Peacebuilding and Conflict 
Transforamtion
A Two-Day Seminar for Clergy and Laity
Program Description
Session I – Inter-religious and Intra-religious Dialogue: Implications for Peacemaking
Monday, October 9 th, 12:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
The clashes between religious traditions that create obstacles to peacemaking seem to be to a large extent clashes between particular understandings within those traditions. Whereas other sets of understandings within those same traditions seem to not only not be an obstacle but actually provide a fertile ground for building sustainable peace. Given this situation, bringing those different understandings closer together through intra-religious dialogue with the hope that it would then reduce clashes between the different religious traditions becomes an urgent matter. However, such dialogues in every religion are extremely difficult. We will discuss some experiences where inter-religious dialogue on how to meet this challenge has proven helpful.
Session II – A Case Study in Human Rights Advocacy & Conflict Transformation: Justpeacemaking in Thailand
Monday, October 9 th, 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Conflict resolution specialists and advocates of social justice, even though sharing the common aim of building societies based on mutual respect, often talk past each other as they carry out their respective tasks. In many actual cases they even become barriers to each other’s work. The idea of Justpeace is that peacemaking and human rights advocacy must be integrated, and that we need to find ways to overcome the barriers that exist at the present. We will discuss the challenge of promoting justpeace in different cultures using Thailand as a case study.
Session III – Reconciliation Commissions and the Art of Peacebuilding
Tuesday, October 10 th , 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
We will discuss various challenges faced by Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in their attempts to build peace out of conflict situations. We will begin by examining the ‘art’ component of peacebuilding, in particular how looking at peacebuilding as a creative act and exercising our ‘moral imagination’ can contribute to the development of this art. We will then look at the challenges faced by reconciliation commissions in different cultural contexts and talk about the work of Thailand’s National Reconciliation Commission that deals with the conflict in southern Thailand.
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