by Duncan MacLaren

War is inimical to development. It wreaks destruction and sows antagonism in the human community. Ceasefires often fail to address underlying injustices which cause violence in the first place, or instances when, as the Compendium on the Social Doctrine of the Church states, ‘man [sic] is not given all that is due to him as a human person, when his dignity is not respected and when civil life is not directed towards the common good’ (para 494).

The Compendium argues that promoting human rights is necessary to construct a peaceful society and ensure ‘the integral development of individuals, peoples and nations’. This approach to development, which is followed by agencies like SCIAF, includes elements designed to promote peace and reconciliation between people and avoid practices which foment conflict or factionalism.

How did SCIAF and other agencies come to this understanding of development?

Rwanda

One of the seminal experiences for Caritas Internationalis, the global network of Catholic aid and development agencies, of which SCIAF is a member, was the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Over 800,000 people were killed within a hundred days in what was termed the most Catholic country in Africa. We had to ask ourselves: Why did development programmes fail to prevent neighbour killing neighbour?  What were the missing elements?

Caritas Internationalis produced a handbook, Working for Reconciliation, penned by an international team of peacemakers, and this was followed by Peacebuilding: A Caritas Training Manual.  It argued that peacebuilding was centred on relationships and required a process with maximum participation of those who benefit from programmes which affect their lives and community.

By focussing on relationships, the authors meant that ‘right relationships,’ to use a term from Catholic Social Teaching, had to be established between communities and individuals and woven into relief or development programmes. That began a move to introduce conflict prevention and reconciliation work as an integral part of Caritas programmes throughout the world.

Dr Duncan MacLaren worked for Caritas Internationalis from 1995-2007, and served as Secretary General between 1999 and 2007.

With thanks to Immaculate Conception Parish, Glasgow, where this article was first shared as a talk.