I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1111 
To establish a Department of Peacebuilding, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 8, 2019 
Ms. LEE of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Reform 
A BILL 
To establish a Department of Peacebuilding, and for other 
purposes. 
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 2019’’. 
(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. 
Sec. 104. Office of Peace Education and Training. 
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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, in 
its preamble, further sets forth the insurance 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 domestic Tran-
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quility, provide for the common defence, promote the 
general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty 
to ourselves and our Posterity’’. 
(3) The United States has been at peace for 
only 21 entire years since its birth during the Revo-
lutionary War. During the course of the 20th cen-
tury, more than 100,000,000 people perished in 
wars. Many of our citizens today have never known 
a peaceful year in their lifetimes. 
(4) Thus far in the 21st century, nearly 
1,000,000 people have died in conflict and war. In 
2017 alone, 68.5 million people, or one person in 
110, were displaced from their homes by conflict and 
persecution. The United States has been at war over 
15 years, with more than 6,800 members of the 
Armed Forces and hundreds of thousands of civil-
ians estimated to have been killed in the conflicts in 
Iraq, Afghanistan, and territories occupied by ISIL. 
(5) Every year more than 300,000 people are 
killed by gun violence around the world. In 2017, 
nearly 40,000 people died in the United States as a 
result of gun violence; the highest number of gun 
deaths in nearly 50 years. The rate of deaths—12 
fatal shootings per 100,000 residents—is also at the 
highest point since the mid-1990s. Approximately 20 
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veterans a day commit suicide nationwide. Every 
day, 47 children and teens are shot, and each gun 
injury and fatality results in trauma to family mem-
bers and loved ones. More people have died from 
guns in the United States since 1968 than on battle-
fields of all the wars in United States history. 
(6) A World Health Organization report esti-
mates that interpersonal violence within the United 
States costs approximately $300 billion annually, not 
including war-related costs. The Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention found that the total eco-
nomic cost of child abuse and neglect is estimated 
at $124 billion each year. 
(7) According to a report by the Institute of 
Economics and Peace, which measures the economic 
impact of violence and conflict to the global econ-
omy, the economic impact of violence to the global 
economy was $14.76 trillion in 2017. The report 
also found that the regional impact of violence in 
North America, 99 percent of which can be attrib-
uted to the United States, amounted to $2.73 tril-
lion in 2017. 
(8) A 2015 study by the Institute for Econom-
ics and Peace reports conservative estimates that 12 
percent of the gross domestic product of the United 
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States was spent on containing violence. The study 
included government, corporate, and individual ex-
penditures, regardless of whether the expenditure 
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 on violence prevention and 
peacebuilding, thousands of lives and dollars are 
saved. Research indicates that investing early to pre-
vent conflicts from escalating into violent crises is, 
on average, 60 times more cost effective than inter-
vening after violence erupts. 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 Gov-
ernment and at national and international levels. 
(10) The United Nations recognizes that pro-
motion of peace is vital for the full enjoyment of all 
human rights and the United Nations Declaration 
on the Right of Peoples to Peace mandates that 
preservation of the right to peace is a fundamental 
obligation of each country. In 1999, the United Na-
tions adopted a Programme of Action on a Culture 
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of Peace, stating that a culture of peace is an inte-
gral approach to preventing violence and violent con-
flicts, an alternative to the culture of war and vio-
lence, and is based on education for peace, the pro-
motion of sustainable economic and social develop-
ment, respect for human rights, equality between 
women and men, democratic participation, tolerance, 
and the free flow of information and disarmament. 
The United Nations 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. In 2015, the UN adopted 17 sustainable de-
velopment goals, including promotion of peaceful and 
inclusive societies. 
(11) Peacebuilding is defined by the United Na-
tions as a range of measures targeted to reduce the 
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 
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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. 
(12) 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 
working together with all countries to protect both 
life and land and hold the Earth in balance. 
TITLE 
I—ESTABLISHMENT 
OF 
DEPARTMENT 
OF 
PEACE-
BUILDING 
SEC. 101. ESTABLISHMENT OF DEPARTMENT OF PEACE-
BUILDING. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established a 
Department of Peacebuilding, which shall— 
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(1) be within the executive branch of the Fed-
eral 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; 
(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; 
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(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. 
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 indi-
viduals and seek participation in the development of 
policy from private, public, and nongovernmental or-
ganizations; 
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(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 public, and issue reports on such 
progress annually. 
(b) DOMESTIC RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Secretary 
shall collaborate with governmental and nongovernmental 
organizations and individuals to promote personal and 
community security and peace by— 
(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; 
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(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 and assault weapons, especially 
among youth; 
(5) developing new and expanding effective pro-
grams that address and ameliorate societal chal-
lenges such as school violence, gangs, hate crimes, 
economic injustice, human trafficking, racial or eth-
nic violence, violence against LGBTQ+ individuals, 
and police-community relations disputes; 
(6) making policy recommendations to the At-
torney General regarding civil rights and labor law; 
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(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 advocacy on behalf 
of individuals victimized by violence; 
(9) providing for public education programs and 
counseling strategies that promote tolerance and re-
spect for the diversity of all individuals in the 
United States without regard to race, religion, creed, 
gender and gender identification, sexual orientation, 
age, ethnicity, and other perceived differences; and 
(10) supporting local community initiatives that 
draw on neighborhood resources to create peace 
projects that facilitate the development of conflict 
resolution and healing of societal wounds such as pa-
triarchy, racism, war, manifest destiny, and eco-
nomic injustice to thereby inform and inspire na-
tional policy. 
(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 
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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 national 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, situations 
leading up to conflict, conflicts, and post-conflict sit-
uations; 
(5) counsel and advocate on behalf of victims of 
human trafficking both domestically and internation-
ally and work to end the trafficking of human 
beings; 
(6) provide for exchanges between the United 
States and other countries that endeavor to develop 
domestic and international peace-based initiatives; 
(7) encourage the development of international 
sister city programs, pairing United States cities 
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