Dear friends, colleagues and all those who have been connected and involved in CATS. - Children as Actors Transforming Society, over the past years,

Hosted in Caux, Switzerland, the CATS. Forum was initiatied in 2012, by Initiatives of Change (IofC) France in partnership with IofC Switzerland, Child to Child and with the support of the Learning for Well-being Foundation, which joined the year after as an official partner.  At different stages, other partners have also joined: a group of children and young people established as M.E.O.W (since 2016) and Eurochild at first as an organizing partner (2015 and 2016)  and after, as an associate partner

The original partner’s commitment enabled the Forum for 5 years, which had then been extended to two more years until 2019. Throughout the 6 editions of the CATS. Forum, more than 1600 children and adults have participated in a living experience of intergenerational collaboration to advance children’s rights and wellbeing, in particular the right for children to be heard and be taken seriously. The CATS. Forum has inspired initiatives from school days (Belgium), to national networks (Israel), national forum (France) and regional fora (Latin America and Asia). 6 years modelling, inspiring and enabling child participation.

In spite of the magic lived at the Forum, holding the event and its associated activities was not always easy. The road was uncharted, and much of the governance, financing and implementation models had to be created and reviewed along the way. For all those involved, this process has been a source of great learning about the meaning and the boundaries of creating environments where all children can engage in meaningful participation, at all levels.

This learning journey led the above mentioned partners to reach the conclusion they would now like to give a different expression to their commitment to children’s rights, in a way that best suits their respective vocation.

Therefore, we are sending you this message to let you know that:

• the CATS partnership is being dissolved and as such the CATS programme has now come to an end;
• the CATS Forum 2019 will not take place anymore, but new initiatives for children’s rights participation and/or wellbeing may be developed by the different partners.
• the CATS Forum in India scheduled for 10-16 February 2019, will be held as originally planned, led by Initiatives of Change, any continuation of this project after the forum will be under a different name;
• the CATS Latin America programme, will cease to use the name CATS as of the end of February 2019;

The CATS. partners are very proud of what they achieved together and will now go forward separately. We wish to take this opportunity to build on our shared experiences and further multiply our efforts to continue advancing children’s rights and wellbeing.

We also want to say a big THANK YOU to all those who participated, contributed and gave so much of their time and dedication to the development of this programme. This was an endevour that was co-created by many, young and old, and the CATS. Forum would not have been as amazing as it was without all of you. We created something wonderful together which will continue to inspire us all in our future work.

Should you wish to inquire about the future plans of each of the partners in the field, please contact:

• Maylis Guillou — for Initiatives of Change France: maylis.guillou@ic-fr.org
• Nick Foster— for Initiatives of Change Switzerland / Caux Foundation: nick.foster@caux.ch
• Yakarah Attias-Rosen — for the Learning for Well-being Foundation: yakarah@learningforwellbeing.org
• Arshad Mozumder — for Making Earth Our World – M.E.O.W.: arshad97@hotmail.co.uk

On the International Day of Tolerance, Initiatives of Change, who received the Ousseimi Prize on Tolerance in 2014, was invited to contribute to a panel discussion hosted by the UN Library in Geneva on “Solidarity, Dialogue and Tolerance among Nations: towards a culture of Peace”. 

Moderated by Sigrun Habermann from the UN Library Geneva, the event brought forward different perspectives highlighting the importance of multilateralism and the contribution of international solidarity to a more just and inclusive world. What followed was a lively discussion with the panelists and the room about Tolerance and how, and even if, we should go about achieving it.

Archbishop  Silvano Tomasi, Author and former Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva, presented his book “The Vatican in the Family of Nations: Diplomatic Actions of the Holy See at the UN and other International Organizations in Geneva” which he hopes will be useful to support the international community to “build bridges instead of walls”.

Ambassador Elayne Whyte Gómez, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations in Geneva, talked about Costa Rica’s efforts to build a more inclusive society and make the voices heard of those who are usually discriminated against. She also argued that we should move from the concept of tolerance to that of understanding and of comprehension, especially nowadays as we are much more interlinked than before.

 Victor Bampoe, Director at the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS at UNAIDS, spoke about the intrinsic need of international solidarity in the Health Sector. “AIDS doesn’t know borders. To get rid of it, we have to work together.”

Rainer Gude, representing Initiatives of Change, spoke about the experience of Initiatives of Change, which worked for tolerance without ever focusing on it.  “People, and a society, that is more tolerant is simply by-product of inspiring, equipping and connecting people to start to be the change they wish to see in the world.” He said that Tolerance was important, but more of a starting point, a foundation or even a safety –net but he actually advocatedthat we should go beyond tolerance : “ who wants  to be just tolerated? We probably would rather   be accepted, understood and loved”.

The discussion went from the very practical to the very philosophical covering concepts such as the Golden Rule common to all religions, “do unto others as you would to yourself,” and even covered the French Revolution’s famous tryptic “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” (freedom, equality and fraternity) and how throughout history equality and liberty had gotten more attention. In his conclusion, Rainer Gude talked about bringing back the concept of “Fraternity”. “If we are to achieve true tolerance than we must go beyond it.  In that sense Fraternity can help.  Up till now we have seen Equality and Liberty taken to their extremes with communism and neoliberalism, and yet none has lived up to its promise.” Aiming at one or the other always led to some oppression or exclusions, he said. However, in a family, brothers and sisters are both free and equal    Hence, it was time to “bring Fraternity back” and that could help us realize a more tolerant world in the process.

The UNESCO Principles on Tolerance were adopted on 16 November 1995.

Humanitarian field workers who deal every day with belligerent groups in the most dangerous places in the world need specific skills and techniques. Such institutions as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) invest energetically in training their staff in advanced negotiating skills, security frameworks and international humanitarian law.

However, these professional skills are not enough, according to four frontline negotiators who took part in a human library event co-organized by the Competence Centre on Humanitarian Negotiation (CCHN) and Initiatives of Change Switzerland. Strong human and interpersonal skills, and even empathy and love, are also essential.

The event took place on 4 December 2018, during the Third Annual Meeting of CCHN, a community of humanitarian workers and institutions which is a joint initiative of the ICRC, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), WFP, MSF Switzerland and the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD).

One of the human books, Óscar Sánchez Piñeiro, a Senior Field Coordinator for UNHCR in Iraq, described how he acquired some of his most basic negotiating skills, as a Spaniard growing up in a conflict-ridden area of the United Stated. During his childhood and adolescence, he said, ‘violence was the order of the day’. He had to negotiate his way to and from school: ‘You had to know how to walk those streets.’ One of the most important assets in humanitarian negotiations is to be able to connect in a human way, he asserted.  

Vivian Caragonis, who works for WPF in South Sudan, spoke of dealing with people who may have committed the most horrendous crimes and human rights violations. ‘You have to forgive,’ she said, ‘keeping in mind that there will be justice for those crimes.’ She places love and her religious beliefs at the forefront of her humanitarian work. ‘When you love your interlocutors, you fulfil humanitarian principles; besides, it creates a positive surprise and it gives you impartiality and independence.’

The human library also showcased the personal stories of Raphael Veicht, Head of Mission for MSF in South Sudan, and Markus Brudermann, Head of the Regional Delegation of the ICRC to Cameroon. Both shared the challenges they had experienced on the frontline from a personal, even intimate, perspective.

Following these personal accounts, Joëlle Germanier, Negotiation Support Specialist at CCHN, officially launched the first CCHN Field Manual on Frontline Humanitarian Negotiation. She explained that the document’s richness lies in the fact that, rather than taking an academic approach, it collects experiences and learnings from frontline humanitarian negotiators around the world.

This was the last Human Library event organized by Initiatives of Change Switzerland in 2018, in collaboration with partner institutions and organizations, as part of its Enriching Encounters series. It proved again that storytelling, in a highly institutionalized context such as Geneva International, disrupts the classic conference-expert dynamic and creates a whole different atmosphere. It allows participants to connect and network in a more human way and to explore the scope of trust in advancing peace, dialogue and tolerance.  

©Mark Henley | CCHN

The 6th edition of the Geneva Peace Talks, on 21 September 2018, had the theme of ‘Peace beyond Borders’. In previous years, Initiatives of Change has provided speakers, but this year it was asked to co-moderate the event. Initiatives of Change (IofC) has built up a bit of a reputation in international Geneva for doing events differently by focusing more on personal stories and offering opportunities for interpersonal connection and even (crazy as it may sound) silence.

IofC helped organize a series of online interviews on Facebook Live before the event took place. About 600 people attended the event itself, which took place in room XVIII at the Palais des Nations. Sarah Noble, head and co-creator of the Peace Talks, and I moderated it together.

The Peace Talks have built up a format of eight-minute talks in which peacebuilders tell their personal stories and share their message. We added two new elements. At the beginning we  included a chance for everyone to turn to their neighbours and introduce themselves to the ‘other peacebuilders’ in the room, as we are all called to work for peace. At first there was some hesitation about being so informal in such an official space, but after some light nudging people really got into it. It was great to see ambassadors and UN directors leaning over their desks to shake hands with high-school students. The buzz reverberated off the old UN walls that had seen countless hours of rather more official interactions. A first border between people had been crossed.

After that, the peacebuilders told powerful stories from the grassroots and from the heart. Two speakers in particular touched me.

Diana Garcia from Colombia passionately encouraged the participants to embrace uncertainty as a route to peace. She had seen the dangers of certainty and and rigidity in Colombia’s civil war.

Jasminko Halilovic spoke of his innovative War Childhood Museum, the only museum to focus exclusively on the children’s experience of war. It was illuminating to see war and also peace through the eyes of a child. The energy rose as the stories ebbed and flowed, followed by music.

Our second innovation was a couple of minutes of silence at the end, to let everything sink in. We were not sure how silence would work (or sound) in a UN conference room with 600 people. It was moving to see how people took it to heart: a profound silence took hold of this room made for talking. Many commented on how powerful and fitting it was to digest all the powerful messages in this way.  I was proud to be a part of this event and to see how IofC can contribute, with others, to promoting peace beyond borders. 

The Geneva Peace Talks are a public event co-organized by the United Nations Office at Geneva, Interpeace and the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform to celebrate the International Day of Peace, the 21 September.

Watch the whole event here.

Report: Rainer Gude

Photo: Antoine Tardy for Interpeace

13 November 2018 – Christine Beerli, former Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and former member of the upper house of the Swiss parliament, was appointed on 1 November 2018 as the new President of Initiatives of Change Switzerland. 

On 7 November 2018, 75 people participated in the latest event in IofC Switzerland’s Enriching Encounters series, which took place in the UN Library in Geneva. ‘Peacebuilders – Voices from local communities’ was co-organized with the Library, as part of the fifth Geneva Peace Week.

This was the third year that IofC Switzerland took part in Geneva Peace Week, an annual gathering of academic, institutional and non-governmental institutions, which are working to build peace on the local, national or international level. The theme of the 2018 Week was ‘Building Peace in a Turbulent World’. During the five days, over 120 groups organized more than 65 events. IofC Switzerland and its partners chose to approach the subject through the stories of five individuals working with local communities.

Three of the five speakers were brought in by our partners: the Kofi Annan Foundation, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers.

Mimoun Berrissoun is part of Extremely Together, an initiative of the Kofi Annan Foundation which others outstanding young leaders who are tackling violent extremism. He spoke about 180° Wende, the organization he founded in Cologne to engage with young people affected by extremism.

Jennifer Pro, a Senior Emergency Coordinator for IOM, spoke of her work managing humanitarian response operations in Somalia, South Sudan and Syria.

Martine Miller is the Director of Inclusive Peace (global) and Asia and Libya (lead) for the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers. She drew on over 20 years of experience providing direct peace support to communities and organizations.

The organizers felt it was important to have a local perspective in the mix of speakers and invited Fabrice Roman, Director of Le Centre de la Roseraie, to take part. He helps migrants in Geneva to become actors in their lives through French classes, visits in the city and support in administrative procedures. He expressed the need to ‘build bridges between grassroots organizations in Geneva and the UN’.

The fifth speaker was Amina Dikedi-Ajakaiye, President of Creators of Peace, an IofC programme which works to empower women in over 50 countries. She shared the importance of listening deep within so that we can be advocates for peace in our communities.

We look forward to continuing the Enriching Encounters series in 2019, creating the space for a different, more interactive, sort of conversation from the traditional conference model where experts address an audience. Stay tuned for more such opportunities to engage!

Storytelling forms a central part of the yearly summer Caux Forum. One of the most dramatic stories this year was that of former neo-Nazi Peter Sundin from Sweden. When he spoke in the main hall in Caux during Addressing Europe’s Unfinished Business 2018, the woman I sat next to was in tears. She couldn’t really find words to explain it. She had no radical past herself. ‘But it touches me in the heart,’ she said. ‘So much courage.’

Telling his life story is one of the ways Peter Sundin wants to ‘give’ to society, to repair the damage he has done in his youth. He works at a crime prevention centre in Sweden to combat radicalization, particularly in schools. ‘Saying sorry is not enough,’ Sundin says. ‘I want to show people I am different now and contribute to society.’

With anti-Semitism growing all over Europe, Sundin’s work feels all the more urgent. In his home country the ultra-right Swedish Democrats became the third largest party in the elections in September. The party has roots in the Nazi movement in the eighties, although they distance themselves from them.

In the past few years the extremist Nordic Resistant Movement also seems to be gathering strength, with the establishment of a political branch in 2015, apart from its military branch. They have been elected onto some municipal councils. This makes Sundin feel like ‘banging my head against a wall’. He knows from experience that working against racism takes a lot of dedicated time and effort. 

Sundin grew up in a racist family with Nazi traditions passed down from the 1940’s. His mother told him that his second generation foreign class mate and his family were to blame for the Sundins’ rocky household economy. His brother gave him white power music to listen to and he read Nazi newspapers and children’s books. At school he automatically joined up with other boys from Nazi families. 

When the school tried to counter their extremist opinions, it only resulted in more radicalization. The school invited a survivor of the Holocaust to speak. Sundin’s brother warned him that she was a fraud. The school ordered Sundin and his friends to sit in the front rows. He could feel the other children staring at him. After that day he decided to create a local movement of National Youth, a national violent Nazi movement. ‘As I felt backed up by this organization, we became more confrontational at school.’

Later he took part in a violent attack on a foreigner. ‘When you join the movement, part of the training is to learn to justify what you do. So you justify the violence: this man was a threat for our country, so it’s self-defence. It’s a good thing.’ When the attack was on the news the next day, he felt a heavy lump in his stomach. ‘I realized I needed to free myself from this destructive context.’ It was the start of a five-year process to cut himself loose from his Nazi environment.

‘It is not a straight process,’ he explains. ‘I needed to reinvent myself, build up new values, a new worldview. Sometimes I had relapses. I would buy a Nazi newspaper again, or listen to the old music. It was easier to be a Nazi, I knew how to do that.’ Most of all, he needed to meet new people. ‘The most important thing was to get new narratives. I had always believed that the Jews controlled everything, the government, the media. People outside our movement were blind to that, it was our crusade to tell them the truth.’ 

During this period the support of a local policeman was of great importance to him. ‘He helped me to take the next steps. He took me to McDonald’s, where I never had been because I thought it was controlled by the Jews. But he also said: “You are the Nazi, you are the one who has to change”.’

His own process has helped him to see how important it is to see the human being behind the extremist opinion. ‘I was always Nazi Peter, never just Peter. In a conversation you can show that you respect someone, but disagree with their opinions.’ Sundin is convinced that it is only when you reach the human being that the change process can start. ‘I can never change another person’s opinion, that is something that only that person is capable of. But I can ask questions that stimulate reflection.’

By Irene de Pous