Peace teams, human rights accompaniment, and global peace services are promising models in peacemaking. They offer valuable assistance and witness in conflict areas. They are also refining techniques of mediation and reconciliation of conflicting parties. At the same time, they are pioneering creative approaches to peacemaking and security applicable to both states and multilateral bodies like the United Nations. At this point in time, a number of groups have more than a decade of experience and have sponsored thousands of short and long-term staff and volunteers. In the process a considerable amount of experience has been accumulated regarding peace team selection, training, deployment, support, strategy, relationship with local groups, etc. Here are several of the most useful analyses and case studies on peacemaking teams, as well as a list of groups offering volunteer opportunities and training.

Unarmed Bodyguards by Liam Mahony and Luis Enrique Egurenis is a superb new survey of international accompaniment for the protection of human rights for people at risk of torture, disappearance, and other forms of terrorism and intimidation. This invaluable book provides in-depth discussion of the experience of peace teams from Peace Brigades International and other groups in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Sri Lanka and briefer coverage of activity in Colombia and Haiti. I found it to be an eye-opening, inspiring, and richly thought-provoking volume. (Kumarian Press, 1997, 800-289-2664; e-mail: kpbooks@aol.com)

Witness for Peace by Ed Griffin-Nolan is a detailed and thoughtful overview of the efforts of more than 4000 people to give witness, accompaniment, and support to communities threatened by U.S.-backed "contra" guerrillas in Nicaragua during the decade of the 1980s (Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991). More recent Witness for Peace reports include Sowing Justice on U.S. solidarity efforts with Nicaragua (1997), and High Price to Pay on structural adjustment and women in Nicaragua (40 pages, 1996); both reflect this pioneering group's growing emphasis on global economic justice issues (address/phone below)

"Unarmed Commitment" is a video about peace teams sponsored by Peace Brigades International (see below). "A Nonviolent Army of Peace" explores peacemaking in Cambodia. "New Faces of Courage" features footage and interviews from a 1993 Global Peace Service conference in New York, and comes with an impressive booklet of background readings. (ELCA, available for rent or sale from Lutheran Peace Fellowship, see below); "Where There is Hatred" (Maryknoll Films, available from Fellowship of Reconciliation, see below)

From Violence to Wholeness is a ten-part program in the spirituality and practice of active nonviolence by Ken Butigan, the former director of the Pledge of Resistance and an experienced peace team trainer and organizer. (180 pages, $23 from Pace Bene, 1626 Francisco St. #2A, CA 94703. Oakland, CA 510-383-9088

Two publications which include information about peace teams as well as more traditional service and educational experiences abroad are The Peace Corps and More: 175 Ways to Work, Study, and Travel At Home and Abroad, by Medea Benjamin, available from Global Exchange (address below) and Alternatives to the Peace Corps (Institute for Food and Development Policy, 7th edition, 1996)

Organizations:

The following groups offer opportunities for serving as short-term or long-term volunteers in nonviolent peacemaking. Contact them directly for more information.

• Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) is a nonpartisan unarmed peacekeeping force composed of trained civilians from around the world. In partnership with local groups Nonviolent Peaceforce members apply proven nonviolent strategies to protect human rights, deter violence, and help create space for local peacemakers to carry out their work. Rue Belliard 205, 1040 Bruxelles, Belgium www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org/
• Christian Peacemaker Teams, PO Box 6508, Chicago, IL 60680-6508, (312) 455-1199, fax: 666-2677, e-mail: cpt@igc.org -- Long- and short-term teams in Haiti, the Middle East, and Bosnia; Sponsored by the Mennonites, Brethren and Quakers, this group is a model of what other churches denominations might organize, and publishes an interesting newsletter as well as internet and print reports
• Global Exchange, 2017 Mission St., Suite 303, San Francisco, CA 94110, (415) 255-7296, fax: 255-7698, globalexch@ipc.apc.org -- long-term and short-term volunteers in Chiapas and delegations to many parts of the world; offers reports and books on related issues
• Peace Brigades International, 2642 College Ave., Berkeley, CA 94704, (510) 540-0749, pbiusa@igc.org fax: 849-1247, -- long-term teams in the Balkans, Chiapas, Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, and North America; newsletter and other resources
• Peaceworkers, 721 Shrader St., San Francisco, CA 94117, tel/fax (415) 751-0302, peaceworkers@igc.apc.org -- recruiting volunteers to serve in Kosovo, Yugoslavia; has a team in Tabasco, Mexico; publishes information about peace team training opportunities; and is gathering and publishing success stories and experiences of peace teams from around the world
• SIPAZ (Servicio Internacional Para La Paz en Chiapas, Mexico), P.O. Box 2415, Santa Cruz, CA 95063; 408-425-1257; sipaz@igc.org -- long-term volunteers in Chiapas
• Witness For Peace, 110 Maryland Ave. NE #311, Wash., DC 20002, (202) 544-0781, fax: 544-1187, witness@w4peace.org web site: www.w4peace.org/wfp -- long-term and short-term teams in Guatemala, Nicaragua and Haiti; newsletter, reports (see above)
• Other groups: Balkan Peace Teams, Marienwall 9, D-32378, Minden, Germany, e-mail: balkan-peace-team@bionic.zerberus.de -- this very important group sponsors long-term teams in former Yugoslavia; Campamentos Civiles por la Paz c/o Global Exchange -- two weeks or longer in peace camps near villages that are threatened; Earthstewards Network, PO Box 10697, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110; Earthsteward@igc.apc.org -- short-term teams in conflict areas in many parts of the world; Fellowship of Reconciliation, Box 271, Nyack, NY 10960, (914) 358-4601; www.nonviolence.org -- active in reconciliation, compassionate listening, and peace service education work. Guatemala Accompaniment Project, 59 E. Van Buren, #1400, Chicago, IL 60605 ncoordgap@ipc.apc.org -- accompaniers in Guatemala; minimum three months; Voices in the Wilderness, 1460 West Carmen Avenue, Chicago, IL 60640 -- sends delegations to take medical supplies to Iraq, violating U.S. law and challenging the economic embargo under which more than 800,000 people have died since the end of the Gulf War.

Glen Gersmehl coordinates COPRED's Peace & Justice Resource Center section and is national coordinator of Lutheran Peace Fellowship. With appreciation to David Hartsough, Executive Director of Peaceworkers, for the list of organizations. Global Peace Services is the focus of the summer issue of LPF's newsletter PeaceNotes.

For more information, contact LPF at the address at the bottom of this page.