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World Peace and
Sustainable Development Conflict Resolution
"Breaking Bows and Arrows"
Conflicts resulting in mass violence are not really solved
by cease fire agreements. Without reconciliation sustainable
development is jeopardized. Probably there are no places
where restorative justice has played a more important role
in building a sustainable peace than in Bougainville, a
pacific island which is an autonomous region in Papua New
Guinea The civil war which lasted roughly from 1988 to 1997
led to a death toll comparable to the genocide in Rwanda in
1994.
Extensive training of peace workers was necessary so that
they – to use Gandhi’s dictum – “could be the change they
wanted”. Preliminary peace talks were closed by large
reconciliation ceremonies. It should be emphasized that it
was found necessary to arrange such ceremonies on several
levels, starting with major war lords, then local villages,
and finally individuals.
The award winning film “Breaking bows and arrows” will be
shown. Here reconciliation for the last two levels are shown
in moving detail. One reconciliation ceremony in the film
involves both freeing a victim from bitterness, and
releasing the offender from guilt and alienation. The whole
film takes 52 minutes but it is possible to extract major
themes in 30 minutes.
A major topic for dialogue after the film is to share
thoughts about how the film can give inspiration for how to
deal with other conflicts. John Braithwaite has embarked on
a study of all major peacekeeping operations after 1970
(planned to last until 2018) in order to extend his major
concepts about “Restorative Justice and Responsive
Regulation” (his most well known book, 2002). He has visited
Bougainville several times and his documentation of the
peace processes in Bougainville as part of his major project
will appear next year.
More
information on
www.restorativejustice.org, August 2007 |
