IPF 2015: Implementing dignity, participation, and inclusion

Day 2

The morning’s session featured a panel of peace-builders who discussed their experiences implementing dignity, participation, and inclusion in their work.

Koenraad von Brabant of Interpeace explained that it is important to include all stakeholders of a conflict, not just the government and big corporations. If a population is affected by a conflict, they need to be involved in the peace-building process, even if they come from a remote village.

Ajsa Hadzibegovic from Civic Alliance explained the difficulties of an after-war situation and how they must be careful with the way they package peace-building activities. Because the government has not changed since the war, they cannot undertake peacebuilding activities openly, but need to present them as cultural or educational activities, for example.

Catriona Gourlay of PeaceNexus asked this question: do peace-building organisations respect the values they defend inside the organization? She admitted that it can be very difficult to have an inclusive leadership and explored some of the challenges that she faces in her organisation.

Lastly, Daphrose Ntarataze Barampama, President of Creators of Peace International, explained the values and methods of the peace circles, including the practice of silence and introspection as a first step in creating peaceful environments.

In the afternoon Abbas Aroua, Director of the Cordoba Foundation of Geneva, presented Islam/Arab perspectives on non-violent conflict transformation. He drew on Qruanic verses, Hadith, and Arabic linguistics to highlight the roots of peace (slim), love (rahma), and human dignity (karāma) within the Islamic tradition.

The evening programme gave the opportunity to participants to relax and to bond thanks to ice-breakers that allowed them to be more aware of themselves, mind and body, and of others.