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News bulletin autumn/winter 2007
New publications and materials from CR
Recent activities
Forthcoming events
Developments at CR and a special offer
CR's news bulletin subscription policy: please subscribe to CR's email news bulletin if you wish to receive our quarterly news.
Building Paths to Peace – the Bo Peace and Reconciliation Movement
CR has just published a fully illustrated 44-page book documenting the extraordinary work of one of our partners in Sierra Leone, the Bo Peace and Reconciliation Movement (BPRM). CR has worked with BPRM since 1995 and over a decade later, the movement is recognized at a national level for its pioneering work helping prevent and resolve over 1,000 cases of both armed violence and community disputes.
Published in November 2007 (available for £7.99 +p&p), the book documents the context and work of the BPRM using analysis and case studies to illustrate how traditional and modern methods of peacebuilding have been so successfully brought together. more...
Twelve Artists, One Town – 2008 calendar
CR and Radio Soma, Abkhazia’s first independent radio station, have produced a 2008 calendar which features a collection of paintings of the Abkhaz capital, Sukhum/i. A town on the Black Sea coast, Sukhum/i was culturally rich and ethnically diverse before the 1992-93 Georgian-Abkhaz war.
The calendar features work by Abkhaz, Georgian, Russian and Tartar artists who lived in Sukhum/i before the war, some of whom have contributed thoughts on what the town means for them. They speak about the past, the tragedy of the conflict, and the new realities of post-war Abkhazia. CR hopes that this calendar will help people on both sides to reflect on their shared past, on their continuing differences, and on the kind of future they want to build for themselves and for the next generation. more...
A limited number of copies of the calendar are available for purchase at £14.99 (+p&p).
Forthcoming Accord issue on the role of incentives, sanctions and conditionalities in peace processes
To be published in early 2008, this thematic Accord issue will explore under what circumstances incentives, sanctions and conditionality have a positive impact upon the conflict parties’ engagement in peacemaking. The diverse case studies in the issue (Darfur, Northern Ireland, Israel-Palestine, South Africa, Sri Lanka, northern Uganda, Georgia-Abkhazia, Cote d’Ivoire and Papua New Guinea - Bougainville) show how, in the absence of coherent and far-sighted peacemaking strategies, these policy tools tend to be ineffective or counterproductive. Yet the more positive experiences also yield lessons on how to encourage parties to the negotiating table and build momentum towards a sustainable agreement. Building on this narrative and analysis, the editors highlight the key dilemmas around exerting leverage in peace processes and identify some general principles to inform policy and practice. more...
Copies of Accord 19 can be ordered now.
CR’s submission to the UN Peacebuilding Commission
Conciliation Resources made a written submission to the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission on the draft ‘Sierra Leone Compact’ for the ‘Sierra Leone Framework for Cooperation’. We recommended that youth inclusion and empowerment should be mainstreamed into all the sectoral reforms, policies and programmes outlined in the Compact. We also suggested that the Compact give greater prominence to a range of peacebuilding issues. These include addressing the needs of young male and female ex-combatants; the incomplete reintegration and reconciliation processes; support for the legal and constitutional reform process; and a comprehensive approach to justice and security sector reform that includes support for community peace monitoring as well as greater civil society roles in policy-making. CR was then invited to make an oral submission to a meeting of Commission members in New York on 27 November. more...
Political crisis in Georgia
Georgia was engulfed in a tense stand-off between government and a coalition of opposition parties leading to the forceful dispersal of demonstrations on 7 November and the imposition of a state of emergency for ten days. CR tried to play a constructive role at this difficult time by showing solidarity to our partners and contributing to analysis of the situation in the international media. more...
Meeting of young Georgians and Abkhaz in Switzerland
Twenty Georgian and Abkhaz young people took part in a week-long dialogue and study visit to Switzerland at the end of August. The university students and recent graduates jointly analyzed the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict and discussed the potential role of young people in resolving it. In Berne and Geneva, the participants learned about the Swiss model of governance and the work of key international organizations. More about what we do in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict
Talking with the Enemy with Roelf Meyer and Catherine Barnes
CR has assisted with the organization of a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Conflict Issues on 12 December 2007 entitled Talking with the Enemy; Improving strategies for addressing violent conflict. This event aims to spark more discussion in Westminster about the importance of peace processes as a central strategy in dealing with violent conflict, whether in Iraq, Darfur, the Caucasus or elsewhere, and to offer ways of addressing shortcomings in the UK's current approach.
The speakers will be: Roelf Meyer - former chief negotiator for the National Party in South Africa, who helped negotiate the end of apartheid; and Catherine Barnes – CR Policy Adviser and author of Bridging the Gap: Improving UK Support for Peace Processes. By invitation only – contact cr@c-r.org for more information.
Developments at CR and a special offer
New features on the CR website
CR has a new homepage for our website with more space to represent our publications, news and events. We have also developed a new photo galleries feature with images and text from our Caucasus and West Africa programmes and we will be adding further galleries in the future. View the photogalleries.
Improved online purchasing of CR publications and materials: A new shopping section on the CR website now makes it easier to purchase print copies of CR’s publications and other materials. The section includes: all past issues of Accord: an international review of peace initiatives and associated resources; reports and working papers from our Comparative Learning and policy work; our Annual Review; and, books and audio/visual materials from our regional programmes. Items available to buy are also listed by language.
To launch the new CR web shop we have a special offer for a limited time only: A one year subscription to Accord (2 issues) for £19.99 (+p&p) – a 50% discount! This subscription special offer will include: Accord 19 on Incentives, sanctions and conditionalities (due Jan 08) and Accord 20 on Aceh (due summer 08); the 2007 Annual review of CR’s work; additional policy and comparative learning documents. For more details and to order from CR's web shop.
Welcome to the Board
CR is very pleased to welcome 5 new members to its board of trustees, who each bring with them a huge range of knowledge and experience. Barney Afako is a Ugandan lawyer and expert on transitional justice who has worked in the fields of human rights and criminal justice in Uganda, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom; Christine Bell is Director of the Transitional Justice Institute, and Professor of Public International Law, at University of Ulster; Roy Reeve was until recently Head of the OSCE Mission to Georgia after a long career in the diplomatic service; Teresa Whitfield is Director of the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum at the Social Science Research Council; Sue Williams is an independent consultant, assisting and training in conflict analysis, management, and prevention of escalation. Read biographies of all CR's board members,
CR's news bulletin subscription policy
The news bulletin is sent out to subscribers quarterly, providing a round-up of CR's news, publications and developments.
If you are not already on the list of subscribers, you can subscribe here.
If you no longer wish to receive emails from us, you can unsubscribe here.
We always welcome your feedback or comments. If you would like to contact us about any of the above please email: communications@c-r.org.
