This legislative ask is designed to be shared with your members of Congress and their staff.
Today, the world faces high levels of violence and more active armed conflict than at any point since World War II. The instability created by these conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, is compounded by the ongoing global food crisis, climate shocks, and COVID-19 pandemic. Together they are driving political destabilization, brutality, and fragility worldwide.
Support robust funding for peacebuilding accounts in the FY24 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations bill
In the face of this instability, violence and crises, Quakers are called to “seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34:14). Peacebuilding is a critical tool for responding to and recovering from these crises. Increasing support for peacebuilding initiatives can help prevent sudden outbreaks of violence and heal fractured communities. This, in turn, reduces the need for humanitarian aid and enables the pursuit of sustainable economic development, climate adaptation, good governance, and the protection of humanrights.
Peacebuilding and conflict prevention programs reduce violent conflict and human suffering while saving taxpayer dollars. Yet, U.S. support for this work has been persistently underfunded.
We urge you to support robust funding for peacebuilding programs to prevent and reduce violent conflict in the Fiscal Year 2024 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPs) Appropriations bill.
The FY24 SFOPs bill should include no less than:
- $66 million for the Complex Crises Fund, which enables USAID to respond to early warning signs and escalating conflicts with the aim of preventing mass violence. It is the only account of its kind and is used to fill immediate, short-term funding gaps during emergent crises quickly.
- $40 million for Reconciliation Programs, which enables the Center for Conflict and Violence Prevention at USAID to conduct people-to-people reconciliation programs to advance reconciliation efforts between different ethnic, racial, religious, or political groups in areas of civil trouble and war.
- $25 million for Atrocities Prevention, which enables the Department of State to implement the 2022 U.S. Strategy to Anticipate, Prevent, and Respond to Atrocities, the recommendations of the inter-agency Atrocity Prevention Task Force, and other programs aimed at preventing mass atrocities and genocide.