MECC Justice, Peace &Human Rights Program Pursues Awareness Activities on Stereotyping and Conflict Prevention
The MECC/JPHR program has been organizing series of awareness workshops at the district level in Lebanon, for a whole year now.
Two 2-days workshops took place successively on January 21-22 and 27-28, 2007. The first workshop held within the premises of the Permanent Peace Movement, brought together around 26 participants from different parts of Beirut, Mount Lebanon and the South. Many of those participated in previou s sessions organized in other districts. These are now ready trained to multiply the impact of the project by conducting themselves workshops at th e level of their respective communities.
The second workshop took place in the Lebanese Evangelical Institute For Social Work and Development in Mount Lebanon and was a follow up to the first, aiming at deepening knowledge and techniques.
Church and NGO representatives participated, offering their experiences and reviewing their projects in light of new techniques in negotiation, mediation and conflict management. Testimonies exchanged focused on the integration of new initiatives in the field of prevention of conflict at different levels of life. It was stated that Building a Culture of Justice and Peace should avoid the perpetuation of theories but instead, question them in order to grasp their real meaning. The workshop concluded that, ³mudslides engender conflicts and never generate fruitful action. Generalities can no longer be perpetuated; we need to focus on some issues to give a clear diagnosis and real-life solutions².
For more information, kindly contact JPHR Coordinator, Ms. Alexa Abi Habib at: mecccypr@spidernet.com.cy
Middle East Council of Churches Office of International Ecumenical Relations P.O. Box 5376, Beirut, Lebanon
Guirgis Ibrahim Saleh, General Secretary
mecc@cyberia.net.lb or guirgissaleh@cyberia.net.lb
+961-1-353-938 http://www.mec-churches.org/