FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 18, 2019

CONTACT
Mena Ayazi | (571) 299-8644 | mena@allianceforpeacebuilding.org

Washington, D.C., USA. – Today, the Alliance for Peacebuilding will recognize Representatives Eliot Engel (D-NY), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Michael McCaul (R-TX), Lead Republican of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, with its inaugural Peacebuilding Champion Award.

In the face of rising levels of violence and atrocities worldwide, bipartisan consensus is emerging that status quo U.S. foreign policy approaches of the past two decades are not delivering intended results. A new strategy – specifically, a shift towards peaceful prevention – is needed. Representatives Engel and McCaul are leading this recalibration, working to put violence reduction and conflict prevention at the center of U.S. national security policy by championing the Global Fragility Act of 2019 and United States-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act of 2019, among other efforts.

AfP’s President and CEO Uzra Zeya commented on Representatives Engel and McCaul’s leadership,

“The Alliance for Peacebuilding is honored to recognize HFAC Chairman Eliot Engel and Lead Republican Michael McCaul with our inaugural Peacebuilding Champion Award. These two Congressional leaders are forging a new bipartisan consensus for peaceful prevention over costly military interventions. Their leadership was essential to House adoption last May of the Global Fragility Act (GFA), which will revolutionize the U.S. approach to fragile states, saving lives and taxpayer dollars. They are also standing up to protect vital U.S. assistance to the Northern Triangle that will protect millions of civilians from harm and make America safer.”

Under the bipartisan leadership of Representatives Engel and McCaul, House Democrats and Republicans came together in 2018 to adopt the Global Fragility Act (GFA) and again in the 116th Congress in 2019. The Global Fragility Act is a pilot strategy that would redirect the U.S. government’s diplomatic policies and assistance for conflict-affected and fragile states by shifting resources to prevention. It would require a sustainable, evidence-based approach and ensure that diplomatic policy is linked to development assistance and authorize $1 billion in funding for selected prevention and stabilization countries.

Additionally, in 2019 when the Administration announced they were cutting critical funding to the Northern Triangle, Representatives Engel and McCaul once again stepped up and introduced the United States-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act in the House. The United States-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act prioritizes foreign assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras that would address the causes of violent conflict in this region.

Both policy initiatives recalibrate past approaches to global conflict management and put peacebuilding and conflict prevention at the forefront – giving the U.S. government the tools and funding necessary to prevent and reduce violent conflict.

The Alliance for Peacebuilding has launched the Peacebuilding Champion Award to honor global political leaders of the peacebuilding field.

Representatives Engel and McCaul received the inaugural Peacebuilding Champion Award at a celebratory reception on the evening of September 18, 2019.