Bloody Sunday Trust to host the  first ever Derry Peace and Conflict International Summer School

The city is set to host the  first ever Derry Peace and Conflict International Summer School.

Organised by Bloody Sunday Trust, the Conflict Transformation Seminar will take place from Monday, June 5 to Monday, June 12.

Speaking to Derry Now, Maeve McLaughlin the Director of the Bloody Sunday Trust said the event was the culmination of five years’ work around the conflict transformation work known as The Derry Model.

Explaining the Model, Maeve said: “Effectively we know that in this place we have delivered much in terms of outcomes. Among that could be: the Public Inquiry into Bloody Sunday; the public apology from former British Prime Minister, David Cameron; and the agreement on parading. In addition we have our ongoing processes around dialogue and around risk-taking and leadership.

“It is one of the dynamics of conflict transformation in Derry that we were very influenced by the Civil Rights Movement elsewhere. You only have to look back to the late 1960s and early 1970s.

“Now there is almost the reverse of that, where there is an international view which looks at Derry as a place that tackles injustice, promotes equality and actually delivers outcomes.

“The Bloody Sunday Trust has always been an organisation which looked creatively at human rights issues and made the connections around One World One Struggle. It is right that we should platform this work internationally,” said Maeve.

The participants attending the inaugural Derry Peace and Conflict International Summer School are from the Balkans Regions. They are: Valentina Gagić (co-founder of Sara-Srebrenica); Teresa Vazquez (Director of Development, International Coalition of Sites of Conscience); Sofija Todorovic (Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Serbia); Bio Nebojsa Glisic (B92 Fund, youth activism); Marko Klajic (Program Director, Post-Conflict Research Center); Marigona Shabiu (Executive Director, Youth Initiative for Human Rights - Kosovo);  Justine Di Mayo (Senior Program Manager for the Global Networks department); Dževada Šuško (Chief-of-Office, International Cooperation and Bosniak Diaspora at the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina); Branka Vierda (Program Director, Youth Initiative for Human Rights - Croatia); and Amina Krvavac, (Executive Director, War Childhood Museum).

“Our participants are all high profile human rights and social justice activists in their own rights,” said Maeve, “and we are delighted to be welcoming them to Derry.

“The idea is they come here and they explore our models of dialogue. For example, they will look at the whole justice legacy piece. 

“When you look at the Balkans, these are communities and societies which are coming out of conflict themselves. So, during the Conflict Transformation Seminar, we will examine what we have done around that here.

“We will also look at some of the challenges around the current legacy legislation going through Westminster, for example, in relation to the unresolved issues around legacy which is a major challenge for us all coming out of conflict.

“The participants will also hear about the process around the parading agreements in the city. They will meet with the Apprentice Boys, they will meet with the Bogside Residents’ Group, they will meet some of the Loyalist groupings through Action for Community Transformation (ACT) in Belfast,” said Maeve.

The ACT Initiative emerged in 2008 as a conflict transformation programme to facilitate the civilianisation of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), following its Statement of Intent (May 2007).

“Our visitors will meet former combatants to look at how peace was built and how it is maintained,” added Maeve. “Our hope would be that this would be an opportunity to platform what we have achieved and what remains unresolved and, importantly, I think, sharing those lessons and learnings.

“During the last few days of the Derry Peace and Conflict International Summer School, we will also examine the possibility of our participants developing a partnership project with Derry. That would be an outcome I would like to see.

“I think it is right the Bloody Sunday Trust would host this event. It is great that this is our first International Summer School but I would view it as something which would happen annually, for different parts of the world.

“There are many parts of the world that are coming out of conflict and are looking at shining a spotlight on systems and government and trying to hold systems to account, in the interests of justice and equality.

“We would hope that this would be a really, really successful week, that the participants would gain from it, the local panels would gain from it and potentially the city could develop this as an annual event.”