CDRSEE invited to participate in two events

International recognition of the CDRSEE’s creative, yet practical approaches to the challenges of conflict and sustainability was once again forthcoming throughout June.  Most notably, the CDRSEE was invited to participate in two events, both of which involved intergovernmental and civil society collaboration including both academic and pragmatic looks at the issues of peace, justice, shared values and shared challenges.

Item 1:  In 2 day forum held in Nuremburg, under the title ‘Building a future on Peace and Justice’ a gathering convened jointly by the Government of Germany, Republic of Finland, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Crisis Management Initiative and the international Center for Transitional Justice, took place- consisting of a number of workshops and plenaries, each hosted by a different convener organisation.

Among others, speakers included the German Foreign Minister (Frank-Walter Steinmeier) and the Minister of Justice of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Sharif Al-Zu’bi) as well as a number of former Special UN representatives, advisors and institution heads in the areas of conflict prevention, human rights and justice. 

The CDRSEE was part of a large contingent of civil society organisations and contributed to the workshops and plenaries, in particular, the sessions on ‘Alternative approaches to dealing with the past’ through its experience of the Joint History Project, ‘Disclosing Hidden History; lustration in the Western Balkans’ and “Our Town, Our Future”.

Item 2: As a valued partner of the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the work of the CDRSEE is well known to the German Marshall Fund for the United States.

With a 25 year celebration of the Marshall Memorial Fellowship, the 2007 Forum on Transatlantic Affairs held in Schloss Elmau (Germany) in June, drew a wide range of participants and speakers, among whom were the CDRSEE.

Attended by experts from a mixture of disciplines, including politicians, journalists, municipal administrators, businesses and CSOs, the forum covered a range of issues under the umbrella theme of ‘Common values and shared challenges’ in US and European Politics within a globalised world.  The CDRSEE was invited to not only participate, but also to present and discuss on a panel entitled ‘A model society-Similarities and differences between American and European values’.