From the Hero’s Journey to the Soul Group Journey: A Path to Fundamental Peace
Joseph Campbell gave the modern world a powerful language for
We are living through a moment of profound moral crisis. In March 2026, the world is witnessing simultaneous wars on multiple continents, a dramatic surge in authoritarian governance, and systematic violations of international law by the very nations that once championed the rules-based order. The International Committee of the Red Cross is now working across more than 130 active armed conflicts — more than double the number from just fifteen years ago. The V-Dem Institute reports that autocracies now outnumber democracies for the first time in over two decades. The Human Rights Foundation’s Tyranny Tracker classifies 80 countries as fully authoritarian, with approximately 75 percent of the world’s population living under some form of authoritarian rule.
As this document is written, the United States and Israel are conducting ongoing airstrikes against Iran that have killed over 1,255 people in their first twelve days, including an attack that Iran says killed over 100 schoolgirls near a military base. Iran is retaliating with strikes across nine countries. The war in Ukraine grinds through its fourth year. Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe continues unabated. Sudan’s civil war has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history. And the mental health toll of all this violence — the anxiety, depression, PTSD, moral injury, and suicide that ripple outward from every bomb and every bullet — is creating a shadow pandemic of suffering that will haunt generations.
This document, issued by the World Happiness Foundation, serves three purposes. First, it provides the most comprehensive mapping we can offer of the leaders, regimes, and regions where violence, domination, and violations of international law have become normalized — identifying over 45 countries and their leaders. Second, it documents the devastating mental health consequences of this violence. Third, and most importantly, it is a call to the global civil society to reject the normalization of violence in all its forms, to demand that all responsible leaders be brought before the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, and to champion a new paradigm of diplomacy that separates those who fight rather than arming them.
As of March 2026, international monitors track active, high-intensity armed conflicts in over 30 countries. The most devastating include the Russia-Ukraine war (entering its fifth year, with estimated Russian casualties alone reaching 200,000–285,000), the Israel-Gaza conflict (with over 21,000 killed between mid-2024 and mid-2025 according to ACLED), the Sudanese civil war (over 20,000 killed in the same period, with millions displaced and facing famine), and the Myanmar civil war (over 15,000 casualties in the latest reporting period). Wars rage across the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, Central Africa, Colombia, Yemen, Haiti, and numerous other regions where civilians pay the highest price.
On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched surprise airstrikes on multiple cities across Iran, including Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, Karaj, and Kerman. The strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, destroyed military and government infrastructure, and opened a devastating new war. Within two weeks, more than 5,000 targets were struck in Iran. Preliminary casualty figures report over 1,255 dead in Iran, at least 13 in Israel, 8 US soldiers, and 17 killed in Gulf states. Iran says one attack killed over 100 girls at an elementary school near a military base.
Iran retaliated with missile and drone strikes across nine countries — Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Israel itself. A strike on Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem killed nine Israelis. The conflict has shut down Dubai International Airport (the world’s busiest for international flights), threatened the Strait of Hormuz, pushed oil prices to $100 per barrel, and created cascading economic and humanitarian consequences across the entire Middle East and beyond.
This escalation — launched during active negotiations when the Omani mediator had just reported significant progress and Iranian agreement to zero enriched uranium stockpile — represents the most egregious sabotage of diplomacy in recent memory. The stated aim of regime change through military force violates the most fundamental principles of the UN Charter. As Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson told international media: this is an unjust war imposed on a nation. And as the Iranian President declared, Iran considers revenge its legitimate right and duty.
This is precisely the trap. When violence is answered with more violence, when revenge becomes a ‘right,’ when each side sees its own strikes as defensive and the other’s as aggression, the spiral has no bottom. Each act of retaliation creates the justification for the next. The bombing of Iran will not create peace in the Middle East. It will create the conditions for decades of further conflict, radicalization, and human suffering.
On January 3, 2026, the United States launched coordinated airstrikes on Caracas and forcibly apprehended President Nicolás Maduro. This operation was widely condemned as a flagrant violation of Venezuela’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, in direct contravention of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. President Trump subsequently framed the intervention as a strategic maneuver to secure Venezuelan oil and rare earth elements — a strikingly colonial articulation of motive. The intervention has triggered armed resistance by Venezuelan militia groups, Colombian rebel fighters (ELN), and further refugee flows across the hemisphere.
The 2025 V-Dem report found that 45 countries are experiencing autocratization, while only 19 are democratizing. Autocracies (91) now outnumber democracies (88) for the first time in over two decades. The Tyranny Tracker classifies 74 democracies, 25 hybrid authoritarian regimes, and 80 fully authoritarian regimes. Among the most consequential findings, the V-Dem report identified the United States as undergoing the fastest evolving autocratization episode in its modern history. This represents a seismic shift in the global democratic landscape.
In January 2026, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned the General Assembly that the world faces brazen violations of international law. He specifically criticized Russia for invading Ukraine, the United States for its military operations in Venezuela, and the general culture of impunity. His words bear repeating in their essence: when leaders pick and choose which rules to follow, they undermine global order and set a perilous precedent.
As legal scholars have documented, violations of international law are contagious. When one powerful nation breaks the rules, others follow, and democracies too lower their standards. The rules-based order built after World War II is under existential threat.
The following table provides the most comprehensive mapping we can offer of the leaders, regimes, and situations where violence, authoritarian rule, or violations of international law are documented by credible international institutions. It includes over 45 countries and covers every continent. Sources include the ICC, ICJ, V-Dem, Freedom House, the Economist Intelligence Unit, ACLED, the ICRC, the Human Rights Foundation’s Tyranny Tracker, and the Council on Foreign Relations.
| Country / Region | Leader / Regime | Key Violations | Accountability Status |
| Russia | Vladimir Putin | Full-scale invasion of Ukraine (2022–present), annexation of Crimea, war crimes, bombing civilian infrastructure, mass deportation of children | ICC arrest warrant (March 2023); estimated 200,000–285,000 Russian casualties |
| Israel | Benjamin Netanyahu | Military operations in Gaza (21,000+ killed 2024–25), starvation as method of warfare, bombing of hospitals and schools, operations in Lebanon, joint strikes on Iran (Feb–Mar 2026) | ICC arrest warrant (Nov 2024); ICJ genocide case (South Africa v. Israel); multiple countries filed intervention declarations |
| United States | Donald Trump | Military intervention in Venezuela (Jan 2026), joint strikes on Iran killing supreme leader (Feb 2026), 5,000+ targets struck in Iran, sanctions on ICC, withdrawal from Paris Agreement, tariff violations of WTO rules | Multiple int’l law analyses cite violations of UN Charter Art. 2(4), WTO rules; V-Dem: fastest autocratization episode in US modern history |
| China | Xi Jinping | Repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang (credible genocide allegations), suppression of Hong Kong democracy, threats to Taiwan, digital surveillance state | Fully authoritarian per all indices; not ICC member; UN Commission documentation |
| Iran | Ali Khamenei (killed Feb 2026) / Mojtaba Khamenei (successor) | Violent crackdown killing thousands of protesters (Jan 2026), retaliatory strikes on Israel and US bases across 9 countries, support for proxy militias | Fully authoritarian; retaliatory strikes in 12 countries; Strait of Hormuz closure |
| North Korea | Kim Jong Un | Nuclear weapons program, political prison camps (est. 80,000–120,000 detained), systematic torture, executions, total information control | UN Commission found crimes against humanity; fully authoritarian; not ICC member |
| Myanmar | Military junta (Min Aung Hlaing) | 2021 military coup, ongoing civil war (15,000+ casualties 2024–25), mass atrocities against Rohingya and other ethnic groups | ICC investigation; ICJ genocide case (The Gambia v. Myanmar); hearings concluded Jan 2026 |
| Afghanistan | Taliban (Haibatullah Akhundzada) | Systematic persecution of women and girls, elimination of rights to education/movement/expression, destruction of civil liberties | ICC arrest warrants issued (July 2025) for crimes against humanity; gender-based persecution landmark case |
| Philippines | Rodrigo Duterte (former president) | Extrajudicial killings (est. up to 30,000) in ‘war on drugs’, Davao Death Squad operations | ICC indicted March 2025, arrested and transferred to The Hague; first Asian leader at ICC |
| Sudan | SAF / RSF leaders | Civil war since April 2023, mass atrocities in Darfur/Kordofan, famine affecting millions, 20,000+ killed 2024–25 | ICC conviction of Al-Rahman (Oct 2025, 20 years); one of world’s deadliest conflicts |
| Libya | Fragmented governance / militia leaders | Ongoing armed conflict, detention center torture, militia rule | ICC warrant for Osama Almasri (Libyan judicial police chief); arrested Nov 2025 |
| Mali | Military junta (Assimi Goïta) | Sahel insurgency, jihadist blockade of Bamako, civilian casualties, expulsion of UN peacekeepers | ICC conviction of Al Hassan (war crimes in Timbuktu); authoritarian regime |
| Saudi Arabia | Mohammed bin Salman | Yemen war involvement (worst humanitarian crisis), extrajudicial killings (Khashoggi), suppression of dissent, mass executions | Fully authoritarian; not ICC member; no accountability mechanisms |
| Turkey | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | Erosion of judicial independence, mass imprisonment of journalists/academics, post-2016 purges affecting 150,000+ people, military interventions in Syria | Hybrid authoritarian per Tyranny Tracker |
| Egypt | Abdel Fattah el-Sisi | Mass imprisonment of 60,000+ political prisoners, enforced disappearances, suppression of press, systematic torture | Fully authoritarian; Freedom House score among lowest |
| Venezuela | Nicolás Maduro (deposed Jan 2026) | Authoritarian rule, fraudulent elections, suppression of opposition, economic collapse driving 7M+ refugees | US military intervention Jan 2026 (widely condemned as violating UN Charter); ICC investigation |
| Hungary | Viktor Orbán | Systematic dismantling of democratic institutions, media capture, judicial erosion, attacks on academic freedom, blocking EU rule-of-law measures | EU rule-of-law proceedings; classified as democratic backsliding |
| Belarus | Alexander Lukashenko | Fraudulent 2020 election, violent crackdown on protests (35,000+ detained), forced landing of Ryanair flight, complicity in Ukraine invasion | Transitioned to closed autocracy per V-Dem 2025 |
| Eritrea | Isaias Afwerki | Indefinite military conscription, no elections since 1993, total suppression of press, involvement in Tigray war, escalation with Ethiopia | Fully authoritarian; among lowest-ranked globally |
| Nicaragua | Daniel Ortega | Imprisonment of opposition candidates, closure of 3,000+ NGOs, elimination of political plurality, abolition of term limits | Fully authoritarian; Organization of American States condemnation |
| Tunisia | Kaïs Saïed | Crackdown on journalists and union leaders, arbitrary prosecution, disqualification of opposition candidates | Largest score decline in Freedom House 2025; authoritarian slide |
| Ethiopia | Abiy Ahmed | Tigray conflict (est. 300,000–500,000 deaths), ethnic violence in Amhara and Oromia, renewed fighting 2025–26, escalation risk with Eritrea | Nobel Peace Prize winner (2019) now overseeing mass violence; paper peace in 2022 collapsed |
| DR Congo | Félix Tshisekedi / armed groups | Decades of conflict, M23 and 100+ militia groups, mass displacement (7M+), exploitation of mineral resources, atrocities against civilians | ICC cases ongoing; among world’s deadliest and most ignored conflicts |
| Yemen | Houthi leadership / fragmented governance | Civil war since 2014, Houthi attacks on international shipping, Saudi/US strikes killing civilians, famine | One of world’s worst humanitarian crises; 150,000+ killed |
| Syria | Post-Assad transitional / fragmented | 13+ years of civil war, chemical weapons use, 500,000+ killed, Israeli and Turkish military interventions ongoing | Assad regime collapsed Dec 2024; state fragmentation; jihadist resurgence risk |
| Somalia | Fragmented governance | Al-Shabaab insurgency, clan violence, withdrawal of international support, expanded territorial control by armed groups | Failed state conditions; humanitarian emergency |
| Colombia | Gustavo Petro / armed groups | Stalled peace process, ELN and FARC dissident fighters, drug cartels with military-grade weapons, kidnappings | Peace process derailment; resurgent violence despite 2016 accord |
| Mexico | Claudia Sheinbaum / cartel violence | Cartel warfare functioning as armed conflict, heavy weapons, 30,000+ homicides annually, territorial control by organized crime | Meets definition of armed conflict; violence normalized |
| Haiti | No functioning government | Gang control of Port-au-Prince, kidnappings, extortion, street battles, elections repeatedly delayed | Failed state; active armed conflict on doorstep of Americas |
| South Sudan | Salva Kiir / Riek Machar factions | Clashes between government and opposition, election delays, ethnic violence, displacement | Fragile peace under strain; fears of large-scale civil war |
| Iraq | Fragmented governance / militias | Iran-backed militia activity, Islamic Resistance strikes, remnants of ISIS, US military targets struck | Ongoing instability; caught in Iran-US crossfire |
| Turkmenistan | Serdar Berdimuhamedow | Total information control, personality cult, forced labor, suppression of all dissent | Among most closed societies on earth; fully authoritarian |
| Tajikistan | Emomali Rahmon | Elimination of political opposition, persecution of Pamiri minority, forced disappearances | Fully authoritarian; president since 1994 |
| Uzbekistan | Shavkat Mirziyoyev | Continued restrictions on freedom of assembly and media despite limited reforms | Authoritarian; limited improvements insufficient |
| Azerbaijan | Ilham Aliyev | Imprisonment of opposition, arrests of journalists, military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh displacing 100,000+ Armenians | ICC Armenia v. Azerbaijan case at ICJ; authoritarian |
| Cambodia | Hun Manet (succeeding Hun Sen) | Dissolution of opposition party, suppression of media, border conflict escalation with Thailand 2025–26 | Democratic facade over authoritarian control |
| Cameroon | Paul Biya | Anglophone crisis (5,000+ killed), military crackdowns on separatists, suppression of dissent, president in power since 1982 | Authoritarian; growing insurgent activity |
| Burkina Faso | Military junta (Ibrahim Traoré) | Military coup, Sahel insurgency, civilian displacement, expulsion of international organizations | Fully authoritarian; escalating conflict |
| Niger | Military junta (Abdourahamane Tchiani) | 2023 military coup, closed autocracy, expulsion of French/US forces, alignment with Russia | Transitioned to closed autocracy per V-Dem 2025 |
| Equatorial Guinea | Teodoro Obiang Nguema | Longest-serving head of state (since 1979), systematic corruption, suppression of all political opposition | Fully authoritarian |
| Cuba | Miguel Díaz-Canel | One-party state, imprisonment of dissidents, suppression of 2021 protests, economic crisis | Authoritarian; crackdown on civil liberties |
| Rwanda | Paul Kagame | Suppression of opposition, extrajudicial killings, support for M23 rebels in DRC, elimination of political plurality | Authoritarian; opposition candidates arrested or disqualified |
| Uganda | Yoweri Museveni | Anti-homosexuality law (death penalty provisions), suppression of opposition, president since 1986 | Authoritarian; systematic human rights violations |
| Bahrain | King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa | Crackdown on 2011 protests, imprisonment of activists, torture, sectarian discrimination against Shia majority | Authoritarian; Iranian strikes on US base in Bahrain (2026) |
| India | Narendra Modi | Democratic erosion, suppression of dissent in Kashmir, anti-Muslim legislation, press freedom decline, border tensions with Pakistan | Classified as hybrid authoritarian by Tyranny Tracker; flawed democracy by EIU |
| Pakistan | Military-civilian power struggle | Military interference in politics, suppression of former PM’s party, press censorship, border tensions with India and Afghanistan | Hybrid authoritarian; nuclear-armed state |
| Indonesia | Prabowo Subianto | Past human rights allegations, democratic backsliding concerns, Papua conflict | Hybrid authoritarian per Tyranny Tracker |
| Thailand | Hybrid regime | Military-influenced governance, lese-majesté laws suppressing speech, 2014 coup legacy, legal tools tilting political competition | Hybrid authoritarian per Tyranny Tracker |
| Singapore | Lee Hsien Loong legacy / Lawrence Wong | Authoritarian constitutionalism, defamation suits against opposition, restrictions on assembly and speech | Hybrid authoritarian per multiple indices |
Note: This table is not exhaustive. Additional countries experiencing significant political violence or democratic erosion include Ecuador, the Western Balkans, the Central African Republic, Chad, Gabon, Guinea, Laos, Vietnam, and others. The table represents documented assessments from credible international bodies and does not constitute definitive legal findings.
The ICC is humanity’s primary instrument for individual criminal accountability. As of 2026, 125 states are parties to the Rome Statute. Key recent developments:
The United States has imposed sanctions on ICC prosecutors and judges. Russia sentenced ICC officials to prison in absentia. Powerful states not party to the Rome Statute — the US, China, Russia, India, and Israel — operate largely beyond the ICC’s reach. This structural impunity is the single greatest obstacle to international justice and the single greatest invitation to further violence.
Following the killing of Supreme Leader Khamenei, Iran’s president declared that revenge is the nation’s legitimate right and duty. This language is not unique to Iran. After October 7, 2023, Israel declared its right to self-defense as justification for an operation that has killed tens of thousands and reduced Gaza to rubble. After perceived provocations, Russia claimed the right to a ‘special military operation.’ After its own determination, the United States claimed the right to regime change in Venezuela and Iran.
Every party in every conflict in human history has claimed the right to respond to the other’s violence. Every party has justified its own strikes as defensive, proportionate, or necessary. And every cycle of revenge has produced not resolution, but the conditions for the next cycle. This is the fundamental trap: revenge feels like justice, but it is the engine of perpetual war.
The invasion of Ukraine has not brought Russia security — it has brought hundreds of thousands of casualties and a destabilized continent. The military operations in Gaza have not brought Israel safety — they have deepened regional hatred and created the conditions for future conflict. The bombing of Iran will not bring peace to the Middle East — it will radicalize a new generation and ensure that the next war is more devastating than the last. The intervention in Venezuela has not brought stability — it has triggered armed resistance and hemispheric destabilization.
In every sport on earth, we have understood a fundamental truth that our political leaders refuse to accept: when two parties fight, you separate them. You do not give them bigger weapons.
In football, when players brawl, the referee separates them, issues penalties, and removes the aggressors from the field. In boxing, when a fighter commits a foul, the referee steps between them, issues a warning, and enforces consequences. In ice hockey, fighting results in penalties and ejection. In basketball, players who fight are immediately separated, fined, and suspended. No sport responds to a fight by giving both sides more powerful equipment and telling them to settle it. No sport considers revenge an acceptable resolution.
Why do we accept in international relations what we would never accept on a playing field? Why do we arm both sides of conflicts, sell weapons to authoritarian regimes, and then express surprise when those weapons are used? Why do we respond to violence with more violence and call it ‘policy’?
Real diplomacy does what every good referee does: it separates those who fight, creates space for de-escalation, enforces rules equally, and removes those who refuse to comply. The current approach — arming allies, bombing adversaries, and calling it peace — is the opposite of diplomacy. It is the industrialization of revenge.
Real diplomacy requires the courage to do what the Omani mediator was doing before the bombs fell on Iran: sitting between adversaries, finding common ground, building agreements that both sides can live with. Real diplomacy means arms embargoes, not arms sales. It means enforcing international law equally, not selectively. It means investing in the infrastructure of peace — education, development, cultural exchange, economic cooperation — with the same urgency and resources we invest in the infrastructure of war.
The most tragic detail of the 2026 Iran war is this: the Omani mediator had just briefed major progress. Iran had reportedly agreed to zero enriched uranium stockpile. And then the bombs began. Diplomacy was working. It was killed by the decision to choose violence.
The physical destruction of war is visible. The psychological destruction is not — but it is equally devastating and far more enduring. Research consistently shows that rates of anxiety, depression, and PTSD are two- to three-fold higher among people exposed to armed conflict compared to those who have not been exposed, with women and children being the most vulnerable. In conflict-affected populations, studies have found prevalence rates of up to 72% for anxiety symptoms, 68% for depression, and 42% for PTSD. Suicidal ideation among conflict-affected populations ranges from 2% to 12%, and in some populations much higher.
A landmark longitudinal study published in January 2026 followed over 1,000 individuals in conflict zones over a full year. At baseline, 75% of participants reported at least one probable clinical condition. After twelve months of continued conflict exposure, 66% still showed elevated symptoms. The study found that initial traumatic stressors predicted persistently elevated anxiety, depression, PTSD, and betrayal-based moral injury. The symptoms did not diminish with time — they persisted and in many cases deepened.
In Gaza, where populations already experienced high levels of psychological distress before October 2023, the humanitarian catastrophe has pushed mental health indicators to catastrophic levels. Studies predating the current conflict revealed that nearly 70% of Gazans already suffered from depression. The destruction of 84% of medical facilities by January 2025 has left virtually no mental health services available for a population in acute psychological crisis.
Moral injury is a concept that has emerged from research on war veterans, but its implications extend far beyond the military. Moral injury is the damage done to a person’s soul when they perpetrate, fail to prevent, bear witness to, or learn about acts that violate their deeply held moral beliefs. It manifests as profound shame, guilt, loss of meaning, spiritual crisis, inability to reconnect emotionally with loved ones, and in severe cases, suicidal ideation.
Research on veterans has found that moral injury is associated with global mental health severity, pain, sleep disorders, fear of death, anomie, and substance misuse. Among combat veterans, more active roles in killing were more strongly related to PTSD, psychiatric symptoms, and suicide than passive roles. Crucially, researchers have noted that by focusing solely on the individual’s psychological response, we risk exonerating the military and political leaders who bear corporate culpability for the morally injurious situations they create.
But moral injury is not limited to soldiers. Every child in Gaza who witnesses the destruction of their school suffers moral injury. Every Ukrainian civilian who watches their neighbor’s home destroyed suffers moral injury. Every Iranian who loses a family member to airstrikes while their government claims it is defending them suffers moral injury. Every citizen of every country whose government commits violence in their name — whether Russian, Israeli, American, or any other — carries the weight of that moral injury, whether they recognize it or not.
Perhaps the most devastating aspect of war’s mental health impact is its intergenerational nature. Parents exposed to war show less warmth toward their children, treat them more harshly, and partly mediate the association between war exposure and child maladjustment. Children raised in conflict zones exhibit traumatic stress symptoms, depression, anxiety, social problems, and externalizing behaviors. The prevalence of violence against women in conflict zones reaches 30–40%, with over 75% of children experiencing violence. Family violence becomes a secondary vector of war-related psychological harm.
This means that the wars of 2026 will not end when the fighting stops. They will echo through the mental health of survivors, their children, and their grandchildren. The anxiety of a displaced Sudanese mother will become the developmental disruption of her child. The PTSD of a Ukrainian veteran will shape the emotional landscape of his family. The moral injury of an American soldier ordered to bomb a school in Iran will haunt him for decades. We are planting seeds of suffering that will grow for generations.
The psychological impact of global conflict extends far beyond the conflict zones themselves. Even those who experience war only through news coverage report grief, depression, fear, anxiety, anger, and guilt. The constant exposure to images of destruction, the helplessness of watching civilians die, the moral distress of knowing that one’s own government may be complicit — these affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The mental health crisis is not confined to war zones. It is a global epidemic driven by the normalization of violence.
Suicide rates rise in response to the economic crises that accompany war. Financial stressors driven by conflict — rising oil prices, inflation, job losses, disrupted supply chains — become primary drivers of suicidal ideation and attempts. The $100-per-barrel oil triggered by the Iran war is not just an economic statistic. It is a mental health event that will push vulnerable people around the world closer to despair.
History teaches with relentless clarity that violence does not resolve conflict — it transforms it, deepens it, and perpetuates it across generations. Every war launched with the promise that force would bring resolution has instead brought suffering that echoed for decades. No conflict in this report was resolved by the violence applied to it. Not one. The invasion of Ukraine did not bring Russia security. The operations in Gaza did not bring Israel safety. The bombing of Iran will not bring peace to the Middle East. The intervention in Venezuela did not bring stability to the hemisphere.
Behind every statistic in this report is a human being. A child in Sudan who will never go to school because her village was burned. A family in Gaza living in the rubble of what was their home. A Ukrainian teenager who has known nothing but war for a quarter of his life. An Afghan girl whose right to education was erased by decree. An Iranian mother mourning children killed at school by airstrikes. A Filipino mother who lost her son to a death squad. An American soldier carrying the moral injury of orders he cannot reconcile with his conscience. These are not abstractions. These are the consequences of the choices made by the leaders named in this document.
At the World Happiness Foundation, we understand that freedom, consciousness, and happiness are not luxuries — they are the foundations upon which every healthy society is built. The concept of Fundamental Peace, which we define as the intersection of freedom, consciousness, and happiness, cannot coexist with the normalization of violence. You cannot build a happy society on the foundations of domination. You cannot cultivate consciousness when fear is the primary instrument of governance. You cannot achieve freedom when the powerful act with impunity. And you cannot heal the moral injuries of war when the wars never end.
We call upon civil society worldwide to condemn all acts of political violence, military aggression, and authoritarian repression, regardless of who commits them. The violence of Russia in Ukraine is no more justified than the violence of the United States in Iran. The repression of the Taliban is no more acceptable than the suppression of dissent in Egypt. The bombing of civilians in Gaza is no more defensible than the bombing of civilians in Tehran. Moral clarity demands consistency. There are no good bombs.
We call on all nations and leaders to reject the logic of revenge and embrace the logic of separation and de-escalation. Specifically:
Condemning violence is necessary but not sufficient. We must build the institutions, practices, and cultures that make peace sustainable. This means peace education from the earliest ages. It means supporting the UN University for Peace, the ICRC, and civil society organizations building bridges. It means reimagining leadership as the courage to choose dialogue over force, empathy over fear, and justice over vengeance. It means defending democratic institutions — free press, independent judiciary, free elections, civil liberties — as the infrastructure of human dignity.
We stand at a crossroads. Down one path lies the continued normalization of violence, the entrenchment of authoritarianism, and the disintegration of international law. Down this path lies an endless cycle of revenge, the proliferation of moral injury, the destruction of mental health across generations, and ultimately the unraveling of our shared humanity. This path has a name: it is the world of March 2026 — a world where over 130 armed conflicts rage, where autocracies outnumber democracies, where schools are bombed during negotiations, where revenge is called a right, and where the powerful act with impunity.
Down the other path lies the hard, courageous work of building a world where freedom, consciousness, and happiness are not privileges of the powerful but rights of every human being. This path requires us to reject violence absolutely. To demand accountability universally. To invest in diplomacy relentlessly. To heal the psychological wounds of war systematically. And to refuse — absolutely and without exception — to accept the normalization of a world built on force.
The World Happiness Foundation chooses the second path. We choose to believe that humanity is capable of better. We choose to speak clearly: violence is never the answer. Domination is never leadership. Revenge is never justice. And impunity is never peace.
We call on every person reading this document to stand with us. Condemn the violence. Demand accountability. Support the institutions of international justice. Champion real diplomacy that separates those who fight instead of arming them. Invest in mental health and healing. Build peace in your communities, your organizations, and your families. And refuse to accept a world where bombing a school can be called necessary, where revenge can be called a right, and where suffering can be called collateral.
The world we want is not a utopia. It is a choice. And the time to make that choice is now.
Luis Miguel Gallardo
Founder & President, World Happiness Foundation
Author of Happytalism
Professor of Practice, Yogananda School of Spirituality and Happiness, Shoolini University
March 2026
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