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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
August 23, 2005
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| July 8, 2005 |
Conflict and Peace-Building in Ireland – Mr. Sean O’Boyle from the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation |
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| Glencree Centre for Reconciliation in County Wicklow, Ireland. |
Northern Ireland is located on the same land mass as the Republic of Ireland, but under the auspices of the United Kingdom. Fundamentally, Northern Ireland has been burdened by a conflict of identities between Irish Catholic, who would like to unite the whole island, and Protestant British, who would prefer to stay under jurisdiction of Great Britain. Years of violent conflict have stemmed from this clash of identities and aspirations, deeply dividing neighborhoods and communities. These divisions even manifest physically in fences and walls. Although the roots of the conflict are basically in these issues of origins, state and religious identities, it has also been marked also by deep economic disadvantage, and by the differences between the privileged and the poor and by huge unemployment. Once fighting for ideologies and political goals, military branches of political groups in Northern Ireland have been involved increasingly in violent crime. However, after the Good Friday peace agreement in 1998, violence in Northern Ireland has been significantly reduced, finally allowing hopes for a stable peace.
One of the organizations, which has initiated dialogue and a reconciliation process between actors trying to overcome years of mistrust and hostility between Catholic and Protestant communities, is the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation. Mr. Sean O’Boyle, an international programme coordinator, came aboard as a guest educator to introduce the center’s activities. |
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| Mr. Sean O’Boyle, guest educator from the Glencree Centre |
Glencree Centre for Reconciliation, is a non-governmental organization which provides programmes and facilities dedicated to peace-building. Founded in County Wicklow, Ireland 30 years ago, this unique facility was primarily established to help reconciliation process in Northern Ireland, but today the center devotes its efforts also towards peace-building in Ireland and Great Britain as well as international conflicts. The Glencree Center maintains seven main programmes:
- Peace education for young people and adults
- Political dialogue and training programmes for politicians
- Church programmes to improve reconciliation in churches
- Survivors programme for people who have lost loved ones or have been injured themselves
- Ex-combatants programme which includes state forces from Britain and Ireland, army and police, and former prisoners from illegal paramilitary organizations such as the IRA (Irish Republican Army) and UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force)
- A women’s program to increase the capacity of women in community development and politics
- An international program, which researches conflict areas or post conflict areas including Haiti, Sri Lanka, the Middle East and South America.
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| Peace Boat participants engage in discussion at Glencree Centre |
Mr. Boyle explained the roots of the conflict in Northern Ireland and the measures taken towards the peace process. In brief, the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922 partitioned the isle of Ireland into two entities—northern and southern Ireland. The British government took over the governance of Northern Ireland and brought the British army to maintain order. Although the majority of the population remained pro-British after partition, Catholics, who composed one third of the population in Northern Ireland, remained loyal to Irish nationalist aspirations and unification with Ireland. “In this environment, language has particular importance. So while unionist pro-British supporters call the city Londonderry by this name, pro-Irish nationalists refer to the same city as Derry,” explained Mr. O’Boyle. |
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| Aboard Peace Boat, Mr. O’Boyle held many lectures and workshops. |
In this situation of conflict, the majority Protestant community firmly protects their power, better economic status and strong relations with Great Britain, while the Catholic minority community feels threatened, insecure and dislocated from the mainland of Ireland. By 1968 civil rights marches challenged complacency, but this peaceful movement was eventually overwhelmed by the fear and violence that erupted due to the rise of the IRA (pro-Irish) and UVR (pro-British) paramilitary forces and their violent actions. The conflict has cost thousands of lives, on both the unionist and nationalist sides. “What is exceptional is the level of fear and the length of time the tension has lasted without being resolved,” explained Mr. O’Boyle. |
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| The grounds of the Glencree Centre. |
The architecture of the current peace process is three-fold: the conflict management & pre-negotiation phase; the conflict resolution & negotiation of a political settlement; and the conflict transformation & post-conflict phase. “Back-channels of communication were opened up between the British and Irish governments and paramilitaries,” said Mr. O’Boyle. The initial talks were mediated by priests and ministers from both Catholic and Protestant churches. Ultimately a ceasefire was established between the IRA and UVF. “The peace that exists now after the Good Friday Agreement was signed is imperfect, but it is a peace. Two- thirds peace is better than zero peace but not as good as complete peace,” voiced Mr. O’Boyle. |
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| Peace Boat presents a peace banner to the Centre. |
Why is it only two-thirds peace? “When people sign the agreement it is only piece of paper. Post agreement does not mean post conflict. There is still conflict. You have to really work at it,” explained Mr. O’Boyle. At the moment it is not working well. There is still violence and instability in urban areas; the paramilitaries have not disposed of their weapons and the British army bases are still in place, making peace far from complete. |
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| Peace Boat participants who visited the Glencree Centre. |
The final and continuing step of conflict resolution is transformation of the conflict into dialogue, reconciliation and peace building in communities, explained Sean O’Boyle. Violence has to be replaced by political dialogue and relationships established with former enemies. The Glencree Center invested particular effort to create a forum for meetings of former military and paramilitary combatants, loyalist and republican ex-prisoners’ groups as well as participants from various military and police backgrounds. Inclusion of all parties in the negotiation process is necessary for peace-building in the reconciliation process. “Sometimes we lose our sight and our humanity. Reconciliation is a difficult concept,” Mr. O’Boyle considered. “Perhaps before reconciliation is the process of humanizing the ‘other’”.
For more information about the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation, please check their website at www.glencree.ie |
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