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This project is an initiative of the Hellenic Presidency of the European
Union and of the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe and is supported
by the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Royal Norwegian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs,
the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Reconciling for the Future
The International Community until now has invested a significant amount
of effort and resources in Southeast Europe to create institutions and
mechanisms building up the region as an integral part of Europe. However,
many of the problems that shook the Balkans throughout the 1990s still
have not been resolved, and one of most difficult questions have been
left unanswered: how to develop effective tools and mechanisms, programmes
and strategies that would change a pattern of hostility and conflicts
into co-operation and mutual respect for common values and principles?
How to change attitudes and mindsets simultaneously with the building
of democratic structures?
If societies emerging from massive war crimes and totalitarian repression
are going to proceed forward in a healthy fashion, they need to find appropriate
ways of atonement with their past through a creative vision of their future.
Ongoing ethnic and political tensions in SEE - most recently in the FY
Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo, emphasise an urgent need for a common
regional initiative that will grow from locally generated actions enriched
by international experiences of individuals and institutions that share
the same goal - to overcome divisions of the past in order to build up
a better common future. To create such an initiative, it is necessary
to investigate the specific ways of enhancing and encouraging social dialogue
and building social cohesion in this part of Europe. Therefore, one of
the priorities is to support civil society activities and to develop appropriate
tools and mechanisms, programmes and strategies that would change a pattern
of hostility and conflicts into cooperation and mutual respect for common
values and principles.
In order to add value and bring greater coherence to the wide
variety of initiatives that respond to the above questions, the Center
for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe (CDRSEE), based in
Thessaloniki, in cooperation with the Stability Pact Office for SEE and
the Hellenic Presidency of the European Union, have developed a plan to
enhance the reconciliation process with the following long-term objectives:
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To encourage a creative vision of how to overcome the legacy of the
past and build up genuine peace, a just political and social order and
improve the quality of life for all citizens in the South East Europe;
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To test the waters for the institutionalisation of appropriate mechanisms
and instruments that would create a modus vivendi for these societies
with a host of moral, religious, political, and social allegiance by
creating a regional Charter (working title: Helsinki + ) aiming at cementing
European democratic values in the region;
The specific activities are:
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An exploratory Brainstorming Workshop, scheduled for beginning of
April 2003, to delineate the strategy for redressing reconciliation
and seeking ways and means to reach a common vision of a multi-ethnic
region at peace with itself and, therefore, that much closer to European
Union integration;
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A Database to catalogue the various initiatives dealing with reconciliation
currently active in SEE. This will provide a way to analyse existing
initiatives and to avoid duplication in planning future work and to
maximize synergies in support of any larger initiative;
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The facilitation of an agreement on a set of principles that could
form the basis of a possible Regional Charter.
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The Internet Forum. This is the first activity within the initiative "Reconciling for the Future". It is designed as an inclusive
dialogue that should facilitate a long-term process of building up a
regional consensus on fundamental rights and interests with the intentions
of developing both a wider reconciliation network and political initiative
for the regional stabilisation and association process. It is planned
that the Forum will live until the beginning of the Brainstorming Workshop.
However, if it proves to be a fruitful and useful platform for debate,
the CDRSEE is prepared to keep facilitating the process.
The immediate aims of the Internet Forum are:
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To start up a region-wide dialogue that will help refine the agenda
of the "Reconciling for the Future" Workshop;
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To collect information of who is doing what in the field of reconciliation
in order to start up a regional data-base that will keep record of such
activities and projects and provide a mechanism for maximizing synergies
and avoiding duplication;
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To identify visionary projects and local champions of the process
and advocate them to potential donors; and
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To enhance a youth forum that will give a voice to the new generation
to say how they want their countries and the region to look like in
the future.
The Internet Forum was launched on Tueday, 21st January 2003.
Being aware of the complexity and delicacy of the addressed issue(s),
we will start the Forum debate with several guiding questions and set
up basic rules of a dialogue. We believe that your contribution will create
new questions and challenges for further debate and elaboration/selection
of different topics. We encourage you to freely express your views and
interests in an open and constructive fashion.
Project Timetable:
| 20 January 2003: |
Internet Forum debate. Starting up the Database |
| 3-6 April 2003: |
Brainstorming Workshop |
| April - June 2003: |
Completion of the Database. Establishing the follow-up activities. |
Methodology
The methodology of the project aims at an evolving, organic, open initiative
to be enriched by all involved, but it rests on solid guiding principles
that run throughout each phase and each activity. These main principles
are inclusiveness, local ownership, seeking thorough and accurate information,
and learning other "truths" through dialogue. The following
components form the basis of this project:
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Full participation and co-operation of local actors - individuals
and institutions and their structural and operational cohesion strengthened
by a system of IT communication;
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Building on, rather than replacing or repeating existing initiatives
and ensuring that the various groups are linked up because to be successful,
they must be stronger than the individual sum of their actions;
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The promotion of common values and knowledge about facts based on
empirical research and analysis conducted with a comparative method;
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Understanding common interests and ensuring a constant process of
ideas mingling with other ideas, experiences mingling with other experinces.
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