The Ukraine Dialogue Support Platform is an online and in-country platform that helps Ukrainian dialogue actors connect with each other, explore their needs, and communicate with national actors and the international community, utilising interactive, modern dialogue technologies.
Brendan McAllister, in an interview with Lynn Finnegan, reflects on a conversation he had with the Dalai Lama in Northern Ireland, who was there on a peace mission sitting in with a Catholic priest: "This is what mediation is trying to facilitate - enabling the process to see beyond what is evident and rather, to become informed by their own inferiority". You can access this beautiful article here: The Art of Mediation.
One of the pillars of the European Union’s external policy is the promotion of democracy. The EU conditions its assistance to the quality of democratic practice, the emblem of which is electoral behaviour and the institutions that support free and fair elections.
The recent announcement of the Libyan National Transitional Council’s 24-minister cabinet reveals a complex power-balance in the interim government between the country’s regions; those who fought during the anti-Gaddafi insurgency; as well as financial interests.
Over the coming months, the new cabinet has set itself the urgent tasks of:
Election violence has received much attention over recent years. It is seen universally as a vital problem to address within the democratisation process, but its complexities and sensitivities have as yet not been fully addressed: still the international community is faced with the challenge of identifying feasible and timely responses in the face of election-related tensions and violence.
‘Transitional justice’ has become an essential part of peacebuilding. As a tool for dealing with a violent past, it has taken centre stage. While there are multiple definitions, they often centre around the judicial and non-judicial approaches for dealing with the legacies of massive and systematic human rights violations, be that in the context of repressive regimes, or armed conflicts.
Dr Juan Diaz is mediatEUr’s Berlin Representative. He is a mediator, trainer and facilitator working on political, economic and social integration. He is a trilingual conflict resolution specialist with over 15 years of experience managing mediations in conflict-affected regions, especially in east and central Europe.
Today is the 10th of December, the day on which the European Union receives the Nobel Peace Prize. It is a prize hard earned. As Europeans we can be proud not only of the creation of the European Union, but the work from its citizens that made war unthinkable in Europe.
"Political negotiations need a societal climate that is conducive to peace. Society is like a greenhouse; a peace process is like a plant that grows in the greenhouse. The climatic conditions must become right and must be kept right"
"Disputes arising over implementation terms may not just arise between the parties, but also between parties and implementers, and between implementers and other implementers. As a result, and perhaps paradoxically, more mediation may in fact be required at this time, and between more actors, rather than less."
Most would agree these days that mediation doesn’t stop with the signing of a peace agreement – or, as Elizabeth Cousens put it, that ‘it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.’
