Towards a culture of peace For more than 100 years Rotary has cultivated peace and respect for human rights as indivisible elements that belong to all humanity. A culture of peace is closely linked to the development of the human being, which is the main reason for the very existence of Rotary. Peace is also established with social justice. There’s no sustainable development without peace. Consequently, peace can’t flourish if there’s no development and social justice. For a culture of peace it’s necessary first to identify the conflicts inherent to human relations and develop methods and techniques for the prevention and peaceful resolution of these conflicts. Culture of peace is a complex subject and requires community involvement. In this 21st century, we shall see more multiracial and multicultural communities as a result of globalization, thus different parties will have conflicting interests that will oppose each one against the other. Therefore, these parties will need an organization and prepared and competent negotiators to mediate their disputes, whose emphasis is on love, peace and world understanding. In this regard Rotary must become the catalyst for generating forces for this new world community, for which service was represented until then by providing volunteer or financial assistance. Although still needed, this model is changing into new models.
162
