San Sebastian will host International Peace Conference

The Basque Citizen Network for Agreement and Consultation, Lokarri, the International Contact Group (GIC) led by South African lawyer Brian Currin and four other international foundations will hold a conference in San Sebastian on Monday 17th October designed to promote a resolution to the Basque conflict. Also invited to participate in next Monday’s International Peace Conference are MPs and political leaders from around the world, including ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s former Cabinet Head, Jonathan Powell.

The international organizations joining Lokarri and the GIC at the Conference have experience in conflict resolution. They include: the Berghof Foundation, Conciliation Resources, The Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and NOREF.

The Conference was announced on Tuesday at a press conference in the Gipuzkoan capital held by Pierre Hazan, of the GIC, who will explain his contribution in relation to the international conference and Jonathan Powell.

According to Lokarri, a number of public figures from the Basque Country will also be present at the International Conference.

The foundations behind the Conference

For more than 35 years, the Berghof Foundation for Conflict Studies has devoted philanthropic resources to nurturing a scholarly tradition in peace and conflict studies. Berghof is a private family foundation with both an operational and grant-making capacity.

UK organization Conciliation Resources is an independent charity working internationally to “prevent violent conflict, promote justice and build lasting peace in war torn societies”.

The recently created Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation was born from a need to safeguard the intellectual and physical property of Desmond and Leah Tutu. They aim to be a platform for all the organizations, institutions, grants and programmes which carry the name “Desmond and Leah Tutu”. They also try to spread the good work that the couplehave done to bring about peace and respect between people of different ethnic origins.

The Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre/Norsk Ressurssenter for Fredsbygging (NOREF), from Norway, is a resource centre integrating knowledge and experience to strengthen peacebuilding policy and practice. It was established by the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 2008 and has been key to the consolidation of peace in Norway.