the United States have inherited are any
longer sufficient for the maintenance, growth, and survival of the United States
and the world."
The bill suggests as an alternative, that the
United States follow the proposals of the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that passed a resolution declaring an International
Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for
the Children 2001-2010.
"The objective," according to the wording of the bill, is to "further strengthen
the global movement for
a culture of peace following the observance of the International Year for the
Culture of Peace in 2000."
The domestic responsibilities of the Secretary
of Peace would include, the development of policies that address domestic violence,
including spousal abuse, child abuse, and mistreatment of the elderly.
The secretary would also address violence against
animals, gun-related violence, the "presence of handguns," violence against
gays and lesbians and peer mediation in schools.
The Secretary of Peace would also finance local
community initiatives to "create peace projects and facilitate the development
of conflict resolution at a national level."
The Secretary shall "offer nonviolent conflict
resolution strategies" when there is conflict "whether such conflict is geographic,
religious, ethnic, racial, or class-based in its origin, derives from economic
concerns (including trade or maldistribution of wealth)" due to scarcity of
food or water and environmental concerns.
The Secretary of Peace under the proposed law
would have one Under Secretary and seven assistant secretaries. There would
be an Assistant Secretary of Peace for "Peace Education and Training, Domestic
Peace Activities, International Peace Activities, Technology and Peace Arms
Control and Disarmament, Peaceful coexistence and Nonviolent Conflict Resolution,
and for Human and Economic Rights."
The Secretary of Peace will develop a peace
education curriculum to be used at all elementary and secondary schools in the
United States. "Offer incentives in the form of grants and training to
encourage the development of State peace curriculum and assist schools in applying
for such curricula."
The Secretary will be responsible for creating
a Peace Academy "modeled after the military service academies," provide a 4-year
course of instruction in peace education and "provide grants for peace studies
departments in colleges and universities throughout the United States."
Source: The Times Examiner
Anderson, SC
11-28-01
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