No More Business As Usual: Time for Congress to Robustly Resource Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 16th, 2022
CONTACT
Nick Zuroski | (202) 822-2047 | nick@allianceforpeacebuilding.org
Washington, D.C., USA. – The Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP), the leading nonpartisan global peacebuilding network of 160+ members working in 181 countries to end violent conflict and build sustainable peace, is deeply concerned that the Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) omnibus spending bill fails to provide sufficient funding for peacebuilding and conflict prevention programming globally. Halving the number of fragile states, preventing and ending violent conflict, and building sustainable peace—as called for by bipartisan Congressional champions—will require Congress to robustly invest in upstream prevention and peacebuilding programs and ensure funding for game-changing laws, including the Global Fragility Act, in its FY23 appropriations.
Last week, Congress approved a $1.5 trillion spending bill that provides $64.89 billion for the FY22 International Affairs Budget. Unfortunately, this funding is only a 1.1% increase from FY21, and much less than the 12% increase originally requested by the Biden Administration. Factoring in inflation, this funding level amounts to a cut from last year’s foreign assistance appropriation. Additionally, this bill also omitted the proposed $5 billion in emergency resources for the global COVID-19 response, as the pandemic continues to contribute to increasing violent conflict and fragility globally.
The underfunding and de-prioritization of foreign assistance, specifically conflict prevention and peacebuilding, undermines U.S. efforts to address increasing violent conflict and weakens our national security. Even before the war in Ukraine, global violent conflict hit a 30-year high, compounded by climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the proliferation of de-stabilizing technology use. Additionally, violent conflict in Ukraine is driving global economic instability, regional fragility, and the largest refugee crisis since World War II when 274 million people already required humanitarian assistance and protection.
AfP welcomes the $6.8 billion in emergency foreign assistance in this bill to respond to the conflict in Ukraine. However, Congress must also ensure conflict prevention and peacebuilding programs are a significant part of future spending packages, including supporting nonviolent civil resistors, preventing and documenting war crimes and atrocities, and combating mis/disinformation. Additionally, future assistance must support the democratically-elected government and Ukraine’s robust civil society in the days, months, and years ahead through flexible and adaptive programming.
For the FY23 appropriations process, Congress must ensure robust funding for conflict prevention and peacebuilding programming and the prevention-oriented canon of law, including the Global Fragility Act, Women, Peace, and Security Act, and Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act. If successfully implemented, these laws will ensure the end to “business as usual” by centering conflict prevention and peacebuilding in U.S. government interventions abroad.
Moving forward, the U.S. Congress must provide robust resources for conflict prevention and peacebuilding laws, initiatives, and programs. The Ukraine crisis once again demonstrates the need for a fundamental shift in foreign assistance funding towards peacebuilding to prevent and reduce conflict in the future. Failure to do so will result in further crises and costly responses.
The Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP)—named the “number one influencer and change agent” among peacebuilding institutions worldwide—is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit, nonpartisan network of 160+ organizations working in 181 countries to prevent conflict, reduce violence, improve lives, and build sustainable peace. At our core, AfP cultivates a network to strengthen and advance the peacebuilding field, enabling peacebuilding organizations to achieve greater impact—tackling issues too large for any one organization to address alone.