Summer School discusses promoting lasting peace in the Balkans

Justine Di Mayo from International Coalition of Sites of Conscience believed taking part in Derry’s first ever Peace and Conflict International Summer School would “inspire” participants to develop a project to address the “challenges” in their own context.

Speaking to Derry Now, Justine, who is the Coalition’s senior programme manager for Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, said as a result of the experience, the attendees could now discuss how to design and conceptualise a regional project to foster truth, justice and to promote lasting peace in the Balkan Region.

International Coalition of the Sites of Conscience is a worldwide network.

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Justine explained: “What we call a site of conscience is a place of memory. It  can be an historic site, a museum, a memorial, or a memory initiative, which prevents the recurrence of past human rights violations, in order to foster more just and human societies today. We have more than 350 members in 65 countries around the world.

“These Sites of Conscience provide safe spaces to remember and preserve traumatic memories and also to enable connection between past and related contemporary human rights issues.

“For example, our members could be a detention centre which would be a catalyst for a discussion on modern threats to democracy.

“They could be a museum of emigration. We have different historic sites, including Ellis Island, and one of our members is the Museum of Free Derry.

“Last year, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the Coalition organised the European Regional Meeting of the network, which was hosted by the Museum of Free Derry and the Bloody Sunday Trust. Approximately 11 European sites of conscience attended that meeting. We spent three days in the city hearing about the experience of Derry and the Derry Model.”

Following that visit, Justine said the Coalition discussed the possibility of bringing its members from the Balkan Region to Derry.

“We wanted them to hear about the experience of the city because we had been very impressed and very interested by the experience of the different stakeholders here. We thought this could support our members to work and practise fostering truth, justice and lasting peace in the region.

“That is why we decided to collaborate with the Bloody Sunday Trust to organise this international seminar.”

During the Summer School, the Coalition brought together members from Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia.

“For us it is very important to reflect on approaches, methods and challenges in coming to terms with violent past based on the Derry Model and Derry experience.”

She added: “The exchange with the different stakeholders has been extremely important for all the participants, who are representative of their organisations and are all practitioners.

“They don’t necessarily have the occasion to meet with people, be it combatants or people who have been involved in negotiating peace agreements.

“There is this tendency to work in silos. It is not necessarily easy for civic organisations or human rights organisations to have the opportunity to meet with people who talk in a very transparent manner, who really share their experiences from different perspectives.

“I think that was something very important for the participants to have a panel in Derry where people from all different backgrounds and communities came together and talked in front of the participants.

“It was a very honest conversation. It was very enriching and we would really like to continue this partnership and include all the members of the Coalition, from other regions, such as the Middle East and North Africa, who are working on conflict transformation. They would really benefit from this experience. This week was a really important experience and we would very much want to continue this partnership,” said Justine.

According to Justine, the final two days of the Summer School were spent discussing with the Balkan members how they could use the learning of the Derry Model, the Derry Experience, to develop a project in the Balkans on conflict transformation.