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Peace Audits as Part of the Programme

The programme is experiential in another sense. By emphasising values of dialogue, understanding, and tolerance, the orientation programme encourages the participants to visit the foundations of the established theories of state, politics, human rights, and peace in terms of the political experiences of the current practices of democracy and conflict resolution in this region. Looking beyond the conventional conflict-oriented approaches to peace studies in South Asia, the peace studies programme of SAFHR responds to the need to develop critical peace education that is non-hegemonic and sees human rights as a terrain for democratic politics. Through constant interaction between academics and activists, and linking the experience of peace activists and participants with programme, the orientation course attempts to develop an alternative method for peace education. The lessons learnt from the "Audits of Peace Accords" go directly into making a substantial part of the teaching material in the course. Participants from peace constituencies in the conflict zones join the audit exercises to analyse the peace questions in the region. These audit exercises are also in the nature of trans-border dialogues; and because of their essential dialogic nature, these audits bring out the plural nature of peace process and the democratic vision of peace. Statements of understandings issued from these audit exercises form the core of the agenda of human rights and peace constituencies in these conflict zones. The audits are conducted with the philosophical approach that tolerance and peace are essential values to be cherished and nourished by democratic societies and polities. To be more than mere conflict-management exercises run by States who themselves have been responsible for exacerbation of conflicts, militarism, and nuclearisation of the region, and have tolerated private militias in their pursuit of national security, these audits emphasize the fact that peace is plural in nature in as much as constituencies for peace are also plural. For all these reasons, the audit reports and lessons make the peace studies course a unique experience in peace education in South Asia.