Syria: Training on Negotiations

Over the course of the last 8 years, while the international community has attempted - with no concrete results so far - to find a political solution to put an end to the war in Syria, local communities, civic and community-based groups, sometimes in coordination with local administrative councils and local CSOs/NGOs, have attempted to negotiate with armed forces present in their territories. The nature and scope of these negotiations varies both in terms of the armed actors involved, their sustainability, objectives and geographical scope.
 
In the few successful cases of local truces, the participation of local leaders, the establishment of widely representative local councils and the willingness to make compromises have been successful to diminish the violence and to guarantee a minimum of humanitarian access. However, these successful ceasefires are temporary and fragile because of the absence of implementation mechanisms and the lack of international and regional monitoring and support. Moreover, these agreements lacked any reference to IHL, IHRL and International Conventions on armed conflicts, which led to situations where civilians simply passed from being hostages of the violence of one party to the violence of another party.
 
Against this backdrop and in the framework of its Syria Program, No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) is organising a workshop on Negotiations, which will take place in Gaziantep, Turkey, on 19-23 July 2018. The purpose of the training is to engage Syrian organisations and civil society activists and provide them the skills and tools to understand the negotiation lifecycle and its stages; appreciate the different types of negotiations and the pros and cons of each as well as analyse various negotiations technique and understand principled negotiation principles.
 
Documentation

• Final report of the workshop
• Program of the workshop
• Concept note of the worshop
• Visit the special page dedicated to NPWJ’s Syria Project on Justice and Accountability

 
For further information, please contact Gianluca Eramo (MENA Democracy program Director) on geramo@npwj.org or Nicola Giovannini (Press & Public Affairs Coordinator) on ngiovannini@npwj.org.