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PD Endorses New Peace Index

Peace Direct is proud to be a key endorser of the new Global Peace Index; the first study of its kind to rank countries around the world according to their peacefulness. The Index studies 121 countries from Algeria to Zimbabwe and has won the backing of an influential and distinguished group of supporters including Peace Direct founder Scilla Elworthy and Patron HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan.

The Index is topped by Norway but the rankings show that even among the G8 countries there are significant differences in the peacefulness of nations. Japan ranks at number five with the U.K. 49th, the U.S. 96th and Russia in the bottom five.

Peace Direct currently has a Champions Project operating in Colombia (116th) and Rapid Response Funds in Sudan (120th) and Kenya (91st).

The website for the index features Peace Direct’s Rapid Response Fund as one of the fifteen selected projects worldwide. It also draws on peace initiatives from Insight on Conflict; Peace Direct’s online database of peacebuilders.

Peace Direct Chief Executive Carolyn Hayman OBE commented, “We welcome the Index as a tool that we and thousands of organisations committed to peace in conflict areas can use. At last we have a tool that measures in terms of peace rather than war.”

Indicators include the levels of violence, organised crime and military expenditure within a country. The Index has also been correlated against a range of social development indicators including democracy, transparency, education and well-being to better understand the determinants or “drivers” that create and sustain peace.

For more on the Global Peace Index visit www.visionofhumanity.com

GPI site