We want to focus on violence in non-war settings, but what kinds of violence are we talking about? How do we characterise them? How do we rate them? How do we define them? Even if we consider direct violence alone, we find a phenomenon that is both huge in its impact and complex in its dynamics. To a considerable extent, these circumstances suggest that the analytical and methodological frameworks of peacebuilding need to be rethought. There can be no doubt about it: peacebuilding must focus on these situations which are different from those where it has traditionally worked. The data about Latin America and the Caribbean countries are especially alarming in this regard. Caution is advised when comparing statistics because ways of measuring can differ from place to place but even so, the regularly systematised information of the UNODOC Global Study on Homicide, the Conflict Data Program of Uppsala University, and the Homicide Monitor of the Igarapé Institute, among others, alerts us to the serious situations of homicidal violence in countries where there is no ongoing armed conflict recognised as such. This broad view of the concept of peace is especially relevant at a point in history when the statistics reveal extraordinarily high rates of violent deaths in supposedly “peaceful” countries, sometimes exceeding those of countries at war. The opposite of peace, then, is not war but violence in all its various direct, structural, and cultural manifestations, whether or not it occurs in the context of armed conflict. Difficulty of access to essential needs obstacles to the exercise of human rights real or perceived insecurity, at home or in the street mistrust of public institutions inequalities, discrimination and exclusion and even polarised social relations are all determinant in whether people live in peace or not. In all likelihood, a good part of public opinion also shares the insight that it is not only in the context of war that peace is missing. The idea that peace is not just the absence of war is well consolidated among specialists in the field.
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