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As Hafıza Merkezi, we are organizing an online workshop to discuss different experiences and approaches on memorializing conflict-related violations of children and youth rights.
The workshop will take place on 22 December 2022 Thursday from 15.00 to 18.00 (GMT+3). English-Turkish simultaneous interpretation will be provided.
Context
Conflict-related violations affecting youth and children’s rights have particularly serious implications for justice and democracy. In an increasing number of countries, conflicts blur the distinction between civilians and military actors and result in multiple violations of the rights of children and young people.
Giving a voice to the victims, survivors and their communities, understanding their needs and expectations and memorializing their experiences are essential components of the struggle for justice and the reconciliation processes in conflict-affected geographies. Actively involving children and youth in these processes raises specific challenges, in relation with the vulnerability and particular needs of these categories, as well as the specific legal framework which apply to them in terms of consent giving, visibility and sharing of information. In the perspective of restorative justice, innovative approaches to violations of children and youth’s rights not only develop adequate responses to these methodological challenges, but also open spaces for experience-sharing, memorialization and solidarity where victims and survivors are recognized as actors of the search for truth and justice.
Objectives
Despite the specificity of each context, sharing experiences from different conflict-affected regions in the areas of memorialization and restorative justice is important to understand and address the methodological and political challenges faced by these initiatives. Gathering activists and practitioners from different countries, the objectives of this online workshop are to;
- Share experiences, practices and challenges in memorializing conflict-related violations of children and youth rights
- Explore the relationship between these memorialization attempts and the struggle for justice and reconciliation
- Question the relevance of memorialization works in contexts where conflict and violence still prevail.
Programme
15.00-15.10 — Introduction
15.10-15.45 — Documentation and Memorialization: Aims, Methods and Challenges
- Ezgi Koman — FİSA – Çocuk Hakları Merkezi
- Bekim Blakaj — Humanitarian Law Center, Kosovo
- Derya Bozarslan — Independent Researcher
- Amina Krvavac — Sarajevo War Childhood Museum, Bosnia and Herzegovina
15.45-15.55 — Break
15.55-18.00 — The Role of Children and Youth in Memory Work
- Necla Korkmaz — Rengarenk Umutlar Derneği
- Man Sokkoeun — Youth For Peace, Cambodia
- Yasemin Soydan — Project Coordinator, “Had they not been killed, they would have been our friends”
This workshop is organized in the framework of the Strengthening Advocacy for Peace in Turkey project, conducted by Hafıza Merkezi with the support of the Olof Palme International Center.
