What does peace look like? Is it the cessation of violence? The signing of an accord? The shaking of hands while dignitaries and media watch on as witnesses to history?

Or does it look like people in once-divided communities working together to heal their traumas, pursue justice for victims of violence, and rebuild relationships by co-writing a shared vision of the future?

Speaking to representatives of the United Nations Security Council in New York on November 19, Alpaslan Özerdem, dean of the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, said that it is “one of the tragic ironies of wars” that in order for peace to be achieved and sustained, “people on all sides must learn to live together [again].”

When a conflict comes to its end, Özerdem said that “victims, perpetrators, and others in war-affected communities [must] begin the formidable task of reconciling with one another, politically and interpersonally.”

The importance of reconciliation within peace processes was the subject of Tuesday’s Open Debate organized by the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations, which is serving as the president of the Security Council throughout November.

Özerdem was invited by Ambassador Karen Pierce, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, to brief the Security Council as part of the debate.

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