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Konzorcij nevladnih organizacij zmultietniènih in konfliktnih podroèij je bil ustanovljen leta 1995 v Izoli. Namenjen je nevladnim organizacijam in posameznikom, ki delujejo na omenjenem podroèju. Konzorcij vkljuèuje organizacije iz sledeèih držav; Severne Irske, Hrvaške, Jugoslavije, Makedonije, Bosne in Hercegovine, Albanije, Romunije, Grèije, Èeške, Slovaške, Moldovije, Gornjega Karabaha, Gruzije, Armenije, Azerbaiðana in Slovenije.
V primeru dodatnih informacij v zvezi s Konzorcijem se lahko obrnete na ADI-Agencijo za razvojne iniciative- Ljubljana.
Spodaj so v okviru Konzorcija predstavljene razne vsebine, ki se nanašajo na temo multi-etniènosti in konfliktnosti.
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ITALIAN MINORITY IN SLOVENIA Along with the basic rights offered all citizens, the Constitution of the republic of Slovenia guarantees special rights to members of the Italian and Hungarian minorities who live in Slovenia. This presentation addressed conditions for the Italian minority in the fields of political participation, education, culture, mass media and financing. This contribution was adapted by Insitute for Ethnic Studies-Ljubljana. - the right to direct representation in the national Assembly and in local authorities Political participation The Italian Ethnic Community is organized into several self-governing associations which serve as their basic political organization. According to Slovenia's Constitution, the Italian minority directly elects representatives to Parliament. According to electoral legislation adopted in 1992, the minority directly elects one deputy to the National Assembly, but has no special rights in elections to the National Council.
According to the Slovene-Italian Agreement of 1992, which included a Special Statute establishing standards of minority protection for the Slovene minority living in Trieste/Trst, and for the Italian minority living in Slovenia. It was agreed that educational institutions in the coastal areas, from kindergartens to colleges are monolingual with either Slovene or Italian as the language of instruction. The Italian minority children thus attend pre-school institutions and primary and secondary schools with Italian as the language of instruction, and Slovene as an obligatory subject. At the University level, the Education Faculty's department for Italian language and literature in Koper/Capodistria, as well as the Chair of Italian Language and Literature at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana should be mentioned. Members of the Italian minority can also attend university in Italian, either in |Italy, or at Croatian universities in Pula and Rijeka. These universities also provide courses for teachers in Italian minority schools. Text books , manuals, and other teaching materials are prepared either in Slovenia or imported from Italy in accordance with Slovene regulations on the adoption of instructional materials. Some textbooks, adapted where necessary to the needs of Italians in Slovenia, are published by Edit, the main publishing house of the Italian minority in Rijeka,Croatia. In ethnically-mixed territories, Italian is an obligatory subject in educational institutions with Slovene as the language of instruction from kindergarten onwards. In many instances, Slovene children enroll in secondary schools with Italian as the language of instruction.
The cultural activities of the Italian ethnic community and formed and financially supported within the framework of its self-governing ethnic associations. In addition to the Coastal Region Ethnic Association, which is concerned with the development of cultural activities throughout the whole ethnically-mixed region, the Italian ethnic community also has self-governing associations in Koper/Capodistria, Izola/Isola, and Piran/Pirano. Many cultural groups- ballet, drama, folklore, music, choral, dance, musicological, ethnographic, literary, photographic, recital etc. operate within the framework of the Italian ethnic associations in above mentioned places. These represent the professional as well as amateur participation of members of the Italian community in cultural life. The work of the ethnic associations includes publishing, and a number of newspapers and magazines present the cultural activities of the ethnic community, and simultaneously influence the social life of the region. Library activities also reflect the culture and the cultural policy of the ethnic associations. In the central libraries of Koper/Capodistria, Izola/Isola and Piran/Pirano there are more than 54,000 books in Italian. The libraries also organize special programs such as literary evenings, exhibitions, continuing education programs, visits to Trieste/Trst libraries etc. Books in Italian are also available from the libraries of the Italian primary and secondary schools.
Mass media in ethnic community languages The Italian minority in Slovenia is linked together through newspapers and magazines published in Italian by the EDIT publishing house of Rijeka in Croatia. These include the daily newspaper La voce del popolo, the bimonthly magazine Panorama, the quarterly literary magazine La Battana , and the children's newspaper, Arcobaleno. Information for the Italian minority in Italian also includes the magazines and bulletins issued by the ethnic associations in Koper/Capodistria, Izola/Isola, Piran/Pirano, and by the Coastal Region Ethnic Association. Radio Koper/Capodistria began broadcasting in Italian in 1945, and today it broadcasts in Italian fourteen hours a day. In addition to news programs, there are weekly programs on culture, economics, sports, and contacts with Italy and the Slovene minority in Italy. TV Koper/Capodistria has broadcast since 1971, and serves as the television station of the Italian lifminorities in Slovenia and Croatia. It transmits about eleven hours a day, ten hours in Italian and one hour in Slovene. The schedule contains three news programs per day, and the rest deal with various subjects. Programs produced by TV Koper/Capodistria itself deal with a wide range of topics.
Funds for the work of the self-managing ethnic associations, defined in the Constitution as an obligatory form for the organization of members of minorities, are guaranteed in the state budget. Expenses for dissemination of information for the needs of minorities are also included in the state budget, with the exception of radio and television. These are considered a constituent part of the Radio-Television Slovenia subscription. Cultural activities of the minority are also a constituent part of the national cultural program, and for that purpose special funds are reserved by the Ministry of Culture. Slovenia also provides funds for co-financing those institutions of the Italian minority based in Croatia, but of common importance for the Italian minorities in both countries. Additional expenses for pre-school education and primary and secondary schooling caused by adapted programs and smaller groups, as well as the expense of preparing textbooks and subventions necessary due to the small volume of printings, are covered by the Ministry for School and Sports. Activities of other organisations of Italian ethnic communities are covered by the districts, while the added expenses of the bilingual functioning of legislative and administrative bodies are covered by the state budget. Funds for investments in facilities intended for members of Italian ethnic communities (organization centers, schools, kindergartens, etc.) are guaranteed in the state budget or district budgets respectively.
This presentation can give a brief image into the position of the Italian Minority in Slovenia. Concerning facts described above, it is necessary to stress again, that the implementation of the rights of the Italian minority, as written in the Slovene Constitution, are proceeding well. It is extremely important to add, that in Slovenia there are approximately 3,000 members of the Italian Minority, which represents approximately only 0,16% of the entire population in Slovenia.
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COOPERATION BETWEEN CIVIL SOCIETY ACTORS AND (INTER) - GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS by Christoph Royen Below Christoph Royen argues for greater levels of cooperation between civil society actors and (inter)governmental institutions, as vital to the processes of conflict prevention, resolution and normalization. The article is reprinted from the Lokummer Protokole -1993. After the sudden end of the systemic and bloc East-west conflict, Europe and adjacent regions during the last few years have been plagued and threatened by a surge of inter-ethnic conflicts that were widely believed to belong to a closed historical period of development. Of course, some of these new conflicts have already stopped, most of them sooneror later will end, with fighting coming to a halt, with armies silent again -either as a result of one side's "victory", or by the sheer exhaustion of all conflicting parties. Then representatives of the competent domestic authorities will sign, together with foreign diplomats, at first armistices, and subsequently also peace treaties. However, after the horrible acts committed by all participants of the conflict, how can the members of the various ethnic communities live with one another or next to one another again? And how can they be prevented form using armistices and peace treaties just as period of recovery , before they open the next round of hostilities, in order to take revenge or to complete earlier gains...Similar questions arise with regard to attempts to prevent the further spreading of violence to other areas and groups, thus far not inflamed by the torches of civil war. Obviously, as long as perfect separation and isolation of the various nationalities are neither conceivable nor desirable , preservation and restoration of real, lasting peace require the participation of the people. But these conditions can not be imposed from outside. Compared with the former latent conflict between NATO and WTO, the roles of foreign governments and their alliances in addressing inter-ethnic conflicts do not involve huge armies with clear front-lines, but are fought on many mini-fronts, on the regional or local levels, their energy and intensity depending largely on the engagement of local groups and their leaders. Apart from the abitual obstacles that originate in the, albeit reduced, validity of the principles of sovereignty and non-intervention into internal affairs, foreign governments and their international organizations simply do not have the instrument nor the manpower to reach and to influence these direct actors on the scenes of conflict. In addition, experience shows that governments hesitate to engage themselves in time at the early stages, when the emerging conflict is only indicated by various ominous signs. As a consequence, international conflict prevention clearly is underdeveloped. Therefore, efforts to prevent inter-ethnic conflicts and mass-scale violation of human rights of minorities, or to restore peace among the ethnic groups and the individual people, must involve "civil society" actors. And yet, we should not conclude that civil society actors can act instead of governments and replace them and their intergovernmental structures. Somewhere during the process of preventing conflicts or restoring the peace , the capacity to enact legislation and the power to establish efficient administrative structures are required. Thus, conflicts prevention, mediation and reconciliation can not be left to civil activist alone, no matter how well-meaning, knowledgeable, experienced and courageous they might be. Unfortunately, however, both sides of such a partnership show a certain reluctance to recognize their mutual dependence. Even recent literature on international conflict prevention mentions the valuable contribution by non-governmental civil society actors only occasionally. Apparently, **governments and diplomats hesitate to cooperate with a vast array of unfamiliar partners. At the same time, civil society speakers often represent those societal forces which in the past opposed official governmental policies in the fields of detente or disarmament.** Suffice, it to remember, for example, the earlier activities of the founders of the "Helsinki Citizens Assembly", most of whom where engaged in a different "détente from bellow" in order to defend dissidents, human rights or to combat "nuclear complicity" of the two blocs establishments. Similarly, among the peace forces in former Yugoslavia we find a number of prominent representatives who as communists belonged to the reformist wing of the party. As such they were castigated and prosecuted by the old regimes, while they are regarded with suspicion by the new rulers. It would be also naive to assume that societies are more peace-oriented than their governing political elites. While it may be true that in many areas , today dominated or threatened by inter-ethnic conflicts, members of different nations and religions used to live and work together as good neighbors and colleagues, until invading nationalists caused those good neighbors to kill each other. However, it seems also likely, that the leading politicians, even if they are responsible for the wave of nationalist hostilities, can return to peace, while the people in the war-torn regions are still hurting from the horrible pains inflicted on them, which makes it much more difficult for them to resume neighborly cohabitation.
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PARTNERSHIP MODEL In Northern Ireland, a new model has emerged for partnerships between government and voluntary and community groups. With funding from the European Union's Special Program for Peace and Reconciliation and designed and delivered in conjunction with the national Governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The partnership aims to increase participation by local communities in creating official policy and programs. Below is a description of the partnership program, adapted from materials from the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA). The Idea The involvement of the voluntary and community sector, Government and others in partnerships had been germinating in Northern Ireland for five years or more. In the absence of strong local government, central government in Northern Ireland wanted to hear and involve local people in planning and decision-making. In July 1995, when the final approvement between European Commission and both governments, had been reached, both Governments organized national conferences to raise awareness about the program to seek ideas and how to design an appropriate strategy would contribute to building peace and have lasting impact on all communities. While the voluntary and community sector was generally eager to take part in such partnerships, some took a more jaundiced view, feeling that the process simply placed a thin veneer on existing relationships. The partnership was seen to be unequal in that Government Departments retained the power of resources, while voluntary group acted as delivering agents and gave Government cover for having consulted and involved local people. Despite these fears, many in the community sensed a new departure in the attitudes of official bodies towards citizens' involvement, evidenced in several programs over the past five years. The partnerships should give a voice to the sections of the community previously excluded from participation in the decision-making process, as well as providing Government with a structured mechanism for wide-ranging consultation on the provision of a vast array of social and economic services to the whole community. The Structure of Partnership Model 
The work of the district partnerships is overseen by a central body known as the "Northern Ireland Partnership Board " (NIPB). This Partnership Board is an executive body with full responsibility to agree plans according to available resources for each district partnership. Membership of the Partnership Board will comprise: seven representatives from the community/voluntary sector, three representatives from the private sector, three representatives from trade unions, one representative from rural interest and eight politicians. The NIPB approves the district partnership Boards and the action plans they develop, and is responsible for reporting to the Monitoring Committee in place for the whole Program, through the Department of the Environment.
Those involved in the partnership program have underscored the significant amount of work involved in preparatory phases, especially regarding efforts to achieve a fair and balanced representation on the various district partnerships and on the Board. Partnerships have been developing in the Republic of Ireland as well, and some of the lessons which have been learned there, for increasing the likelihood of partnership success are: |
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THE CURRENT CONTEXT FOR NGOs IN by Clem McCartney Below the first two articles addressing the break-down of the peace process in Northern Ireland, which were written by Clem McCartney and Geraldine Donaghy in March 1996. While the situation in Northern Ireland has continued to deteriorate since the time of writing, the articles shed light on the political and social dynamics of the conflict, and the potential for NGOs to help in lessening tensions there. Since the end of the Irish republican Army's cease-fire on 9. February 1996, it is quite difficult for NGOs to assess the situation as it appears to have got more complex and hifting. There is a widely held view that the republicans, who favor a united Ireland and for many years were committed to armed struggle as the necessary means to bring this about, had given up their new strategy on which the cease-fire was based as far back as the middle of 1995. They had only waited until after President Clinton's visit before returning to a military strategy. The American Administration were taking an interest in Northern Ireland as they were in the Balkans, though heir approach in relation to Northern Ireland has been to exhort and persuade. They have not contemplated any direct role that would compare to their involvement in the Dayton Conference and the developments leading up to it. It is difficult for the Americans to be more active in Northern Ireland without interfering with the internal affairs of its ally, the United Kingdom. There are different explanations of why the cease-fire ended, and therefore the circumstances in which it might be reinstated. It seems unlikely that many people in the Republican movement shifted their stance on the most effective strategy of pursuit of their aims from a political to a military approach. But the way things were working out and the way other parties behaved made it increasingly hard for the Republicans who favoured the peace process to win the argument inside the Republican movement. They had not gained very much and other parties were maneuvering to consolidate their own position in the peace process. I do not think they had ever expected to get a very good peace deal, but it was looking as if they would get no consideration at all if the other parties thought that they could get away with it. They were also disappointed by the lack of support they were getting from the Dublin government and the American administration. In America and in Dublin, efforts were being made to give a certain amount of respectability to people like Gerry Adams on the basis that this would make them more committed to political means and would give encouragement to the grass roots of the Republican movements. But in fact the result was that the hard line elements became even more suspicious. All this is pretty predictable with hindsight, but the other parties to the conflict were more motivated by other considerations. The governments' prime interests were in stability and law and order and they wanted to make sure that there was a guaranteed end to violencethey calculated that it was unlikely that the IRA would return to violence but that itcould happen and if it did they could cope with the consequences. Some Unionists who favour the continued ink with the United Kingdom (it is not clear what proportion) have been genuinely concerned about the threat from the IRA. But their prime interest was to secure their bargaining position, which inevitably would have to be at the expense of Republicans, and they too had calculated that they could live with a return to violence. Only the Loyalists, those Protestants who were mostly from working class areas and who had been directly involved in the violence themselves knew what a return to violence would mean in terms of the impact on their families and their community. For the governments and mainstream Unionists, it was too woolly to say that the best guarantee of future stability was the outcome with which everyone was satisfied, because there would then be no reason for continued violence. They may have doubted that such an outcome could be achieved, even though all parties to the conflict now want to bring it to an end. But neither the governments nor the Republicans have really understood each other's motivations, or more correctly, they did not appreciate how little they were understood by the other side. For example, Republicans would say that the British government had advisors experts and they must appreciate the and Republicans concerns and the negative impact of government actions. The British government would say that they had made many statements of their position and it was inconceivable that they had not been clear. However this avoids the fact that the government has been trying to satisfy a number of interests and therefore it has appeared to adopt contradictory positions. The IRA bomb on 9 February upset all these calculations. The British Government did not like the prospect of a new military campaign when it becomes a reality. Political Republicans realised how the situation would escalate and polarise and that they were going to have very little influence if they continued. At the same time there was no obvious way to restore the cease-fire without loosing face. Only Unionists (but not Loyalists) saw their position strengthened by the return to violence. Perhaps because of all these uncertainties on each side the campaign has not escalated. We have got a kind hiatus in which the military campaign is not very active , but there is no return as yet to a cease fire. In it's Easter message of 3 April the IRA reiterated that their military campaign was continuing. Perhaps Republicans are too proud to reverse their resumption of violence, politically it is hard to see they can do it, and of course some think a new military campaign was the right thing to do. The government and the Unionists are not going to make any obvious concessions that will appear to reward terrorism and create problems from their rank and file. In this vacuum there has been much activity. The idea of an election in Northern Ireland was given a head of steam. Its justification is to give the Republicans a mandate, or more correctly give the unionists a mandate to negotiate with Republicans-though what that mandate is could be as clear or as confused as Unionists want to interpret it. It will be very difficult to establish some level of good faith, and some are not even making much of any attempt at confidence building. There has been a lot of incompetence, most obviously by the British Government, but the focus on their performance may be partly because they have taken on a central high profile role. However, they have placed the responsibility on the local parties instead of allowing them to hide behind the government and be as intransigent as they like. The peace process did not start with the government but they assumed leadership. An indication of the consequences of this strategy was shown in a survey, quoted in the Guardian newspaper of 28 February, 1996. Most people placed the responsibility for the breakdown of the cease-fire on the British government or the IRA. few people blamed the Unionists and little was expected of them. Most seemed to see the issues as a stand-off between the British government and the Republican movement. The government has not been very decisive. It seems to work on the basis of giving concessions to each and hoping that they balance up. The result is that they pleased no one and anything they did seemed grudging and to have an ulterior motive. It might have been better to act more decisively and put the local parties more on the line, bearing in mind that it is in the interest of the local parties to bring the situation to some resolution. Supporters of the government would argue that they had limited room for manoeuvre because the local parties could not be coerced. In these circumstances NGOs have had to reassess what contribution they can make, both at the level of influencing leaders and in relation to attitudes within society as a whole. In recent times there has been a greater emphasis on raising awareness of conflict resolution as a distinctive approach. One problem is that in Northern Ireland we have learnt the language of conflict resolution and inclusive solutions, but the underlying orientation is still old-fashioned, hard-nosed bargaining. It would be easier if we were not confusing the two, as I think some politicians really believe that they are trying to be accommodating when they are only coming across as shifty and devious to the other side. It is hard to change and when the people in positions of authority have got there by traditional competitive methods they are going to be least receptive to the idea that there might be a better way to do it. One response is to offer even more workshops on conflict resolution skills, but more simply, **what may be needed is a growing recognition that the best security for oneself is that the opposition does not feel insecure. The most positive element is that most everyone wants a settlement and so the situation has continued to be contained. The survey already mentioned found that the border was of low significance for most people less than 10% of all the groups thought it was worth fighting about, apart from Protestants, where the figure was still only one quarter. The survey also found that half the Protestants want decommissioning before talks. A significant number of people are doubtful that any of the current strategies will make any difference, including the Mitchell Commission which was set up to examine the issue of decommissioning of weapons and its report in February 1996 proposed principles for democratic and peaceful resolution of disputes and principles for decommissioning to which all parties should be asked to subscribe. **Perhaps the most important role for NGOs is to encourage debate within the community to help to develop thinking and promote positive ideas which would give negotiators greater freedom to reach a just and fair settlement.** But in a situation where the general public have little confidence that they have any impact on events, this type of debate can be most important in creating a greater sense that the public are a significant element in the situation, and can play a part in escalating or resolving the conflict.
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NGOs DURING THE BREAKDOWN OF THE CEASE-FIRE IN NORTHERN IRELAND by Geraldine Donaghy The recent breakdown in the peace process in Northern Ireland and the collapse of the IRA cease-fire brought in its wake much renewed activity within political circles in Ireland and Great Britain. A dark cloud of pessimism also descended on the NGO sector, especially as the E.U. funding package of 240 million British pounds was ready to start rolling into local communities projects in areas that had been most affected by the violence of the past 25 years. Many communities and voluntary organisations feared that the reconciliation work they had undertaken in the past 17 months of the cease-fire would be put injeopardy now that the peace process had been stalled. Frustration, fear and anger were the emotions most in evidence as many people felt that the politicians had failed to take the opportunities presented by the cease-fire and now some year and a half later all party talks had not begun. Against this breakdown a number of meetings and workshops were called by the larger NGOs working in Northern Ireland in an effort to provide a channel for the opinions andaspirations of citizens outside the formal political structures. Common to all these meetings was the plea to Government to recognize the role that social partners can and should play in the stalled peace process. The Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) convened one such meeting and demanded that the Government take steps to link civil society with the process of the politicaldevelopment. The director of this organisation said "voluntary and community groups have been working hard over the past 17 months to contribute to bottom-up development through partnerships, contributing to the process of regeneration. That has now been shattered by the end of the cease-fire, causing immense distress, frustration and anger. We must move forward and unite to work for peace and progress." In the few weeks that have lapsed since the London bombs, not much progress would appear to have been made. A number of NGOs have made various suggestions as to the way forward. these include citizens' fora and referenda , but most suggestions have failed to generate a significant amount of enthusiasm. The days immediately following the breakdown in the peace process held out some hope for new political thinking. Sadly, those hopes have been ill-founded as so far the necessary progress that local citizens feel is necessary has not happened. Any explanation for the lack of political progress must be made in the context of the complex political and historical situation that prevails in Northern Ireland : Put in simple terms, the reluctance of politicians to take risks and to compromise their stated ideals does not auger well for peace in Northern Ireland. Against this, the NGO sector does offer some chance of making progress if it can persuade the broader community to become involved in demanding its voice is heard in any eventual settlement. Progress on this level could however be thwarted because of the diversity of the NGO sector in Northern Ireland and its traditional bias towards delivering community care and service. *The NGO sector in the U.K. (unlike eastern Europe) does not have a preponderance of political and human rights based NGOs.* Accordingly greater difficulty will be experienced within the NGO sector in Northern Ireland making this shift into the political arena. Given the increased political activity by the U.K. and Irish Governments in recent weeks, NGOs in Northern Ireland are adopting a "wait and see" attitude in the hope that peace and political progress will be reactived.
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NGOs STEP UP EFFORTS IN SETTLEMENT OF REGIONAL DISPUTES adapted from an article by Zhanna Krikorova in an English-language Armenian newspaper "NT" An international conference entitled "The Role and Place of Non - Governmental Organizations in Conflict Settlement" concluded its work on May 3rd, in Stepanakert. The conference was held under the umbrella of the Stepanakert- based Helsinki Initiative-92 Committee and was attended by representatives of such international groups as "Global Community" (USA), European Dialogue (UK) Memorial (Russia), representatives of OSCE and ICRC missions in Karabagh and Armenia as well as by delegates from the Georgian Helsinki Citizen Assembly Committee. The Armenian Helsinki Citizens Committee was represented by Anahid Bayandour and Elizabeth Feldman. Azeri representatives were not present at the conference. Participants to the conference focused on problems related to the rehabilitation of displaced persons and refugees, and the psychological rehabilitation of victims of armed conflicts, as well as on problems of prisoners of war, hostages, and those missing-in- action. Addressing the conference, a representative of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC)in Karabagh Pierre Reichel stressed that the ICRC mission in Karabagh has the mandate to render assistance to victims of the armed conflict rather than to settle ethnic disputes. Some aspects of the Russian- Chechen and Georgia-Abkhazia conflicts particularly, exchange of POWs, were touched upon by a representative of the Moscow-based Institute for Oriental Studies Mikhail Roschin, and a delegate of the Georgia Helsinki Citizen Assembly Committee, Alexander Russetski. Mr. Roschin said that the Russian government has no specific data on Russian POWs held captive by Chechen rebels, and the State Duma's deputies dealing with the problem have to turn to NGOs for help. Participants to the conference approved a proposal to establish a regional center for conflict settlement on the basis of the Karabagh Helsinki Initiative-92 Committee, and to set up special groups to design a project for development of democratic institutions in Karabagh. The conference adopted a final resolution expressing anxiety over armed conflicts and their aftermath. The resolution calls upon NGOs to step up efforts to restore peace and cooperation between nations. Participants to the conference also expressed the readiness of NGOs to promote measures aimed at resolution of conflicts and called on the leaderships of Azerbaijan and Karabagh to designate May 12, the day when the cease-fire was established in the conflict zone, a day of Peace and Accord, and to mark that day by the simultaneous release of all POWs and hostages. The President of Karabagh, Robert Kocharian, in addressing the conference underscored the importance of establishing international human rights organizations in Karabagh, where a law-governed state is going through its formative stages.
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BALKAN NGOs CENTER The idea of "Balkan NGO center" (BNC) as a possible network of Balkan NGOs came out of an international seminar of a few Balkan NGOs in Tirana, Albania in May 1995. The initially proposed office for the realization of the idea for the BNC was Tirana, however, due to more suitable tehnical conditions, it was suggested that the central office be in Belgrade. The organization "Belgrade Circle" was chosen to house the central office of BNC. Since that time, Belgrade Circle as a secretariat, has tried to put the suggested ideas for BNC into practice. From the initial ideas, Belgrade Circle built the first model and structures of BNC, which include work in the following four fields: Seminar/Ulcinj, Monte Negro In March 1996, the first BNC seminar entitled "NGOs Towards an Open Society in the Balkans" was organized in Ulcinj, Montenegro/Yugoslavia. The main aims of the seminar, organized under Belgrade Circle, were to approve the model and structures of BNC, its building of structures in the future, and to discuss about further contents and objectives of BNC. Model and structures of BNC Concerning the future building of a model for cooperation and structures, the four general fields of activity were approved. Secondly, it was stressed that BNC's structure should allow for a great amount of de-centralization. BNC should be a de-centralized model with developed local structures on the level of each of the involved states. Belgrade Circle as the coordinating center of BNC will, in the future provide information, and expert assistance, and it will help with the coordination of joint- projects.
Concerning the present situation in the Balkans, the problems of nationalism, racism, xenophobia and minority rights were defined as the main focus of BNC's work in the future. Concerning these subjects, the main objectives which were defined, are as follows: Accordingly, it was agreed, that these objectives should be achieved through three different parallel programs: ¨ Education program (alternative education on different cultures, languages and human rights, training educators, classes, publishing of books and other printed material concerning these topics, programs in media, and introducing new subjects into school curricula) ¨ Program of networking (involving other European and global networks, participating in joint- actions and events, or local actions on pressure on governments) ¨ Cultural program ( encouraging alternative cultural events on a local level, exchange of alternative cultural programs, organizing a Week of Balkan Culture in Europe)
The seminar in Ulcinj confirmed the need for gradually de-centralizing BNC. The seminar also established the general content, objectives and possible activities of BNC in the future. Yet, it is good to point out, that regarding BNC's objectives and activities in the future, it is necessary to be first of all realistic. There is no doubt, that NGOs on their own, acting as a more democratic part of societies often operate only on the margins of those societies - this is even more true for the Balkans. It is helpful to reflect that Gramschi, who had most to say about civil society, took a very different view of the nature of civil society. He did not equate civil society with citizens, but characterized civil society as a series of non-state institutions which operated to mediate the intentions of the state in relation to the citizens in such a way that the state could gain the consent or acquiesce of the citizens without requiring the exercise of state control and repression. the organs of civil society were a means of co-opting the citizens and as such they shared the interests of the state. " (Clem McCartney, Northern Ireland) Zarko Korac, Yugoslavia in Ulcinj within his lecture about Authoritarian Personality and Closed Society stressed the importance of structure of democratic personality with raising of civil society. "Is it possible to talk about democratic state institutions, whether the citizens are not democratic", was the main question of Mr. Korac. Concerning these facts, it is interesting to add, that discussing in NGOs circles the civil society automatically equate as the citizens. According to these beliefs, NGOs often think, that only pressure on governments would be enough, that critical situation in one state would be radically improved. Talking towards open society should include besides improvement of political regimes, the learning for democratic citizenship of citizens as well. NGOs should try to position themselves in such a way that they recognize the nature of the societies in which they work and the dominant trend in the institutions of civil society. They would not share those values and assumptions and see themselves as having a development role to encourage increased awareness and new thinking. However they would accept existing society as the reality in which they operate and make it a central focus of their work. They would be at once embedded in the existing social fabric and a focus fro creative thinking, highlighting issues and problems in society which could be stimulus for new responses. They would try to contribute to that free and equal social space which allows new understanding and new possibilities for action to be considered. In situation of conflict they would acknowledge the reality of the divisions in society and the reasons behind them and on this basis they may be able to act as a bridge and enable fresh thinking across the divisions." ( Clem McCartney, Northern Ireland) According to all these facts, it is necessary to stress again, that in NGOs36 acting (in this case the function of Balkan NGOs Center) is necessary to consider the general climate, as well specifics conditions in individual Balkan states or region ant according to these conditions act slowly, but surely towards more open society on those territories. At all above thoughts and consciousness within Balkan NGOs center, it is quiet clear, that function within this center no matter locally ornternationally no matter which activity concerns, should be planned very widely with considering of all possible impact factors andaspects, although still by very, very little steps.
Seminar "Minority rights in the Balkans" in Macedonia In Ulcinj as one of concrete activities was confirmed the follow seminar concerns Minority Rights on the Balkans, which is planning to be in Macedonia, Autumn 1996. MINORITY RIGHTS ISSUES Issue of Minority Rights especially in Balkans is important because of two main reasons. Firstly on Balkan territories, especially on some individual places, because of the four years war first in Croatia and then BiH and at the same time quiet some violent outbreaks brought to a lot new minority, which is not possible to compare quietly with regular national minorities on those places. Secondly, the raising of interegional, international connecting, what can cause the raising of more international institutions, there is a question, how minority rights in such global orientation will be carried of. " Looking broadly, the proliferating conflicts of "ethno-nationalism" of the 1990s in Europe have common features and raise common dilemmas. For example, two traditional keystones of international law - respect for existing boundaries and the right of peoples, to self-determination-now frequently contradict. This raises questions about minorities rights and transnational relationship which require new answers of general applicability." (Robin Wilson, Northern Ireland)
According to wide and complexity of such issue as Minority Rights are, the seminar in Macedonia will be oriented towards this problematic as much as concerns the possible NGOs role within this appearance. The purpose is to find the ways how Balkan NGOs through Balkan NGOs Center and its current model of cooperation and its structured fields of acting can contribute towards improvement of position of minority rights in Balkans. It was already stressed above, that these contribution not doubt will be different from state to state. Many Balkan countries have solid constitutions concerns Minority Rights. Yet, there is also fact, that those written rules are very rarely well implemented on the real field, in real societies.
The concrete objectives of this seminar are to exchange possible experience concerns this topics, and of course trying to discover simple mechanism, by which the NGOs on international or local level will give small, but very important contributions with implementation within improvement and protecting of Minority rights in their countries or abroad.
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WORKING TOWARDS LONG-TERM PEACE IN MACEDONIA by Violeta Petroska - Beska Information on the work of the Ethnic Conflict Resolution Project in Macedonia is provided below. The organisation's overall goal is to change people's understanding of conflicts, concerning the resolution of intractable conflicts rooted in ethnic and other differences. ECRP tries to achieve this goal through education, research, literature, and consultation. Education activities Education activities consist of training programs for participants of different ethnic backgrounds. The programs are intended to: Education activities also include participation in preparing educational radio and television programs for children and adults, with the aim of spreading notions about conflicts and ways in which they could be resolved and managed. Concretely, there are two main activities: - Awareness Training Seminars- organized in 5 pilot schools (elementary and secondary) as well as for students in the Pedagogical Faculty in ethnically- mixed regions in Macedonia (Skopje, Tetovo, Gostivar and Kumanovo). The program of this seminar is designed to offer basic information about conflicts to elementary and secondary school teachers and students, in order to incorporate the "culture of conflict resolution" in their schools and everyday life. - Conflict Resolution Games - organized in two primary schools in Skopje. The program of this seminar is designed to offer basic knowledge about conflicts to students from the elementary schools as well to develop a "culture of conflict resolution". These programs are performed as 18-week programs, one hour weekly. Research activities The second part of ECRP activities consists of organizing and carrying out research programs to help discover more efficient ways of resolving actual conflicts and preventing potential conflicts in the country. The program includes the following topics: Literature Alibrary of books and journals on conflict, conflict prevention, management, and resolution has been established. It's aim is to serve as a resource and information center for everybody who is interested in this field. ECRP is also dedicated to preparing materials to be used not only by professionals, but by layman as well. These include: Consultation ECRP provides counseling services in the area of education as well in other spheres of social life are in need of assistance to deal with actual and potential conflicts in their environment.
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"NGOs FOR MULTI-ETHNIC SOCIETY" 20-25 September 1996, Piran, Slovenia The Summer school was intended for NGOs which are working in multi-ethnic environments and also in zones of conflict. The long-term goals of the summer school were discovering structures and mechanisms for support, development and cooperation between NGOs in such regions. Head of the Summer School; Robert Levicar, Slovenia
Follows few short notes concerning the topics , which were presented and discussed on the Summer School. The detailed presentation of the topics, thoughts , key pionts from the Summer school it would be possible to find in the next Bulletin within Consortium for NGOs in multi-ethnic and conflict zones.
BUILDING OF NGOs STRUCTURES Led by Blaz Mesec NGOs are often doing important work, by dealing with current problems. From this point of view NGOs have done many positive things concerning all kind of problem (humanitarian work, helping and facilitating with peace processes, etc). According to state institutions on the field, which often change too slow, only NGOs with this kind of function, described above are capable to being effective and helpful. Such a function of NGOs are mostly effective at the beginning of their function, when the visions, objectives, concerns problems, which are facing them, are clear, and, when the NGOs enthusiasm level is high. Later, when the problems on the field are changing and the same situation has to be understood from different approaches, NGOs are suppose to change their approaches of functioning by changing their objectives, building its structures as well. An request to these issues, thinking about visions, building of organisational structures, establishing the right leaderships, new objectives, are more then necessary. First educational part began with lecture and folowed sessions about developing of democratic structures within NGOs and they were led by Blaz Mesec, professor of the School for Social Work- Ljubljana. These session examined different aspects of organisational structure in the early stages of development of NGOs, and the need to adopt better management techniques and more strategic and self'-reflective processes of planning and evaluation as the organisation grows and develops. Participants took very active role concerns these issues through work in smaller groups. While these issues were not entirely new to all the participants, a deeper understanding and the importance of maintaining organisational dynamism and the capacity for change was emphasised.
COMMUNICATION ISSUE Led by Mirjana Kristovic NGOs often find themselves in a magic circle, offenly called a NGOs sphere, where communication between NGOs are normal. Outside of this sphere the NGOs find themselves in confusion with regards to communication ( who is actually the partner on the other side, with who each a NGO can or want to communicate, and how to achieve communication with a defined partner or side etc...) Educational part about communication issues was led by Mirijana Kristovic from the Faculty of Social Science in Nis, Yugoslavia. She began by examining the purpose of communication, and who we might want to communicate with. She emphasised the distinction between mere exchange of information and communication She then described some basic principles of communication and different means of communication. She analysed three main types of communication relevant to NGOs - communication within individual NGOs, between different NGOs and between NGOs and the outside world. This educational part helped participants to develop a greater explicit awareness of the need for a more clearly thought-out approach to the way in which NGOs try to communicate with others about issues of concern to them.
COOPERATION ISSUE Led by Clem McCartney Now matter, how impossible sometimes cooperation with other party is, with out doubt strong wish for cooperation is extremely important. Although individual governments in individual countries totally ignore the NGO sector, or, even worse, governments try limit the NGOs function, NGOs should try think in a positive - cooperative way. It is obvious, that often NGOs possibilities are often extremely small, it is urgent to use the cooperative methods of doing things together. Educational lecture and further sessions about Principles of cooperation and charasterstic of NGOs activites was led by Clem McCartney, an independent researcher on conflict resolution from Northern Ireland. He looked at some of the problems encountered by NGOs in cooperating together to find solutions, in particular their lack of knowledge of each others activities, and the way these fit into the overall picture within an area of multi-ethnic conflict. He presented a methodological framework, designed to produce a multi-dimensional analysis of the basic principles and main activities of NGOs. According to presented analysis, the participants were invited to participate actively in the sessions. Such an exercising gave to participants better guidance in finding a better match between the needs of an area of multi-ethnic conflict and the different available NGO initiatives.
NGOs AND DEMOCRACY Led by Robert Levicar & Robin Wilson The last working part of the Summer School was called NGOs and Democracy and it was led by Robert Levicar of ADI and Robin Wilson of Democratic Dialogue in Northern Ireland. This part had no educational character and it was intended for exchanging information between participants, what made possible to them to exchange information on local conditions in their own countries and regions. Following this, Robin Wilson outlined a number of characteristics which are essential to an effectively functioning democratic society and participants were invited to compare this with the reality of conditions in their own societies.
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| ALBANIA |
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| ARMENIA |
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| BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA |
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| BULGARIA |
BULGARIAN HELSINKI UNION OF BULGARIAN FOUNDATIONS AND ORGANISATIONS, |
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| CROATIA |
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| GEORGIA |
HCA COMMETTE OF GEORGIA, |
| GERMANY |
EVANGELISCHE AKADEMIE LOCCUM, |
| GREECE |
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| MACEDONIA |
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| MOLDOVIA |
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| NAGORNO -KARABAKH |
NAGORNO-KARABAKH COMMITTEE OF THE "HELSINKI INITIATIVES - 92", |
| NORTHERN IRELAND |
DEMOCRATIC DIALOGUE, |
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| SLOVAKIA |
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| SLOVENIA |
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| YUGOSLAVIA |
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by
Robert Levicar