"When the power of love...

... overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace" - quote from Jimi Hendrix

The world is ravaged these days by military conflicts and terror acts. Still, there is a momentum and space for making peace in the middle of all this.

I observe in social media an increase of polarization and I see people supporting one or the other part. War is a loosing game for everyone. There is no winner at war. War is devastation that - as we see - can last for generations. How can we make peace if we cannot even do that in our Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok or other social media posts. There are forces out there that want us to be divided and take sides, split and conquer is an old tactic obviously still working, if we let it.

No child should need to worry about bombs falling over their home at night (or day) or to loose family members to bullets or starve or worse as a result of military conflict, terror or other bad actions. Every child in this world should be able to feel safe, play like children should play, keep their innocence and curiosity as long as they can, learn and grow up. It is OUR job to make sure ALL children are safe! ??

If we dehumanize those that we see as the bad guys (terrorists or whatever we want to call them), we loose our empathy and clear sight, and get blinded by hate and prejudices. If we fight in social media, or amongst ourselves, it is not helping the fighting parts, either of them, we are just helping to escalate conflict. I don't think any of us really want to do that, still, it is so easy to feel the righteousness and doing our part to "bombard" those supporting someone else but our "hero", than to look at the facts and look for solutions, look for how can we make peace.

Any war, no matter how long it lasts, will at some point in time stop. Then the fighting parts will need to find a way to live peacefully together. You might say it is impossible. It IS possible.

If Henry Dunant was able to write and get signed the Geneva conventions in 1864, after he coincidentally found himself in the middle of the battle of Solferino, how can we, with everything we know and everything we got today, not be even better than that? I hope some smart people find a way to bring the fighting parties to the negotiation table and starting building the road to peace. We cannot afford these conflicts to escalate more...

The principles of the Geneva Conventions are just as valid today as in 1864, and the coming years where the additional protocols were written.

You can read about them here:

TREATY DATABASE : FULL TEXTS, COMMENTARIES AND STATE PARTIES

• First Geneva Convention, 1949
• Second Geneva Convention, 1949
• Third Geneva Convention, 1949
• Fourth Geneva Convention, 1949
• Protocol I additional to the Geneva Conventions, 1977
• Protocol II additional to the Geneva Conventions, 1977
• Protocol III additional to the Geneva Conventions, 2005

and an important message: Director General urges humanitarian action as path to peace | ICRC

And if you don't have the time to read, at least see this video: https://youtu.be/HwpzzAefx9M?si=jOPruy5h8Xn5BeG4