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The Board members and staff of Conciliation Resources are saddened to learn of the sudden passing of our friend and former trustee Professor Chandra Lekha Sriram.
Ten years ago, on the 21 of October 2008, the first truck drivers and traders met on the Chakothi-Uri Bridge in Kashmir. The governments of India and Pakistan had just opened up the Line of Control (LoC) for limited trade as a measure aimed at building confidence between the different sides in Jammu and Kashmir. After six decades of violent conflict and the absence of any connection between the two sides, this marked a fundamental step for trust building and peacebuilding in the region.
This weekend saw the signing of an historic peace deal, between the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and the Government of Ethiopia. Conciliation Resources has been supporting this process for the past six years.
Eighteen years ago, on 31 October, the UN Security Council reaffirmed the vital role women play in the prevention of conflicts, with resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. Reams of research and evidence* have proved that peace processes that include women are more likely to succeed and be sustainable – but too often the work of these women goes unrecognised.
The new Consortium of ERMES, under the lead of the College of Europe, has recently signed a FWC contract with the European Commission to support the European Union in providing mediation and dialogue support in situations of need, with the steer of the EEAS, PRISM/Mediation Support team.
In 2016, Dieudonné was kidnapped by a group of armed men as he returned home from working the fields with his family. Along with twenty five other young people from his village, he was forced to march to the training camp of the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
Pioneers of peace often come from communities experiencing violence. Living at the hard-edge of conflict, they feel its effects every day – and are often best placed to understand its causes.
Matar Chaib lives in a war zone. His town of Bria, in the Central African Republic, has been controlled by warring armed groups since 2013. Despite living at the heart of conflict, he knew that peace was possible, and knew that he could make a change to help protect the people of the town.
Warmonger, despot, brutality, warfare - all of these words are in the dictionary, and for good reason. It’s important to have the words to express the world around us, particularly those related to violent conflict, which is on the rise around the world.
Mohammed was the leader of a violent armed gang in northeast Nigeria - a Youth Peace Platform helped him turn his life around.