| Posted: Mar. 13 2005,09:35 |
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PROGRESS: Has your organization seen
progress toward a culture of peace and nonviolence in your domain of
action and in your constituency during the first half of the Decade? |
We
see little progress toward a culture of peace and non-violence in the
ten years that we have existed and have been working in eastern
Croatia, northern Bosnia and Serbia. Despite ten years having
passed since the end of the wars in the Balkans, tensions between and
among groups are still high. We see increasing rates of suicide
and family violence. There are many incidents of discrimination
and civil violence that go unreported. Return of people to their
homes is at a virtual standstill and very little is being done by
anyone to encourage it. Although there has been some physical
reconstruction, there is little work being done on the psychological
state of people. Economic progress is minimal. There are
high rates of unemployment. There is still a large number of
landmines in Croatia and Bosnia. There is little progress on
civil society issues, and the number of groups is still small,
especially outside cities. Those groups that do exist still have
minimal skills. Thus, there is still a great deal of work to be
done.
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OBSTACLES: What are the most important obstacles that have prevented progress?
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We
feel that the main obstacles are local and international politics and
the attitudes of the agencies giving aid. These attitudes
unfortunately involve short-term approaches and relatively small sums
of funds. While the term sustainability is used, the need for
long-term mentoring is negated. Agencies have timetables for
stages that are not based on the reality of local progress. Many
local and national politicians use the problems for their own gain.
Lack of capacity and training is another major barrier.
Funds are needed to train people in trauma, reconciliation, civil
society and work attitudes. The change from
Communist/totalitarian to democratic and capitalist systems has not
been assisted well.
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ACTIONS: What actions have been
undertaken by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence during the first half of the Decade?
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We
refer the Secretary-General and the General Assembly and others who are
interested in the actions that we have taken to look at our website,
www.cwwpp.org. All documents and actions referred to below may be
seen in detail there.
First, we have developed a flexible plan for
training people in trauma, non-violent conflict resolution and civil
society. We have used this plan to train and mentor some forty
groups on a long-term basis. This work clearly shows that self-help
groups can be used to augment the deficiencies in the number of
professions required in post-conflict areas.
We have also carried
treatment of a number of groups, including former soldiers, women and
the victims of domestic violence, the families of the mentally ill,
invalids youth and those who remained in areas during the war.
We
feel that particularly former soldiers and youth are priorities.
The former soldiers are highly traumatized and they generally
have weapons to carry out further violence. They are, in many
cases, the causes of the problem. Thus, if further violence is to
be prevented, there must be a great deal of attention paid to their
problems.
Youth and children are another priority. The work
must not only be in the development of "youth skills" but in dealing
with their deeper problems, that is, their direct traumatization and
the transmission of trauma to them by their parents, teachers and other
important persons.
We have found that it is necessary to work at the
levels of the individual, the family, the group, the neighborhood, the
community and the society.
One of our most important actions has
been and will continue to be the founding of a field institute for
post-conflict studies. This institute will include centers for
inter-religious and inter-ethnic dialogue, psychological trauma and
health in general, civil society and democratization including all
societal factors that contribute to further development, non-violent
conflict transformation and human rights.
The general aim of the
institute is to research factors that contribute to violence and those
that assist in diminishing it. Another aim is to bring together
theory and practice. The interns whom we have had in the course
of our ten years of existence have indicated that much of what they are
learning in the classroom has little to do with what they see in the
field. Further, we have heard complaints from people in the field
that programs do not meet their needs. Another aim of the
institute is to look at these questions and to develop programs that
will truly meet the needs of post-conflict areas. We thus will
bring together academics on the one hand and those in the field on the
other. Further, an aim of the institute is to train people who
will develop policy and programs in the future.
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ADVICE: What advice would you like to
give to the Secretary-General and the General Assembly to promote a
culture of peace and nonviolence during the second half of the Decade? |
We
would urge the Secretary-General and the General Assembly to work on
long-term integrated plans such as our Strategy of Complex
Rehabilitation for integration, return and reconciliation. We
would urge them to concentrate on capacity building and such issues as
psychological trauma, transmission of trauma and predjudice and the
basics of civil society and democracy. These must be actions as
well as words. The funding of such actions must at very least be
equal to and should exceed the amount spent on military actions.
Local people should be listened to. We would urge the
support of actions such as our Field Institute for Post-Conflict
Studies to research effective ways of working with conflict.
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PARTNERSHIPS: What partnerships and
networks does your organization participate in, thus strengthening the
global movement for a culture of peace? |
The CWWPP is participating with a number of local organizations in various programs.
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PLANS: What new engagements are
planned by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence in the second half of the Decade (2005-2010)? |
A complete strategic plan for one, five and ten years for the CWWPP is given on our website.
We
plan to continue the work of developing reconciliation and the
rejuvination of the societies in this region through integrated work on
psychological trauma, non-violent conflict resolution, democratization
and civil society. We will do this through a combination of
capacity building, research and field work.
The Field Institute for
Post-Conflict Studies is an important part of our plans for the second
half of the Decade. We plan that academic and other institutions
will become part of it and that it will expand.
We wish also to expand our work to other regions.
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Postal address of organization
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Gunduliceva 18
32000 Vukovar
Croatia
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E-mail address of organization
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cwwppvuk@zamir.net
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Website address of organization
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www.cwwpp.org
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Highest priority action domain of a culture of peace
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Understanding, tolerance, solidarity
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Second priority action domain of a culture of peace
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Sustainable development
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Highest priority country of action (or international)
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Croatia
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Second priority country of action (or international)
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Bosnia
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