CSSP_Newsworld Newsletter October 2010

Transcription

1 CSSP_Newsworld Newsletter October 2010 Since our last newsletter, there have been a lot of political developments in the Western Balkans. Much of it is at the international level and has only an indirect impact on local community peace efforts. However, citizens in the region are anxiously awaiting progress on their future and expect results from both their leaders and the international community. In July the International Court of Justice decided that Kosovo s declaration of independence did not break international law. This decision was welcomed by US and EU officials, as they have invested heavily in Kosovo s recognition. Despite the nonbinding character of the ruling, it has brought new dynamics into the political sphere. For example, Serbia cooperated with the EU at the UN General Assembly Resolution on Kosovo, and Serbia and Kosovo accepted an EU led mediation process which will be an important factor on peace and stability in the Western Balkan region. At the same time Bosnia and Herzegovina was busy with its elections which took place on 3 October 2010, and resulted in many surprise not least that the Social Democrats came out ahead. While no progress was seen on the name dispute between Greece and Macedonia, there are hints that pressure is increasing for a resolution and Macedonia s membership into NATO. Looking at the progress on EU visa liberation and the improvement of the regional railway network one could say that the region is on track to closer union with the EU. More importantly maybe the EU is waking up to the fact that the region needs to be firmly anchored in Europe and among Europeans. So what do the regional developments have to do with local efforts around the region? It is very positive to see the leaders in Štrpce/Shtërpcë making progress on a host of issues and working together to create a better future. South Serbia is still struggling to define its future and a formal multiethnic government but all signs indicate that all informal and unofficial mediation efforts have been paying off and the parties are cooperating on a range of local issues. In Mitrovica the NGO community is developing more awareness of its role in community mediation and hopefully there will be more efforts in the coming months. In Macedonia there is a slow realization that more needs to be done to integrate the Commissions on Intercommunity Relations (CICR) horizontally. In the end one can see the glass as half empty or half full. CSSP is very optimistic that in the coming months more progress will be made on these issues. Still remaining a top priority in the region is the integration of Roma, a community very much in need of assistance and empowerment. Also pressing is the constitutional reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina which is long overdue and burdening the country and final negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo. These issues are at the heart of creating a region which is inclusive, forward looking and peaceful. It is also about dealing with the past and therefore a precondition for coexistence. In the following pages you will find more information on CSSP activities and many more issues. Thank you for reading. Best, Dr. Juan Diaz

2 CSSP_projects Mitrovicë/Mitrovica Member of Communities Committees of Ferizaj/Uroševac and Štrpce/Shtërpcë Training for the Communities Committees of Ferizaj/Uroševac and Štrpce/Shtërpcë CSSP conducted a Leadership and Cooperation Training for the Communities Committees of Ferizaj/Uroševac (F/U) and Štrpce/Shtërpcë (S/S) in Peja/Peć from 21 to 23 September 2010, funded by the Austrian Development Agency. In the training the members of the CCs gained skills in collaborative planning, mediative communication, problem-solving, municipal procedures, their potential network on the municipal and central level as well as the strengths and limits of their mandate. In addition the municipal return and the community s officers (MROs and MCOs) of F/U and S/S were also present at the training. By building the capacity of the committee members, MROs and MCOs, CSSP is enhancing the quality of inter-community dialogue that is taking place in the committee and in the municipal institutions. It is also increasing the cooperation between the communities of both municipalities. CSSP will follow-up on the activity in November For more information on CSSPs activities in F/U and S/S please contact Christoph Lüttmann: cluettmann@cssproject.org. CSSP has been approached by civil society organisations from Mitrovicë/Mitrovica (M/M) in 2009 to assess the situation in the city and consider a mediative and joint approach in cooperation with local actors. In July and in October 2010 CSSP was continuing the assessment in Mitrovica together with Community Building Mitrovica (CBM) and the Center for Civil Society Development (CCSD). In other municipalities and neighbouring countries CSSP is usually closely working together with local political leaders. CSSP assessed political circumstances in Mitrovicë/Mitrovica require a different approach and a focus on civil society actors. For more information on CSSP s activities in M/M please contact Christoph Lüttmann: cluettmann@cssproject.org. CSSP in Bujanovac, South Serbia In early September 2010, CSSP met the political leaders of parties involved in the negotiations to form the first multi-ethnic coalition in South Serbia. Additionally, CSSP continued sustaining the discussion of forming a council for ethnic relations, which was established in March 2010 as a result of CSSP s multi community leadership series in Bujanovac. The representatives confirmed their goodwill and cooperation of working together on issues challenging the municipality, which was namely to speed up the election process of the members of the council for ethnic relations, to be finished before the summer break. Nevertheless the formation process seems to be thwarted by the open coalition agreement. It was reassured that the new website of the municipality will contain Roma language as soon as it is activated. It is suggested that more steps need to be taken in order to increase the social, political and economic development of the Roma Community in Bujanovac. For more information on CSSPs activities in South Serbia please contact Dr. Christina Stenner: cstenner@cssproject.org. CSSP Newsletter October

3 CSSP_projects CSSP in Macedonia CSSP visited Skopje in September 2010 to continue with bilateral consultations the assessment of potential projects with the political leadership on the state level. CSSP met with several political leaders and government officials to finalize its analysis of the status of the body for inter-community relations. As general assessments of this visit, CSSP sees that inter-community relations in Macedonia are still stagnating. The mentioned state parliament Committee on Intercommunity relations is still dysfunctional. CSSP is working to support this important body which has a direct mandate from the Ohrid Framework Agreement. On the municipal as well as on the state level discussions of hot topics between the communities are avoided, while there are repeated provocations on issues such as of the use of languages, community symbols as well as the change of street names. For more information please contact Dr. Christina Stenner: cstenner@cssproject.org. EUPM Mediation Training, Sarajevo EUPM Training in Bosnia and Herzegovina CSSP conducted successfully a first training on the EU Concept on Mediation and Dialogue for selected staff of the European Police Mission (EUPM) in Sarajevo in late June. The content was elaborated in close cooperation with the mission and gave insights of local peace mediation. EUPM staff was trained on the essentials of mediation in an interactive training course which was a pilot training for ESDP missions in the Balkans. For more information please visit CSSP Networking Mediation and Peacebuilding CSSP has attended and organized meetings over the last three months to lobby for civilian peace building, as political mediation is a tool for civilian peace building which is receiving increasing attention internationally. Germany contributes significantly with resources to civilian peace building and the German Government has decided on an action plan a few years ago to coordinate governmental and non-governmental actors. It has launched this autumn the third review report on the implementation of the action plan. CSSP has been active as member of the Platform for Civilian Conflict Management ( and hosted a lobbying meeting in late September of the Platform in its new office at Schiffbauerdamm. We were invited to two sessions of the subcommittee for civilian crisis management and networked security of the Bundestag (German Parliament) and attended the launching of the network for crisis management by the Greens in the German Parliament. In this context, the first meeting of the Friends of CSSP took place in late September to lobby for civilian crisis response and stabilization funds within the parties of the German Bundestag. CSSP was able to gather representatives from the CDU/CSU, the FDP, the SPD and the Greens to give a presentation on the work in the Western Balkans and introduce and discuss the current and upcoming project activities. The MPs assured CSSP of their support and offered their assistance in lobbying the German Government for its purposes in post-conflict stabilization. CSSP Newsletter October

4 CSSP_internal CSSP Presentations Brigitta von Messling was key speaker in Mainz at a Forum for Peacebuilding in September to talk about conflict management in the former Yugoslavia, where she presented best practices from local peace mediation. Dieter Wolkewitz attended a workshop on women in peace building by the Boell-Foundation; briefed the CDU/CSU Fraktion, as well as General Assembly of Care Germany-Luxemburg on the political situation in the Western Balkans. Christoph Lüttmann and Brigitta von Messling gave a presentation on Integrative Mediation to participants of the course SLE plus: Training for International Development Cooperation, Humboldt University Berlin who came to the CSSP office Berlin to learn more about mediation and alternative dispute resolution approaches and their implementation in a post-conflict environment. Juan Diaz will be attending a meeting on networked security of the CDU/CSU in the German Bundestag in late November. He will speak about the role of peace mediation as cross sector approach in conflict management of military and civilian actors. CSSP in Brussels Juan Diaz and Dieter Wolkewitz attended a coordination meeting with MEP Brantner (European Greens) at the European Parliament in Brussels in October on the Stability Instrument. The meeting was scheduled to discuss possible steps in the Preparatory Action for the Mediation Support Unit of the European External Action Service (EEAS). Further meetings were held with the European Commission and the Council to discuss CSSPs activities with the European institutions. In a discussion with the European Peace Liaison Office (EPLO) the Director and the CSSP board spoke about the mutual benefits of CSSPs membership in the organization. Honorary President turns 80 Our Honorary President, Prof. Dr. Christian Schwarz-Schilling, will be turning 80 years on 19 November To mark this very special anniversary, CSSP and the Konrad-Adenauer- Foundation (KAS) are going to host a workshop and symposium on The impact of EU integration on Democracy and Constitution on 8-9 December in Sarajevo. Those who want to congratulate him can send regular mail per post to our office or send an to: css@cssproject.org. Prof. Dr. Schwarz-Schilling Brigitta von Messling left CSSP As of 1 October, our team member Brigitta von Messling is working at the Center of Peace Operations ( in Berlin as Senior Advisor Training and Organisational Development. We very much enjoyed having Brigitta as part of our team and give her our sincere thanks for the fruitful and valuable contribution she made to us and our work. Fortunately, she will continue to cooperate with CSSP through the work of the association. Her CSSP activities in Kosovo will be taken over by Christoph Lüttmann who can be contacted at cluettmann@cssproject.org. We wish her the best of luck on her new endeavours. CSSP Newsletter October

5 CSSP_internal & outlook Dr. Christina Stenner, Johanna Sell and Emir Krehić joined CSSP As of August 2010, Dr. Christina Stenner joined CSSP as replacement for Julius Goldmann who went on parental leave. Ms. Stenner has a Ph.D. in political science and a diploma in economics from University Witten/Herdecke. She has extensive working and research experiences abroad, including Japan, Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. As Mediation Project Manager, Ms. Stenner is responsible for our projects in Serbia and Macedonia. For more information please contact her at cstenner@cssproject.org. Also in August 2010 Johanna Sell joined CSSP as a Project Coordinator in Berlin. She received a Bachelor degree in Cultural Studies from University of Frankfurt/Oder. Currently she is finishing her Master in Peace and Conflict Studies at the Center for Conflict Studies of the University of Marburg. Ms. Sell received working experiences in human rights NGOs in Poland and Kosovo. For more information please contact her at jsell@cssproject.org. Emir Krehić joined CSSP in September 2010 as a CSSP Coordinator in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He holds a diploma in Mechanical Engineering. Mr. Krehić has 15 years of experience in coordinating emergency and post-conflict development projects in the Western Balkan Region, Romania, Bulgaria and India. He is a certified IFRC International Relief/Field Delegate. Mr. Krehić is a member of the Regional Disaster Response Team and the European Network for Psychosocial Support since For more information, please contact him at ekrehic@cssproject.org. We warmly welcome them in our team and are looking forward to joined activities. Multi-track Peace Mediation Course 2011 Soon: MPM Training February September 2011 In collaboration with the Berghof Foundation for Peace Support and inmedio, CSSP is preparing a Training on Multitrack Peace Mediation in four modules from February to September The training course is focusing on mediation in the context of peace support and development. Interested applicants can receive information soon under mpm@cssproject.org. CONTACT South Asia capacity-building workshop In December, Dr. Juan Diaz will be in Nepal to work with local leaders from the SAARC region on mediation mechanisms in violence prone regions. The workshop focuses on negotiation skills, understanding the challenges and chances of inter-space negotiation and on principles of Integrative Mediation. It is part of the program SIT World Learning of CONTACT South Asia directed by Paula Green. For more information visit their webpage: GTZ Winter Academy at Hertie School of Governance Dr. Juan Diaz will provide a workshop on negotiation skills and leadership during the GTZ Winter Academy on Transformation Lawyers Legal Dialog for Legal Transformation for young lawyers from the Caucasus. The programme is part of the GTZ Caucasus Initiative which promotes cooperation between the different countries in the Caucasus region. CSSP Newsletter October

6 CSSP_work in the field July September 2010 Area Purpose Dates Kosovo Assessment and Information Visit to Mitrovicë/Mitrovica Capacity-Building Workshop for the Communities Committees of Ferizaj/Uroševac and Štrpce/Shtërpcë July September 2010 Serbia Follow-up Visit South Serbia September 2010 Bosnia & Herzegovina CSSP-EUPM Joint Pilot Mediation Training July 2010 Macedonia CICR Assessment Visit September 2010 funded by 6