| Posted: May 14 2010,04:17 |
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Postal address of organization/institution
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Secretariat of the European Forum for Restorative Justice, Hooverplein 10 , 3000 Leuven , Belgium
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E-mail address of organization/institution
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info@euforumrj.org
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Website address of organization/institution
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http://www.euforumrj.org
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Telephone of organization/institution
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Tel. +32 16 32 54 29
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PRIORITIES: All of the organization's domains of culture of peace activity |
HUMAN RIGHTS
UNDERSTANDING, TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY
FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION
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TOP PRIORITY: The organization's most important culture of peace activity |
HUMAN RIGHTS
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PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORKS: What
partnerships and networks does your organization participate in, thus
strengthening the global movement for a culture of peace? |
There are numerous partners on particular projects that may be found on the website
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ACTIONS: What activities have
been undertaken by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence during the ten years of the Decade? If you already made a
report in 2005, your information from 2005 will be included in the 2010
report.
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Building
restorative justice in Europe. Cooperation between the public, policy
makers, practitioners and researchers' was the title of the fifth
conference of the European Forum, which was held in Verona in April
2008.
A substantial part of the conference was devoted to the
AGIS project "Restorative justice: an agenda for Europe". In addition
to presenting and discussing the difficulties encountered in Southern
Europe to consolidate the implementation of restorative justice and
their possible answers, the need and possibilities for further
regulation and action in this field on behalf of the European Union
were discussed.
* *
The fourth conference of the European
Forum, Restorative justice and beyond - an agenda for Europe, intended
to broaden the perspective on restorative justice whilst retaining the
core topic of 'justice'. In this conference the European Forum, for the
first time, explored in detail what lies beyond the 'classical'
application of restorative justice.
The conference covered five major themes:
1. restorative justice, peace-making and peace-building;
2. community mediation, working towards justice in a broad sense - beyond the intervention of criminal law agencies;
3.
dealing with more severe crimes in a restorative way: exploring the
place for restorative justice programmes that are not restricted to
pre-trial diversion of petty offences;
4. the school mediation
movement is increasingly widespread, attempting to handle conflicts
beyond - or rather before - the law according to the same principles as
restorative justice, and beyond the traditional offender orientation
that marks the criminal justice system;
5. good practice for restorative justice, which is vital to establish a solid basis for the new approach to justice.
* *
On
14-16 October 2004, the Forum organised its third biennial conference,
"Restorative justice in Europe: Where are we heading?" in Budapest,
Hungary. The conference mainly looked at the consequences of the
increased implementation of restorative justice. Indeed, restorative
justice is becoming fashionable with politicians and the criminal
justice system in several European countries. Why has it suddenly
attracted so much interest? Should we welcome it or treat it with
caution? Are there specific societal factors that favour restorative
justice? The conference reviewed the present situation in a European
context, but also considered potentially positive and negative effects
when restorative justice is being embraced by the establishment.
217
people from 35 different European and non-European countries
participated in this conference, making it the best attended conference
that the Forum has organised up till now. More than 50 Central and
Eastern Europeans could benefit from a waiver of the registration fee.
They were invited to the conference in the framework of the AGIS 2
project, Meeting the challenges of introducing victim-offender
mediation in Central and Eastern Europe.
* *
On 10-12
October 2002, the Forum organised its second biennial conference,
"Restorative justice and its relation to the criminal justice system",
in Oostende, at the Belgian coast. This conference brought together
some 180 people from all around Europe to discuss the modes of
co-operation between the criminal justice system and restorative
justice practices. The conference focused on the perception of
restorative justice practices by different agencies of the criminal
justice system and on the way these practices can have an impact on the
different stages of the criminal justice process. The relationship
between the criminal justice system and restorative justice practices
was explored at the different stages of the criminal justice process
and from the viewpoint of its respective protagonists: the police, the
state prosecutors, the judges, the prison and other agencies involved
in the implementation of (non-) custodial sentences.
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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 second half of the
Decade? |
Progress
has been made over the past 10 years in that most European countries
now have a legislative framework for the provision of restorative
justice services for people affected by youth crime.
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OBSTACLES: Has your organization faced any obstacles to implementing the culture of peace and nonviolence? If so, what were they?
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The
biggest obstacle is securing adequate funding for all the work that
needs within our domain. We do not have the resources to the
demand.
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PLANS: What new engagements are
planned by your organization in the short, medium and long term to
promote a culture of peace and nonviolence? |
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In the short term we aim to secure funding through engagement with
European Institutions. In the medium term we aim to support
initiatives at local, national and regional events that promote the use
of restorative justice. In the long term we want every victim of
a crime in Europe to be able to access a restorative justice service if
they so wish.
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GLOBAL MOVEMENT: How do you think the culture of peace and nonviolence could be strengthened and supported at the world level??
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