La Carpio is a poor community in Costa Rica, nestled against a wealthy enclave of North American and European ex-patriots. Lynn Schneider takes a sobering look at the discrimination and inequalities faced by residents of La Carpio, demonstrating that cultural and structural violence are deeply ingrained, even in a country

Satomi Tsuchiya argues for the greater use of sport in peace and development work, with reference to the great potential of sport to engage youth especially -- of both genders -- in positive social activities that build trust and community.

Three years after the historic Memorandum of Understanding was signed, Endro Kristanto discusses the long standing struggle between Aceh independence advocates and the Indonesian government, the current challenges to peace, and the necessities of building trust, protecting human rights, and moving towards political reconciliation.

Key words: moral imagination, storytelling, peace building, transforming conflict, creativity, peace leadership, peace practioners

Building on the work of Dr Victoria Fontan and others, Muhyadin Saed challenges conventional methods of peacebuilding, with specific reference to the experiences of Somaliland. Saed proposes a human-centred, rather than institutional, approach which considers the local people to be vital assets in the design and implementation of such projects.

George Ngwane reviews the context and outcomes of the AFRICAphonie Citizen Peace Building capacity project in the disputed Bakassi Peninsula in Cameroon. This project followed a Track II approach, building networks of individuals to complement official diplomatic efforts. This report discusses the background of the project, outlines several ongoing challenges

Mahmoud Abdou discusses the differences and similarities between humanitarianism and peacebuilding in both operational and ideological terms, and shows how they have increasingly supported each other in the post-Cold War era as instruments of the liberal peace approach to global governance.

Since the end of the Cold War, the outbreak of new wars has generated an extensive need for international peacebuilding missions. Most of these peacebuilding missions, however, have proved to constitute operational and systemic failures (e.g. Rwanda, Tajikistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka). On top of that, owing to the current New

The internal pacification process in much-troubled Colombia has taken an important step forward. The recently concluded agreement between the Government of Colombia and the so-called United Self Defense Forces (AUC – often described as Colombia’s paramilitaries) for the gradual demobilization of the latter has come as a relief to many.

Bob Baskin, president of the peace alliance, comments on Obama's recent speech calling for an end to the US' current state of "perpetual war" against terrorism in favour of limited and specific military campaigns. Baskin welcomes the change in tone from the US administration, and argues that it should go