CIPCR is now on Twitter

CIPCR’s online presence has expanded into social media, with us setting up a Twitter page: you can find us at twitter.com/CIPCR. Unaccountably, the media has chosen to focus on another recent sign-up to Twitter rather than our own fledgling steps. Nonetheless, we remain excited by what is by any standards a fascinating area: an academic study has shown that social media played a central role in shaping last year’s momentous events in the Middle East and North Africa, and recent investment in Twitter shows that what began as an amusing diversion has become a communications platform of strategic significance. We look forward to engaging with you there as we explore its potential.

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CIPCR partner with Westminster Foundation for Democracy

In an exciting development, CIPCR is to join with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy in delivering a unique ‘rights-based’ peace-building project with Yemeni, Iraqi, Palestinian and Lebanese partners.

The project, which will run initially for eighteen months,  seeks to develop the peace-building and conflict resolution capabilities of groups in each of the four target countries. This will be achieved through a series of practical workshops, shared experience seminars,  mentoring from established practitioners and visits across the Middle East.

The programme will culminate with a week long series of seminars and training sessions in Northern Ireland.  Participants will get to meet and discuss conflict resolution and peace-building with senior politicians, religious and community leaders, former combatants, police and security officials and others who were involved in the Northern Ireland peace process.  We also hope to bring in participants from other conflict situations around the globe to engage in this dialogue and help to develop the support network available to these fledgling groups in the Middle East.

CIPCR is currently working with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy to develop a number of other potential projects, including in the MENA Region.

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CIPCR host another series of conferences and seminars in Cyprus in conjunction with Engi and UNDP

Causeway – Engi joint project: What might Cyprus gain from the experience of the Northern Ireland peace process?

12 October 2011 (Closed seminar for Political Parties)

A one-day, closed seminar was held at the Home for Cooperation.  Senior negotiators from the DUP (The Rt Hon Jeffrey Donaldson MP) and Sinn Fein (Mitchel McLaughlin) spoke frankly about their personal experiences of the Northern Ireland peace process and then took questions from the floor. The presentation was very well received by the entire audience and provoked a lively and enthusiastic discussion.

13 October 2011 (Open seminars in the south and the north)

The Northern Ireland team, this time comprising representatives from the DUP (The Rt Hon Jeffrey Donaldson MP) and the SDLP (Denis Haughey) held open seminars on each side of the island; the University of Nicosia in the south and the Nicosia Municipality in the north. The participants included students, academics, civil society representatives and IGOs.

Publicity

The University of Nicosia seminar was recorded for broadcast on CYBC. Several TV channels reported the event at the Nicosia Municipality (BRT, ADA TV, Sim TV). The speakers subsequently joined a live 50 minute news programme on Sim TV, which was repeated over several days, such was the interest in the various events.

The seminars were also reported on in newspapers across the island (Cyprus Weekly, Cyprus MailFamagusta GazetteABHaber,HaberKKTCYeni DuzenKibris Postasi).

A number of photos highlighting some of the events in this recent series of seminars and conferences are in our gallery.

Feedback

Both during and after these events, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Those attending the seminars and related events spoke highly of the power of hearing about the Northern Ireland peace process directly from members of the actual negotiation teams, not least because of their openness and honesty in describing their personal feelings, and what moving towards an understanding of the other parties’ positions had meant for them.

The quality of the briefing of speakers, the sensitivity they showed to all parties and the relevance of the subjects discussed to the current negotiations, were also highly praised. A number of participants expressed the desire for further seminars in the near future, with a focus on specific topics.

During the previous visit by CIPCR and Engi in August a small group of potential ‘champions’ was established. Thanks to the success of the seminars, this group has now grown considerably. Causeway and Engi are now working on a further project of bridge-building between the two communities at several levels within the island – the political, civil society and grassroots.

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Chairman CIPCR reaches agreement on peace-building and conflict resolution project collaboration

The Chairman of CIPCR, Rt Hon Jeffrey Donaldson MP recently met with the leaders of Forward Thinking and The Institute for Statecraft to discuss collaboration in areas of shared interest.

Forward Thinking and The Institute for Statecraft have separately partnered CIPCR in projects both in the UK and abroad.  Indeed, there are a number of joint initiatives that are being developed in tandem with the UK and other governments, with a focus on the challenges emerging in the Middle East and North Africa.

All three groups have undertaken to work together on these projects in order to develop a more coherent and consistent approach to our peace-building and conflict resolution activities.  This will extend to sharing experiences, intelligence, data, relation ships and their myriad of contacts.  The three groups will continue to operate as independent groups and pursue their own project activities in tandem with this new partnership.

The three groups have also jointly welcomed the UK Government’s recently published paper, Building Stability Overseas Strategy.  The leaders of the three groups hope to secure an early meeting with senior Ministers from FCO, DfID and MoD in order to explore areas where this combined approach can be brought to best effect.

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Chairman of CIPCR meeting with representatives of Cypriot political parties and civic-society groups

 

Chairman of CIPCR, Rt Hon Jeffrey Donaldson MP meeting Andros Kyprianou, Leader of The Progressive Party of Working People  (Anorthotikó Kómma Ergazómenou Laoú – AKEL)
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Holding discussions with leaders of The Turkish Republican Party (Cumhuriyetçi Türk Partisi – CTP)

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Chairman of CIPCR visiting the bi-communal Home for Cooperation in the UN Buffer Zone, Nicosia
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CIPCR Chairman visits senior political leaders in Cyprus

CIPCR Chairman, Rt Hon Jeffrey Donaldson MP, has held a number of meetings with senior politicians across Cyprus.  The aim of the meetings was to explore ways in which the positive experiences of the Northern Ireland peace process could be used to assist all sides in Cyprus in pursuing negotiations towards a settlement.

The Chairman was accompanied on his visit by a Co-founder and Director of Engi who facilitate conflict management initiatives in the region.

CIPCR hopes to follow up on this visit with a more comprehensive package to support political parties and civil society groups in Cyprus in conducting peace-building activities. Planning is now underway to conduct a number of political seminars in Cyprus in the autumn, engaging with representatives from across Cyprus; this activity will undertaken jointly with Engi.

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Causeway Initiative

CIPCR has been conducting a dialogue with the Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist (PUL) community in Northern Ireland. During this dialogue, it has become clear that there are fundamental challenges particular to the PUL community that are creating barriers and preventing the development of adequate social capital within and across the Northern Ireland community. Fundamentally, and of most concern is the growing disconnection between this community and the political process. As a result of this CIPCR, in consultation with our partners, developed the Causeway Initiative project.  Find out more about it here.

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