\t\t\tMelanie Morrison outlines the importance of education in the pursuit of peace, advocating for a \u2018peace with justice\u2019 model for our turbulent times\u2026<\/p>\n
In a world plagued with conflict, rising inequality, and eroding human rights, the work of civil society groups and movements dedicated to peace, justice and human rights has never been more important.<\/p>\n
Since its founding in 1998, the\u00a0Sydney Peace Foundation\u00a0(the Foundation) has been advocating for \u2018peace with justice\u2019 recognising that to achieve true and lasting peace, society must go beyond ending war and violent conflict and must also address deep injustices and structural inequality.<\/p>\n
The \u2018peace with justice\u2019 philosophy distinguishes the Foundation from more conventional peace organisations. Peace is not a passive condition but an active project\u2014 one that requires dismantling the systems of poverty, racism, and exclusion that generate violence and inequality in the first instance.<\/p>\n
As Emeritus Professor Stuart Rees who co-founded both the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney in 1988 and later the Sydney Peace Foundation, has said, considerations such as access to health care, education and housing are central to building a better world. It is these fundamental human rights and values that are essential foundations for a more peaceful and just society.<\/p>\n
Through education, public engagement, and advocacy, the Foundation has worked with a broad coalition of individuals and organisations committed to peace and social progress to reimagine what a truly peaceful and just society might look like.<\/p>\n
This excerpt from the\u00a0Universal Declaration of Human Rights<\/a>\u00a0underscores the centrality of peace education in building these foundations.<\/p>\n \u201cEducation shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.\u201d\u00a0 \u2013 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.<\/p>\n Central to the Foundation\u2019s work has been its commitment to education as a transformative tool. The Foundation has encouraged people in Australia and abroad to think about the meaning of peace, justice, and alternatives to violence. It is about building a culture of peace with justice where these concepts should not only be taught as a theory but as an active practice.<\/p>\n Teaching from theory to practice<\/p>\n The partnership with the NSW Teachers Federation combines both these elements. How do we embed theories of peace and justice in professional teaching practice? The University of Sydney\u2019s Dr Jake Lynch, also a former director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, has run several sessions with Federation peace delegates on the academic approach that connects the theory and practice of nonviolence, human rights, and conflict transformation.\u00a0 By outlining the distinction between \u2018positive peace\u2019 and \u2018negative peace\u2019, these sessions encourage a deeper understanding of the necessary conditions for true and sustained peace.<\/p>\n These concepts were developed by Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung where \u2018positive peace\u2019 goes beyond the absence of armed or weaponised conflict, which he refers to as \u2018negative peace\u2019, and incorporates the attitudes, institutions and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies.\u00a0 Dr Jake Lynch elaborates on his article entitled\u00a0Peace and Conflict Studies \u2013 Teaching Peace<\/a>\u00a0(Journal of Professional Learning 23)<\/p>\n This partnership builds on the NSW Teachers Federation\u2019s long-standing commitment to peace and peace education as fundamental to the ethos of public education. At its very core, public education promotes just and equitable societies in its advocacy and support for access to high quality education for all. No matter where you come from, how much money you have or who you are, you are welcome in public schools. \u00a0It goes without saying that in the public school sector themes of social justice, human rights, reconciliation, and nonviolence are intrinsically embedded into teaching practice across a range of curriculum areas.<\/p>\n Over recent years, the Teachers Federation has strengthened engagement with the Sydney Peace Foundation and other organisations committed to building a safe, more equitable and more peaceful society.\u00a0 During Peace Week, for example, teachers and students become active contributors to building a culture of peace primarily through the schools program at Cabramatta High School and the Sydney Peace Prize Lecture and Award Ceremony.<\/p>\n The Cabramatta High Peace Day is a highlight of Peace Week.\u00a0 For over 20 years, Cabramatta High, located in Sydney\u2019s multicultural heartland, brings together thousands of students for a celebration of diversity and inclusion. Many students wear traditional cultural dress\u2014 from Ukraine to Iraq, from Afghanistan to Ghana\u2014 with colourful performances from across the globe. \u00a0Sydney Peace Prize laureates find it one of the most meaningful parts of Peace Week with the regional head of International Federation of the Red Cross, Alexander Matheou, saying in 2024, \u201cI\u2019ve worked in peace for 25 years and it seems I should have come to Cabramatta High to see what peace really looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n The purpose of education,\u00a0as defined by UNESCO<\/a>, is to empower individuals, strengthen communities and fosters inclusive societies. \u201cIt is one of the most powerful tools to lift marginalised children and adults out of poverty, and it also helps to uphold other basic human rights. It is the cornerstone of peace, justice and resilience in the face of the world\u2019s most pressing challenges. This is the basis of any democratic society, and the right to education is protected by international law.\u201d<\/p>\n Inherent in these concepts is the process through which students become informed citizens with the knowledge and skills, coupled with the practical experience to participate in the civil society and our democratic processes.<\/p>\n Emeritus Professor Stuart Rees stated in a\u00a0Honi Soit<\/a>\u00a0article last year, in reference to student participation in civil society action when the Centre of Peace and Conflict Studies still existed, \u201cStudents spent time on the picket line to learn about labour, to learn about the rights of workers, to learn about the consequences of privatisation, to learn about the apparent power of trade unions.\u00a0 More was learned in a couple of nights huddled around fires with workers than from just theory alone.\u201d<\/p>\n The Sydney Peace Prize as Pedagogy<\/p>\n The Foundation is perhaps best known for the annual\u00a0Sydney Peace Prize<\/a>, Australia\u2019s only international prize for peace. The Prize is not merely an award\u2014 it is a pedagogical tool, designed to shift public conversation and inspire debate.<\/p>\n The Sydney Peace Prize laureates represent a remarkable collection of moral and intellectual courage. Their philosophies and values embedded in their lives and their work hold invaluable pedagogical lessons.<\/p>\n The jury assesses nominees\u2019 efforts to promote peace with justice and awards the Prize to individuals or organisations that have made significant contributions to global peace, through challenging systems of structural violence, inequality, gender discrimination and racism in all its forms.<\/p>\n Recipients have ranged from\u00a0Muhammad Yunus<\/a>, the Foundation\u2019s inaugural laureate, who reimagined finance as a tool for the poorest, to feminist and environmentalist\u00a0Vandana Shiva\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0championing of Indigenous agricultural knowledge in India as scientifically valid and continues to be a strong proponent of non-violent community action.<\/p>\n Also, laureates including the late\u00a0Archbishop Desmond Tutu<\/a>,\u00a0Patrick Dodson<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0the Uluru Statement from the Heart<\/a>, all proposing that reconciliation is not the erasure of painful history but its honest \u00a0reckoning. When Tutu was in Australia, he urged the then Prime Minister John Howard to apologise to Aboriginal Australians for the discrimination they suffer.<\/p>\n Both Patrick Dodson and the Uluru Statement from the Heart highlighted strong themes of respect, recognition and reconciliation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.\u00a0 For educators, the message of these powerful Indigenous individuals and movements is that you cannot move forward without an acknowledgement of the past. Genuine peace cannot be built on silence. It must be firmly grounded firmly in the rights of Indigenous people.<\/p>\n And the many women who have received the Sydney Peace Prize who have refused to be silent as they challenge power structures, the patriarchy, climate justice and inequality.<\/p>\n Naomi Klein<\/a>,\u00a0Arundhati Roy<\/a>, and\u00a0Irene Khan<\/a>\u00a0all connect the dots between capitalism and climate disaster, between the patriarchy, freedom of speech and human suffering, between corporate power and the erosion of democracy. They fearlessly identify who holds power, who benefits from existing power structures, and who pays the price.<\/p>\n I will make special mention here of our 2026 Sydney Peace Prize Laureate, Australian international human rights lawyer\u00a0Jennifer Robinson<\/a>. Her work also traverses climate and gender justice, human rights, press freedom and the rights of marginalised communities, Importantly, she is also a strong advocate for public education recognising the fundamental role it plays as a foundation for a more equal and fair society. Also, Dr\u00a0Hanan Ashrawi<\/a>, a Palestinian Christian lawmaker, who continues to act as a role model for courage. She has maintained her principled, evidence-based advocacy in the face of Israel\u2019s occupation of Palestine and brutal personal attacks.<\/p>\n Professor Joseph Stiglitz<\/a>, who received the\u00a0Sydney Peace Prize in 2018<\/a>\u00a0and the Nobel Prize in economics in 2001, teaches us that genuine peace cannot be built while economic inequality and economic injustice exist. The political system that creates this inequality\u2014 by serving the interests of the powerful while failing to protect the poorest nations and communities\u2014 must be challenged.<\/p>\n Former Human Rights Commissioners\u00a0Mary Robinson<\/a>\u00a0and the 2025 Sydney Peace Prize Laureate\u00a0Navi Pillay<\/a>\u00a0both teach us that human rights are not abstract legal instruments but lived realities, that international law is not a privilege extended by the powerful but a universal right in which every human life carries equal worth and equal protection under the law.<\/p>\n The stories of each and every Sydney Peace Prize laureate\u2014 whether it be the lawyers, the political leaders, the artists, the community workers, the academics, the weapons inspectors, the activists\u2014 remind us that even in the darkest moments, there is power working together for peace, justice and universal human rights. Stories of courage and compassion deliver powerful lessons in \u2018educating for peace\u2019, inspiring a new generation to be active participants in building a better, more just world.<\/p>\n We know that change requires solidarity and collective action. Through our partnership with the NSW Teachers Federation and other organisations, communities and individuals committed to peace with justice, we can be that change.<\/p>\n Here I will end with a quote from Judge Navi Pillay, \u201cwe live in a world where voices for justice are louder, more connected, and more courageous than ever before. The path ahead is neither easy nor short, but it is a path we must walk together \u2013 with integrity, with compassion, and with determination.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n References<\/p>\n Lynch, J. (2026) Peace and Conflict Studies \u2013 Teaching Peace\u00a0Journal of Professional Learning 23<\/p>\n Morrison, M. (n.d.)\u00a0Sydney Peace Foundation Annual Report 2024\u00a0chrome-extension:\/\/efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj\/https:\/\/sydneypeacefoundation.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024-SPF-Annual-Report-FINAL_website.pdf<\/p>\n Sydney Peace Foundation (n.d.) Peace Prize Recipients https:\/\/sydneypeacefoundation.org.au\/peace-prize-recipients\/<\/p>\n Sydney Peace Foundation (n.d.) 2025 Navi Pillay https:\/\/sydneypeacefoundation.org.au\/peace-prize-recipients\/navi-pillay\/<\/p>\n UN General Assembly, Resolution 217A (III), Universal Declaration of Human Rights, A\/RES\/217(III) (December 10, 1948),\u00a0https:\/\/\u200bwww\u200b.un\u200b.org\u200b\/en\u200b\/about-us\u200b\/universal-declaration-of-human-rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n UNESCO (n.d.) What you need to know about education and why it matters https:\/\/www.unesco.org\/en\/articles\/what-you-need-know-about-education-and-why-it-matters<\/p>\n