Peace and Reconciliation Projects
The Iraq Helsinki Project
In 2007, O’Malley, in collaboration with Nobel Prize winner Marti Ahtisaari’s Crisis Management Initiative and Tufts' Institute for Global Leadership, assembled senior negotiators from Northern Ireland and South Africa to meet in Helsinki with their counterparts from Iraq. A second Helsinki conference took place in 2008, when thirty-six leaders from all political parties in Iraq met with the same Northern Ireland and South African facilitator/negotiators. That session resulted in the “Helsinki Agreement,” a series of principles that became the basis for exploring political reconciliation in Iraq in 2009.
Forum for Cities in Transition from Conflict
The Forum for Cities in Transition from conflict maintains a web site that allows the cities interact with each other on both a formal and informal basis. The site is also open to the public, who are invited to visit and participate. http://citiesintransition.net
Boston 2009 Conference
A Pilot Project to explore the idea of creating a Forum for Cities in Transition took place in Boston in April 2009.
The founding cities are Derry/Londonderry, Kirkuk, Mitrovice/Kosovo Mitrovica, and Nicosia. Delegates decided to meet annually in one of the member cities.
Inaugural Forum for Cities in Transition - May 24 to 28, 2010 Mitrovica
The Underlying, Unifying Principles:
Cities that are in transition in countries divided by conflict are in the best position to help other cities in transition in other such countries. They have common problems ranging from policing, garbage collection, housing, road construction, the provision of health and welfare services, to identifying flashpoints and interfaces that trigger violence. Each city is at a different stage of transition. Ten such cities met in Mitrovica to assist each other and begin a process of growth.
Truth and Reconciliation Commissions: Do They Do Justice to Justice?
October 23 - 25, 2007 Convened by Padraig O'Malley, Moakley Chair for Peace and Reconciliation
Participants from El Salvador, Chile, Guatemala and South Africa who had been part of a truth and reconcilation process, gathered at UMass Boston to lend their experience to those from Northern Ireland who are beginning the process of examining their history. A representative from Serbia will help determine if another conference of this sort should be held.
"In May 2007, bitter political enemies became partners in a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland. Now that there is peace, can reconciliation follow?"
"What was it all about? Apartheid, racism, and a skewed division of the resources of our rich and beautiful country." - Mary Burton, South Africa