PAX means peace. Together with people in conflict areas and concerned citizens worldwide, PAX works to build just and peaceful societies, to protect civilians against acts of war, and to end armed violence. PAX brings together people who have the courage to stand for peace.

PAX is a partnership between IKV (Interchurch Peace Council) and Pax Christi Netherlands. In 2006, the two organisations merged and are now operating as one organisation under the name PAX. PAX operates independently of political interests and is supported by a wide group of involved citizens, social organisations and churches.

PAX works in conflict areas on the basis of two central values, human dignity and solidarity with peace activists and victims of war or violence. In our peace work, we are guided by the concept of human security: the protection and security of citizens leads our responses to conflicts.

From 2013 onwards, PAX has been following closely as events unfolded in Ukraine. Field missions started in 2014 and the first project came in 2015. We have constated that one of the main divides is between ideologies and political cultures, and that low levels of trust influence many processes in society. The directions in our work in Ukraine are:

1. Social cohesion: creating capacity for dialogue and promoting a culture of non-violent dialogue as a way of addressing conflict and differences in the most conflict-prone regions (School of Peace Engineers, together with local partner Dignity Space);
2. Inclusive governance & community building: strengthening real democracy on a local level in a context of decentralisation and where trust is traditionally low;
3. Identity and diversity: increasing inclusivity and resilience in different spheres – among youth, religious actors, on issues of gendered effects of conflict and on the ways language interacts with conflict.