Respected as a neutral party with unquestionable integrity, HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has inspired many groups to adopt peaceful means to resolve conflicts. He has engaged all the stake holders in the peace process in areas such as Sri Lanka, the Balkans, Iraq, Kashmir, Israel, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and the Ivory Coast. Trauma relief programs have been conducted extensively in these areas to help individuals release negative emotions such as anger from the past, revenge, and frustration, which can hamper the peaceful resolution of disputes.

IRAQ

Art of Living volunteers have been working in Iraq on a sustained basis since September 2003 to facilitate the physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being of the Iraqi people. To date, 5,000 Iraqis have benefited from the trauma relief, and community empowerment projects in Baghdad, Basra, Suleimania, and Karbala. In May 2007, HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar visited the nation on a three-day peace mission at the invitation of Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki. The Prime Minister requested HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to expand the Art of Living programs to more parts of Iraq, including the prisons.

During the visit, HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar urged Iraqi leaders to give non-violence a chance. He met with a wide spectrum of Iraqi society including senior political figures, Shiite leaders, tribal heads, representatives of humanitarian organisations, women, soldiers, and youth. Following HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's visit, the Iraqi government sent 55 youth to the Art of Living international headquarters to attend a month-long training. As a result, Iraq now has many more change agents for peace.

SRI LANKA

Since 2004, HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been actively involved in resolving the Sri Lankan crisis. He has been instrumental in the formation of the 'Committee for Peace in Sri Lanka' comprising Hindu and Buddhist leaders, including the Dalai Lama.

HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had extensive meetings with the President, opposition leaders, Tamil leaders, and the general public during one of his visits to the nation in April 2006. During the visit, he was inundated with letters from the public seeking his help to bring about peace in Sri Lanka. In September 2006, HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ventured into LTTE stronghold Kilinochchi for peace talks.

In two separate visits, former Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, and two parliamentary delegations from the United National Party (UNP), and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) visited HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in India in 2006 to discuss the Sri Lankan issue.

Since 2005, over 1,000 Tamil youth, mostly from Jaffna, have undergone the Art of Living youth leadership training program after which they have given up violence, and taken up community empowerment projects.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

• HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's peace initiatives in Jammu & Kashmir focus on:

• healing the trauma of decades of militancy

• facilitating dialogue between people from different ideological groups

• improving the inhumane conditions in migrant camps

• reforming prison inmates

• de-stressing army, and police personnel

• channelling misguided youth toward constructive activities.

HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has visited the state three times in as many years to open up avenues for dialogue, and negotiation. His visit in 2006 culminated in a rare dialogue between leaders of several Kashmiri groups, including both factions of the All Party Hurriyat Conference and representatives of the Kashmiri Pandits. Inspired by HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, thousands of youth who had been trained in terrorist camps, have shunned the path of violence.

In 2005, IAHV established a child care centre to provide education, and a safe haven for children affected by militancy, and the 2005 earthquake.

CLASS CONFLICT IN INDIA

HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's teachings, and initiatives have transformed many villages in the Naxalite-infested areas of central Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. During his visit to Bihar in 2002, more than 100,000 youth from warring factions such as Ranvir Sena, CPI-ML, People's War Group, and Maoist Communist Centre vowed to spread the message of non-violence.

As a result of HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's timely intervention, there was no retaliatory massacre in the aftermath of the 2006 gruesome Jehanabad killings. Instead, warring groups came together soon after the incident for a community gathering organized by the Art of Living in Ekwari, the nerve centre of Naxal violence in Bihar, which avoided further escalation of violence.

KOSOVO

In Kosovo, the Art of Living has successfully carried out programs to promote dialogue between people on both sides of the ethnic divide, thus expanding the circle of belonging to transcend narrow identities based on ethnicity, and nationality.

The Health Ministry of Kosovo directly supports the Art of Living's trauma relief efforts which have helped thousands of people including war veterans, prisoners, health workers, victims of war crimes, UN peace keeping forces, and children in Kosovo.

HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in dialogue with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri -al- Maliki during his three-day peace mission to Iraq in May 2007, undertaken at the invitation of the latter.

HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in discussion with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Columbo in 2005. In his efforts to resolve the Sri Lankan crisis, HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has engaged the government, parliamentarians, Tamil leaders, and the general public, particularly the youth.

Thousands of people in Jaffna, Sri Lanka attended HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s public program in 2005. HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was inundated with letters asking him to intervene to bring about peace in the lives of people in Sri Lanka.

HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar with Kashmiri leaders during his visit to the state in 2006. The visit led to a rare dialogue between leaders of several Kashmiri separatist groups, including both factions of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, and representatives of Kashmiri Pandits.

Kashmiri children at the Art of Living International Centre in Bangalore, India. The children were previously staying in refugee camps, and have found a safe haven at the centre.

Women learn breathing techniques at an Art of Living trauma relief course in Plemetina Camp, Kosovo. The 105 participants, mostly Albanians, Serbs and Roma people, were also suffering from severe post-war trauma.