Dear Reader,
The principal focus of UNA Coventry is currently on developing a restorative justice project aimed at making the people of Coventry more aware of and able to take part in restorative justice (RJ) to resolve conflicts or find resolution after crimes. For more information see the CovRJ website.
We feel this fits in well with the aim of all three of the United Nations pillars: to prevent wars from recurring, to promote justice and to build sustainable communities. In an international setting RJ is called Transitional Justice.
However the UN is currently not focussed on this task. Its original purpose was to prevent wars between nations, whereas wars are now mostly between communities within nations. ECOSOC supports it, as we explained in this article, but there is much more that can and should be done.
The UN needs to accept reconciliation after conflict as part of its core tasks. We believe that RJ is a way to bring this message and these benefits to the people of Coventry. Come to our RJ Conference to find out more!
Finally note that it's not too late to book your seat at the Lord Mayor's Peace Lecture in November by the well-known journalist and broadcaster Yasmin Alibhai-Brown on the subject "Keeping Faith in Just Values in an Age of Populism". Seats are likely to be short supply so best to book here as soon as possible.
And if you are a community leader and would like to have tea with Yasmin and the Lord Mayor before the lecture, please write an email to me as soon as possible explaining why you want to meet her, and I will send you an invitation.
Thank you for your continued support of our work in promoting international and UN issues to the wider public.
Philip Brown
Secretary, UNA Coventry Branch
philip@unacov.uk
