EU COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE MEETING 2020
“LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE OF EU MEDIATION: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?”
15-16-17 June 2020
ECES co-founder and Executive Director Fabio Bargiacchi delivered a speech on "Inclusive peace processes. How to better achieve goals of inclusion: towards a common vision" as part of the EU Community of Practice Meeting 2020 organised by the European External Action Service - EEAS between June 15 and 17.
The webinar started on June 15th with Keynote Speakers Alexander Stubb, Former Prime, Finance and Foreign Minister of Finland and Former Vice-President of the European Investment Bank and Kessy Ekomo Soignet, Executive director of NGO URU, Central African Republic.
During his session, which was moderated by ERMES key expert 1 Victoria Florinder, Mr Bargiacchi outlined the particularities of mediation in electoral conflicts, and the opportunities offered by mediation for further electoral inclusion.
"Mediation around electoral conflicts are not always aimed at facilitating a political accord but at avoiding the instrumentalisation of groups of people, often those who are marginalised, without much to risk or lose," he explained, highlighing the difficulty to have accurate indicators to understand when and why election violence happens.
"Mediation to prevent election related violence is never an effort in vain," Mr Bargiacchi stressed, noting that "electoral conflict requires even more international and national support."
The session witnessed the interventions of Interpeace Director of Policy and Learning, David Hyslop and Fondation Hirondelle's General Director Caroline Vuillemin, in the presence of the European Resource for Mediation Support III or ERMES III consortium (College of Europe, Interpeace, mediatEUr, ESSEC and Fondation Hirondelle )
More than 30 sessions touched on issues of inclusion, insider mediation, new and old challenges, and ways ahead. Some of the topics tackled during the three days included:
- Intra EU Mediation
- The mediator's experience of addressing climate insecurity
- Religious communities and leaders' role in Mediation
- Post-Conflict Mediation
- Women's role in Mediation in Africa
Find out about the takeaways from the sessions here
