I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1111 
To establish a Department of Peacebuilding. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 26, 2015 
Ms. LEE (for herself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. EDWARDS, Mr. 
LEWIS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, and Mrs. 
WATSON COLEMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
A BILL 
To establish a Department of Peacebuilding. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Department of Peacebuilding Act of 2015’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
TITLE I—ESTABLISHMENT OF DEPARTMENT OF PEACEBUILDING 
Sec. 101. Establishment of Department of Peacebuilding. 
Sec. 102. Responsibilities and powers. 
Sec. 103. Principal officers. 
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Sec. 104. Office of Peace Education and Training. 
Sec. 105. Office of Domestic Peacebuilding Activities. 
Sec. 106. Office of International Peacebuilding Activities. 
Sec. 107. Office of Technology for Peace. 
Sec. 108. Office of Arms Control and Disarmament. 
Sec. 109. Office of Peacebuilding Information and Research. 
Sec. 110. Office of Human Rights and Economic Rights. 
Sec. 111. Intergovernmental Advisory Council on Peace. 
Sec. 112. Federal Interagency Committee on Peace. 
Sec. 113. Staff. 
Sec. 114. Consultation required. 
Sec. 115. Collaboration. 
TITLE II—OTHER MATTERS 
Sec. 201. Legislative recommendations of the Secretary. 
Sec. 202. Peace Days. 
Sec. 203. Definitions. 
Sec. 204. Authorization of appropriations. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental 
Congress unanimously declared the independence of 
the 13 colonies, and the achievement of peace was 
recognized as one of the highest duties of the new 
organization of free and independent States by de-
claring, ‘‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, 
that all Men are created equal, that they are en-
dowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 
rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the 
Pursuit of Happiness.’’ 
(2) The Constitution of the United States of 
America, in its Preamble, further sets forth the in-
surance of the cause of peace in stating: ‘‘We the 
People of the United States, in Order to Form a 
more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domes-
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tic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, 
promote the general Welfare, and secure the Bless-
ings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity’’. 
(3) During the course of the 20th century, 
more than 100,000,000 people perished in wars. The 
United States has been at war over the past decade, 
with more than 6,600 members of the Armed Forces 
and hundreds of thousands of civilians estimated to 
have been killed in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghani-
stan. 
(4) Every year 300,000 people are killed by gun 
violence around the world. In the United States, 
100,000 people are shot each year in murders, as-
saults, suicides and suicide attempts, accidents, and 
police actions. Over 30,000 people die each year of 
gunshot wounds, 12,000 of whom are murdered. 
Every day, 50 children are shot, and 8 of those chil-
dren die. 
(5) A 2004 World Health Organization report 
estimates that interpersonal violence within the 
United States costs approximately $300 billion an-
nually, not including war-related costs. The Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention states that an 
average of 16 people age 10 to 24 were murdered 
each day in the United States in 2005. The Pew 
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Charitable Trust calculates that child abuse and ne-
glect in the United States cost $103.8 billion in 
2007. 
(6) In 1999, the United Nations adopted a Pro-
gramme of Action on a Culture of Peace, stating 
that a culture of peace is an integral approach to 
preventing violence and violent conflicts, an alter-
native to the culture of war and violence, and is 
based on education for peace, the promotion of sus-
tainable economic and social development, respect 
for human rights, equality between women and men, 
democratic participation, tolerance, and the free flow 
of information and disarmament. The United Na-
tions declared the years 2001 through 2010 an 
International Decade for a Culture of Peace and 
Non-Violence for the Children of the World and the 
United Nations supports a culture of peace going 
forward. 
(7) On April 4, 2012, the Institute for Econom-
ics and Peace released a United States Peace Index, 
which assessed peacefulness at the State and city 
levels and analyzed the costs associated with violence 
and the socio-economic measures associated with 
peace. While violence within the United States had 
declined over the year 2011, violence and violence 
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containment still cost the average taxpayer $3,257. 
The total cost of violence to the United States—in-
cluding lost productivity from violence—was conserv-
atively calculated to be over $460 billion. 
(8) A study by the Institute for Economics and 
Peace released September 20, 2012, reports conserv-
ative estimates for 2010, that 15 percent of the 
gross domestic product of the United States, or 
$15,000 per taxpayer, was spent on containing vio-
lence. The study included government, corporate, 
and individual expenditure, regardless of whether it 
was related to international affairs such as offshore 
military activities, or domestic spending such as 
dealing with crime and the consequences of crime. 
(9) Violence prevention is cost effective. For 
every dollar spent in violence prevention and 
peacebuilding, many lives and many dollars are 
saved. The philosophy and techniques of nonviolence 
and the science of peacebuilding provide tools and 
techniques that can be applied not only at the levels 
of individual and community growth, but also within 
the Federal Government and at national and inter-
national levels. 
(10) Peacebuilding is defined by the United Na-
tions as a range of measures targeted to reduce the 
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risk of lapsing or relapsing into conflict by strength-
ening national capacities at all levels for conflict 
management, and to lay the foundations for sustain-
able peace and development. Peacebuilding is built 
upon research into the root causes of violence in the 
United States and the world, through promotion and 
promulgation of effective policies and programs that 
ameliorate those root causes of violence, and through 
providing all citizens, organizations, and govern-
mental bodies with opportunities to learn about and 
practice the essential tools of nonviolent conflict res-
olution and peacebuilding. 
(11) In 2000, the Earth Charter Commission 
released the Earth Charter, an international declara-
tion of fundamental values and principles created to 
build a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society. 
The preamble of the Earth Charter provides, ‘‘To 
move forward we must recognize that in the midst 
of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms 
we are one human family and one Earth community 
with a common destiny. We must join together to 
bring forth a sustainable global society founded on 
respect for nature, universal human rights, economic 
justice, and a culture of peace.’’ Peacebuilding is 
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working together with all nations to protect both life 
and land and hold the Earth in balance. 
TITLE 
I—ESTABLISHMENT 
OF 
DEPARTMENT 
OF 
PEACEBUILDING 
SEC. 
101. 
ESTABLISHMENT 
OF 
DEPARTMENT 
OF 
PEACEBUILDING. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established a 
Department of Peacebuilding, that shall— 
(1) be a department in the executive branch of 
the Federal Government; and 
(2) be dedicated to peacebuilding, peacemaking, 
and the study and promotion of conditions conducive 
to both domestic and international peace and a cul-
ture of peace. 
(b) SECRETARY OF PEACEBUILDING.—There shall be 
at the head of the Department a Secretary of 
Peacebuilding, who shall be appointed by the President, 
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. 
(c) MISSION.—The Department shall— 
(1) cultivate peace and peacebuilding as a stra-
tegic national policy objective; 
(2) reduce and prevent violence in the United 
States and internationally through peacebuilding and 
effective nonviolent conflict resolution; 
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(3) strengthen nonmilitary means of peace-
making; 
(4) take a proactive, strategic approach in the 
development of field-tested, best practices and poli-
cies that promote national and international conflict 
prevention, 
nonviolent 
intervention, 
mediation, 
peaceful resolution of conflict, and structured medi-
ation of conflict; 
(5) address matters both domestic and inter-
national in scope; 
(6) provide an institutional platform for the 
growing wealth of expertise in peacebuilding to dra-
matically reduce the national and global epidemic of 
violence; 
(7) support local communities in finding, fund-
ing, replicating, and expanding programs to reduce 
and prevent violence; 
(8) invest in nongovernmental organizations 
that have implemented successful initiatives to re-
duce and prevent violence, both internationally and 
domestically; and 
(9) consult with other Federal agencies to apply 
and practice the science of peacebuilding in their re-
spective fields of responsibility. 
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SEC. 102. RESPONSIBILITIES AND POWERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 
(1) work proactively and interactively with each 
branch of the Federal Government on all policy mat-
ters relating to conditions of peace; 
(2) call on the experience and expertise of the 
people of the United States and seek participation in 
the development of policy from private, public, and 
nongovernmental organizations; 
(3) monitor and analyze causative principles of 
conflict and make policy recommendations for devel-
oping and maintaining peaceful conduct; 
(4) research effective violence reduction pro-
grams and promote and promulgate such programs 
within Government and society; and 
(5) consult with private, public, and nongovern-
mental organizations to develop a metric model that 
provides the means to measure and report progress 
toward peace in the United States to the President, 
Congress, and the people of the United States, and 
issue reports on such progress annually. 
(b) DOMESTIC RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Secretary 
shall collaborate with governmental and nongovernmental 
entities and citizens to promote personal and community 
security and peace by— 
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(1) developing new policies and supporting ex-
isting policies that effectively address personal and 
family violence, including suicide, domestic violence, 
spousal abuse, child abuse, and mistreatment of the 
elderly; 
(2) creating new policies and programs and ex-
panding existing policies and programs that effec-
tively reduce drug and alcohol abuse; 
(3) developing new policies and programs and 
expanding existing policies and programs that effec-
tively address crime, punishment, and rehabilitation, 
including— 
(A) working to reduce prison recidivism 
rates; 
(B) supporting the implementation of non-
violent conflict resolution education and train-
ing for victims, perpetrators, and those who 
work with them; and 
(C) supporting effective police and commu-
nity relations; 
(4) analyzing existing policies, employing suc-
cessful, field-tested programs, and developing new 
approaches for dealing with the tools of violence, in-
cluding handguns, especially among youth; 
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(5) developing new and expanding effective pro-
grams that relate to the societal challenges of school 
violence, gangs, racial or ethnic violence, violence 
against gays and lesbians, and police-community re-
lations disputes; 
(6) making policy recommendations to the At-
torney General regarding civil rights and labor law; 
(7) assisting in the establishment and funding 
of community-based violence prevention programs, 
including violence prevention counseling and peer 
mediation in schools and unarmed civilian peace-
keeping at a local level; 
(8) providing counseling and advocating on be-
half of individuals victimized by violence; 
(9) providing for public education programs and 
counseling strategies that promote tolerance and re-
spect for the diversity of the people of the United 
States with regard to race, religion, creed, gender 
and gender identification, sexual orientation, age, 
ethnicity, and other perceived difference; and 
(10) supporting local community initiatives that 
draw on neighborhood resources to create peace 
projects that facilitate the development of conflict 
resolution and thereby inform and inspire national 
policy. 
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(c) INTERNATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Sec-
retary shall— 
(1) advise the Secretary of Defense and the 
Secretary of State on matters relating to national 
security, including the protection of human rights 
and the prevention of, amelioration of, and de-esca-
lation of unarmed and armed international conflict; 
(2) contribute to and participate in the develop-
ment of training of all United States personnel who 
administer post-conflict reconstruction and demobili-
zation in war-torn societies; 
(3) sponsor country and regional conflict-pre-
vention and dispute-resolution initiatives, create spe-
cial task forces, and draw on local, regional, and na-
tional expertise to develop plans and programs for 
addressing the root sources of conflict in troubled 
areas; 
(4) counsel and advocate on behalf of women 
victimized by violence, including rape, leading up to 
conflict, during conflict, and in post-conflict situa-
tions; 
(5) provide for exchanges between the United 
States and other nations of individuals who endeavor 
to develop domestic and international peace-based 
initiatives; 
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(6) encourage the development of international 
sister city programs, pairing United States cities 
with cities around the globe for artistic, cultural, 
economic, educational, and faith-based exchanges; 
(7) establish and administer a budget des-
ignated for the training and deployment of unarmed 
civilian peacekeepers to participate in multinational 
nonviolent peacekeeping forces that may be con-
ducted by civilian, governmental, or multilateral or-
ganizations; 
(8) jointly with the Secretary of the Treasury, 
strengthen peace enforcement through hiring and 
training monitors and investigators to help with the 
enforcement of international arms embargoes; 
(9) bring together all stakeholders who are im-
pacted by a conflict by facilitating peace summits 
where such stakeholders may gather under carefully 
prepared conditions to promote nonviolent commu-
nication and mutually beneficial solutions; 
(10) submit to the President recommendations 
for reductions in weapons of mass destruction, and 
make annual reports to the President on the sale of 
arms from the United States to other nations, with 
analysis of the impact of such sales on the defense 
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of the United States and how such sales affect 
peace; 
(11) in consultation with the Secretary of State, 
develop strategies for sustainability and management 
of the distribution of international funds; 
(12) advise the Permanent Representative of 
the United States to the United Nations on matters 
pertaining to the United Nations Security Council; 
and 
(13) support the implementation of inter-
national peacebuilding strategies through a balanced 
use of peacebuilding, diplomacy, development, and 
defense. 
(d) 
MEMBERSHIP
OF
THE
SECRETARY
OF 
PEACEBUILDING ON THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUN-
CIL.—Section 101(a) of the National Security Act of 1947 
(50 U.S.C. 402(a)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’; 
(2) by redesignating paragraph (6) as para-
graph (7); and 
(3) by inserting after paragraph (5) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(6) the Secretary of Peacebuilding; and’’. 
(e) HUMAN SECURITY RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Sec-
retary shall address and offer nonviolent conflict resolu-
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tion strategies and suggest resources for unarmed civilian 
peacekeepers to the appropriate relevant parties on issues 
of human security if such security is threatened by con-
flict, whether such conflict is geographic, religious, ethnic, 
racial, or class-based in its origin, derives from economic 
concerns, or is initiated through disputes concerning scar-
city of natural resources (such as water and energy re-
sources), food, trade, or climate and environmental con-
cerns. 
(f) MEDIA-RELATED RESPONSIBILITIES.—Respect-
ing the First Amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States and the requirement for free and inde-
pendent media, the Secretary shall— 
(1) seek assistance in the design and implemen-
tation of nonviolent policies from media profes-
sionals; 
(2) study the role of the media in the escalation 
and de-escalation of conflict at domestic and inter-
national levels, including the role of fear-inducing 
and hate-inducing speech and actions, and making 
the findings of such study public; and 
(3) make recommendations to professional 
media organizations in order to provide opportuni-
ties to increase media awareness of peace-building 
initiatives. 
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(g) EDUCATIONAL
RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Sec-
retary shall— 
(1) with the support of, and in consultation 
with, the United States Institute of Peace, develop 
a peace education curriculum that includes studies 
of— 
(A) the civil rights movement in the United 
States and throughout the world, with special 
emphasis on the role of nonviolence and how in-
dividual endeavor and involvement have contrib-
uted to advancements in peace and justice; 
(B) peace agreements and circumstances 
in which peaceful intervention has worked to 
stop conflict; and 
(C) the patriarchal structure of society and 
the inherent violence of such structure in the 
shaping of relationships and institutions; 
(2) in consultation with the Secretary of Edu-
cation— 
(A) commission the development of such 
curriculum and make such curriculum available 
to local school districts to enable the use of 
peace education objectives at pre-kindergarten 
schools, elementary schools, and secondary 
schools in the United States; 
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(B) support in early childhood, pre-kinder-
garten schools, elementary schools, secondary 
schools, and institutions of higher education a 
well-resourced, balanced education that includes 
math, science, English, history, ethnic studies, 
social studies, health, physical education, for-
eign languages, the arts, and music that will 
prepare students for success in a globally inter-
connected world; and 
(C) offer incentives in the form of grants 
and training to encourage the development of 
State peace curricula and assist schools in ap-
plying for such curricula; 
(3) work with educators to equip students to 
become skilled in achieving peace through reflection, 
and facilitate instruction in the ways of peaceful 
conflict resolution; 
(4) ensure that schools are nonviolence zones 
that provide a peaceful educational environment; 
(5) create school and community cultures where 
students and staff do not feel threatened and are 
free from bullying and harassment by developing 
and implementing curricula in nonviolent conflict 
resolution education for teachers, students, parents, 
the school community, and the community at large; 
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