Peace, Unity and Justice in the Society
Senior 6 · General and Religious Studies
Peace, Unity and Justice in the Society
Lesson 1 of 5
23 min
In Kinyarwanda, amahoro means peace, and it is also a greeting. Muslims greet one another with as-salamu alaykum, "peace be upon you"; Hebrew speakers say shalom. Across the world people meet by wishing each other peace. Rwanda's largest stadium is named Amahoro.
Yet peace is easier to wish than to define. Is a country at peace when the fighting stops? What if people are still hungry, excluded or afraid? This lesson defines peace, unity and justice carefully and shows why none of them can last without the other two, a lesson Rwanda has learned at great cost since the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Definition
Peace: a state of harmony in which people live without violence or fear. Negative peace is the absence of direct violence; positive peace also includes justice, equal opportunity and cooperation.
Inner peace: calm and harmony within a person, free from destructive anger, fear or guilt.
Unity (ubumwe): the oneness of people who, despite differences, see themselves as sharing an identity, rights and a future. Unity is not uniformity: people can differ and still be united.
Justice: giving each person what is due to them, fairly and according to law and morality.
Structural violence: harm caused by unjust systems, such as discrimination in access to education or jobs, rather than by a single violent act.
Divisionism: spreading ideas or acts that set groups of people against one another.
In 1969 the Norwegian peace researcher Johan Galtung argued that violence comes in three forms, and that ending only the visible one gives a fragile peace (Figure 1).
Direct violence is the visible tip. Beneath it lie structural violence, such as laws or practices that exclude a group from schools or jobs, and cultural violence, such as propaganda, myths or hate speech that make harm seem acceptable. Before the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, decades of discrimination against Tutsi (structural) and hate propaganda (cultural) prepared the way for mass killing (direct). This is why, after 1994, Rwanda had to do more than stop the killing: it had to rebuild justice and unity.
Article 10 of Rwanda's Constitution commits the State to "eradication of discrimination and divisionism based on ethnicity, region or on any other ground as well as promotion of national unity", and to the "constant quest for solutions through dialogue and consensus". Unity is promoted through the Ndi Umunyarwanda ("I am Rwandan") programme, begun in 2013, which invites citizens to put a shared Rwandan identity first and to talk honestly about the past; through civic education in Itorero; and through umuganda. Since 2021 this work has been led by the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement (MINUBUMWE).
| Type of justice | Question it asks | Rwandan example |
|---|---|---|
| Distributive | Are resources and opportunities shared fairly? | Social protection that targets the poorest households |
| Retributive | Is wrongdoing punished in proportion? | Courts sentencing those convicted of crimes |
| Restorative | How can harm be repaired and relationships restored? | Gacaca courts, where communities heard confessions and judged genocide cases; community service |
| Procedural | Is the process fair and equal for all? | The right to be heard and to a defence before a court |
The three ideas depend on one another. "The work of righteousness will be peace" (Isaiah 32:17). Pope Paul VI summed it up in his message for the World Day of Peace in 1972: "If you want peace, work for justice." Justice without unity breeds resentment; unity without justice is fake; peace without both does not last.
Worked example: diagnosing peace
In an imaginary country, the civil war ended five years ago. There is no fighting. But one region's children have half as many schools as the rest, and radio presenters mock that region's people as "traitors".
Step 1, direct violence. None at present: there is negative peace.
Step 2, structural violence. Unequal schooling is structural violence and a failure of distributive justice.
Step 3, cultural violence. Mocking a people as "traitors" is cultural violence, the kind of speech that can prepare future violence.
Conclusion. The country has negative but not positive peace. Lasting peace needs fair investment in the region (distributive justice), action against hate speech and dialogue to rebuild unity.
Tip
Name the type. Examiners reward precise words. Say "negative peace", "structural violence" or "restorative justice" rather than "some peace" or "a kind of justice", then give an example.
Warning
Unity is not sameness. National unity does not ask people to share one religion, opinion or culture. It asks them to share equal rights, a common identity and a commitment to live together. Confusing unity with uniformity leads to intolerance.
Important
Discuss. Can a society have peace without justice? Think of a school where nobody fights but some students are always treated unfairly. Is it "at peace"?
Practice
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: Figure 1, the table, the worked example and the exercises. This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
