As much as President Trump and his administration have lauded him as the ‘Peace President’, gloating of the eight wars he alone has ended, many of these treaties can be consider frozen rather than resolved. In Gaza, as of mid-February over 600 people had been killed since the October 2025 ceasefire; violence in eastern DRC and Rwanda has also resumed and local peacebuilders operating and living in eastern DRC have reported no change since the treaty. In fact, they described the peace treaty between DRC, Rwanda, the U.S. and the rebel M23 group as focused on the extraction of minerals, but overlooking the complexity of local militias and the conflicts between them. The achievement of peace treaties should be applauded, certainly. But a treaty itself is the starting line, not the finish. Evidence and experience show that treaty implementation is where the work to prevent more violence, address the root causes of the conflict, and build the institutions necessary to sustain peace begins.
The rupture that Prime Minister Carney references makes it more difficult to address global problems, yet where there is a rupture, there is opportunity for transformation. The most effective path towards sustainable peace is a locally led one, and there are incredible stories to tell about this possibility and its practical application. We see where local civil society – religious, private sector, academia, and traditional leaders – can steer the process along with government officials and donors. And we see this happening for a fraction of the cost of an inconclusive military venture. When disaster or conflict strikes, local civil society is the first to respond. This is happening now in Sudan, Nigeria, DRC, Venezuela, and elsewhere. These efforts need to be scaled up and not pushed aside in favour of solutions designed elsewhere.
Efforts to localise development, humanitarian response and peacebuilding are not new. Our national security should rest on policies that retain our legitimacy and help our economic bottom line. Sustainable peace is both a moral imperative and a cost-effective goal. Helping local efforts will achieve this in the long term, while retrieving in the medium-term good will with other nations. Our hearts and wallets can align.
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Vahe Mirikian is the Managing Director for the US Office of Peace Direct, an international peacebuilding organization working to shift power and resource to local peacebuilders. He is also Vice President and Head of Foreign Policy with Matters of State Strategies, a boutique consulting firm with offices in Washington, DC.
Annie Pforzheimer is an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, adjunct professor of international relations at Pace University and the City University of New York, and a retired US Department of State career diplomat with the rank of Minister Counselor.
