Invitation: Conference Study and Iniative Days of CPW 29.11-1.12.2007

CIVILIAN PEACE CORPS AND PREVENTION OF ARMED CONFLICT

STUDY AND INITIATIVE DAYS

 

BOLZANO-BOZEN/BOLOGNA, 29^th NOVEMBER – 1^th DECEMBER
 

 

Skilled and trained peaceworkers are increasingly needed in crisis areas. Peace Keeping, peace building and peace making are tasks which cannot be left exclusively to military intervention. A plurality of subjects is trying in different ways to cope with this need through countless field experiences and professional or university trainings.

In Italy, different experiences in the last 20 years of training and employment of people for peace interventions, especially during the war in former Yugoslavia, brought on a precious  work. They stimulated the institutions, whose duty is to move towards the official foundation of a “Civil Peace Corp”, following the EU Parliament requests, with a mixed structure of professional job and volunteer service inspired to the long-experienced Italian Civil protection model.

There are multiple aspects of the job that still need to be deepened, ranging from staff training to the definition of the single assignments a CPC could carry out, to future deployment areas.

A training course for peaceworkers has started in 2003 in Bolzano/Bozen, with the aim of preparing humanitarian and peace workers to intervene in places of local and/or international conflicts. In 2006, it became a Master course for “Conflict mediators and international peaceworkers” of the University of Bologna.

 

The conference takes place within the framework of the Master. It is promoted by the Department of Vocational Training of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen and by the Department of Education of the University of Bologna, together with the Italian Network for Civilian Peace Corps (Associazione Rete Ipri-CCP, Bologna) and the Alexander Langer Foundation (Bolzano/Bozen).

The aim of the conference is creating the occasion for a shared elaboration of this path as result of a participatory process. Grass-root associations will share their experiences and debate with political actors about mutual expectations, with the aim of identifying a range of possible CPC activities in international contexts.

 

The opening two-days session in Bolzano/Bozen is focused on four topics: Training of peaceworkers and personal skills; Action perspectives: what can and should do CPC on the field; Relations with other international actors (Military, INGOs, etc.); Scenarios of intervention and lessons learned.

Participants will elaborate a joint document to be presented, during the final conference in Bologna, to the authorities and academic personalities.

PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME

Bolzano/Bozen, 29^th NOVEMBER

Italian Language Professional Training office

via Santa Gertrude

9.30 a.m.        Opening ceremony

Greetings from organizers and local authorities 

10.00  a.m.     Introductory reports

                       1. Arno Truger (Austria, EPU-European Peace University)

2. Howard Clark (Spain, War Resisters’ International)

3. Iris Smidoda* (Germany, Forum ZFD)

4. Liam Mahony* (Ireland, Peace Brigades International)  

13.00              Lunch

14.30             Working groups

1. Training and professional profile of CPC

2. Possible actions in the different phases of the conflict

3. Relationship with other actors (the Military, INGOs, DCOs)

                      4. Intervention scenarios and lessons learned: Balkans, Middle East, Iraq, Lebanon, Africa  

18.30            End of working groups
 

Bolzano/Bozen, 30^th NOVEMBER

 

9.30 a.m.        Working groups

13.00             Lunch

14.30              Plenary session with woring groups reports and general discussion            

16.30             Conclusions: Towards an European and/or Italian Civil Peace Corp?

Nanni Salio, Sereno Regis Institute, Torino

Ernst Gülcher, European Parliament expert

18.30              Closing ceremony

 

Bologna, 1^th DECEMBER

University of Bologna

 
9.30 a.m.        Opening ceremony and official greetings 

Pier Ugo Calzolari, Rector of the University of Bologna

                       Luigi Guerra, Dean of Education Department, University of Bologna  

                       Vasco Errani*, President of Regional Board of Emilia-Romagna

10.30 a.m.      Building a Civil Peace Corp in Europe and Italy: thoughts and perspectives

Alberto L’Abate, IPRI – Rete CCP

                       Jean Marie Muller*, IRNC - Montreuil 

Antonio Papisca, University of Padua

11.30 a.m.      Conclusions and official closing ceremony of the Master course for “Conflict mediators and

 international peaceworkers”  

 

Other invited speackers are:

Luisa Morgantini, Deputy President of European Parliament

Arturo Parisi, Italian Minister of Defence

Patrizia Sentinelli, Italian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs

Cristina De Luca, Italian State Undersecretary for Social Affairs

Giorgio Tonini, Deputy President of Foreign Commission at Italian Parliament

* To be confirmed