VEREINTE NATIONEN
Teilnahme an der 10. Konferenz zum Thema:
PREVENTION OF CRIME AND THE TREATMENT OF OFFENDERS
Als NGO waren wir eingeladen unsere Internationale Organisation bei dieser Veranstaltung im Austriacenter in Wien zu vertreten. Wir beteiligten uns an den zahlreich geplanten Podiumsdiskussionen der NGO`s.
Unser Beitrag Thema - BRÜCKE DES FRIEDENS - EIN WERKZEUG ZUR ÜBERWINDUNG VON RESSENTIMENT und CRIME AND BROKEN FAMILIES (beide siehe Beilage). Weiters hörten wir interessante Berichte und Statements, wie z.B. zum Thema Kriminalisierung von Geisteskrankheit. In den USA wird es dem Delinquenten zur Zeit freigestellt ob er die Strafzeit tradionellerweise im Gefängnis verbringen will, oder sich einer Therapie unterzieht, wodurch das Strafausmaß keinesfalls gekürzt wird. Gegebenenfalls nimmt die Therapie sogar längere Zeit in Anspruch. Ein wichtiger Punkt: Die Vortragenden berichteten von guten Erfolgsquoten und niedrigeren Kosten im Vergleich mit der traditionellen Strafgebarung!
Es begegneten uns Begriffe wie RESTORATIVE GERICHTSBARKEIT, die uns durchaus neugierig werden ließen. Es handelt sich dabei um eine neue Art des Umganges mit dem Verbrechen: Man spricht nicht mehr von einem Vergehen gegen den Staat, sondern einen Gewaltakt in einer zwischenmenschlichen Beziehung. So muss nicht dem Staat gegenüber genüge getan, sondern das Verbrochene an dem Anderen wiedergut gemacht werden. Opfer, Mitbetroffene und Täter kommen zusammen und gemeinsam wird die Wiederherstellung der Situation des Opfers und etwaiger mitbetroffener Personen erarbeitet, und zuletzt auch notwendige Schritte für eine Rehabilitation des Täters unternommen. Es geschieht auf freiwilliger Basis aller Beteiligten und der Täter muss sich für seine Tät verantworten. Es zeichnen sich mehrfach positive Auswirkungen eines solchen Strafverfahrens ab. Das Opfer ist in der Mehrheit der Fälle zufrieden gestellt, ebenso mitbetroffene Personen, und der Täter erlebt die menschlichen Folgen seiner Tat. Er/Sie durchläuft dadurch einen Prozess, der ihn/sie viel eher zu einerPersonen werden lässt, die verantwortungsvoll in der Gesellschaft leben kann.
Crime and War
A Bridge to
Peace:
Modelling
Restorational Steps that
Cut Cycles of Crime and War
Statement to the
TENTH UNITED
NATIONS CONGRESS ON THE PREVENTION OF CRIME AND THE TREATMENT OF OFFENDERS
Vienna, Austria
April 10th-17th, 2000
by Dr. Maria
Riehl
on behalf of
the
Women's
Federation for World Peace, International
Mr. President, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen :
Today we are becoming more and more aware that wars begin in the human mind and that wars are simply a larger version of crime, especially on the side of the aggressor.
A Cease Fire Is Not Enough To Create Lasting Peace
Centuries of experience and modern psychology are teaching us that a cease-fire alone is not enough to create lasting peace. Every act of violence leaves victims with physical but also deep emotional scars behind. War is an accumulation of acts of violence and therefore long after the external destruction has been restored the internal scars still linger on.
When emotions of hate and resentment are not restored, they are the source of conflict or even wars in the future. Fifty years after the end of World War II the Women's Federation for World Peace started a unique initiative called the Sisterhood Movement or Bridge of Peace to end the resentments and hate accumulated during WW II and during other historical conflicts.
A New Social Technology
Through this new social technology, women who have the desire to create lasting peace and who have in mind the future world we bequeath our children and future generations, come together and unite as sisters crossing over the borderlines of enmity leaving the destructive past behind.
At such a Bridge Ceremony or Sisterhood Ceremony, two women from two previously warring or enemy nations or ethnic group come from either side of a symbolic bridge and, walking towards each other, choose to turn from a history of conflict and misunderstanding. Before meeting, they bow to each other moving toward respect and acceptance of one another. They then embrace, taking steps to forge a new partnership as sisters working together to create a more peaceful world.
This public statement in a thoughtfully created environment, complete with music, makes this moment really historical. Deep emotions are often evoked as participants squarely face the realisation of how much suffering and misunderstanding there has been on both sides those of the victors as well as the victims. Tears are common proof of the transforming experience that naturally flows from sincere: taking of responsibility; new-found respect; deep regret at any role played by themselves or associated others that violated the other; and the making of a new commitment to another person in a meaningful environment. Tears also mark the deep happiness and new hope felt through these unions.
Resolving Emotional Tragedies of War
Over 200,000 sister-pairs were first forged between Korean and Japanese women in 1994 restoring the deep wounds of 40yrs of Japanese occupation that Korea suffered through before 1945. This was seriously needed healing for some of the Korean comfort women and their families. Then in 1995 and 1996, 20,000 more sister-pairs were made in the USA between American and Japanese women, many who had put their lives back together after losing loved ones in the war.
Europe picked up this idea and the first European Sisterhood Conference took place between Austrian and Tschec women in Vienna, April, 1995. Other countries followed this example. A Bridge of Peace was build between Germany and Poland, Germany and Russia; England and Ireland; Hungary and Slovakia; Japan and France; and Japan and England. In Austria we built the Bridge with six more of our neighbouring countries. Among these a Bridge Ceremony was held with ladies from Croatia and Bosnia shortly after their war had stopped. This became a most remarkable experience. At that time, a few days in the countryside of Austria where they received an open hearted sister became a substantial source of new hope!
What comes after these ceremonies? The Bridge of Peace is a very meaningful first step to forging partnerships for peace. How these relationships develop afterward vary greatly according to the individuals, their proximity (or lack of) and many other circumstances. Sometimes the relationship that develops may be as simple as a pen-pal type of friendship. Often, over the years, sisters visit one another, start projects together, or simply take something back to their homes from this ceremony that they did not previously have a model for restoring, hurt, broken or violated relationships.
Four Key Elements of Restorational Relationships
This ceremony employs and underlines four main elements essential to establishing peaceful relationships:
1. Responsibility: We break the chains of victimization by first realizing that our resentments and anger are emotions that poison and debilitate ourselves and prohibit us from entertaining any other kind of thoughts and actions than those that sustain the anger and relive the rasons for resentment. Then, as we take the reins of responsibility and guide our thinking, speaking and actions beyond anger and resentment, (the trademarks of a victim,) we liberate ourselves from being a victim, even if our environment continues to seek to control our lives.
2. Respect: By recognizing the rights of the other, no matter who they are, we are able to open our minds up to the possibility of a solution. Without a foundation of respect, the only kind of relationship possible is that of use and abuse and so a perpetuation of the cycle of conflict.
3. Regret & Renewal:A Personal Cease-fire: As we take responsibility, we have the strength to see the things within ourselves that themselves possibly led to the abuse of others. So as not to perpetuate conflict in our own lives, we need to hold a personal cease-fire precipitated by self-awareness and honest assessment of our own actions.
4. Commitment: As we newly embrace our partner of peace, be they sister, spouse, friend or family member, we seal our personal commitment to one another and the task of self-development ahead.
Participants in the Ceremony therefore experience the transformational power of employing these internal skills. This potent model of restorative relationships is both an experience and a resource for those who experience it.
Protégés no longer, those who choose to utilise this new social technology take it with them to multiply this knowledge in their homes, their communities and even between nations.
Replacing Don't with How to
As an individual actively chooses to understand restorational processes and initiate changes in themselves, their families and communities, so we are directly undermining the cycle of crime, conflict, resentment and justification for further crime and conflict. It is not enough to say, No, this is wrong. Don't fight. Don't violate. We have to show people how to do something that produces different, dramatic and real results that perpetuate cycles of healing, opportunity and development rather than crime and conflict.
As people explore and better understanding the opportunities created by restorational activities such as the Bridge of Peace new doors open for individuals, their families and even nations that draw on our innate creativity rather than destructive reactions.
Another key point is that participants of this initiative do not need any special training, degrees or education prior to participating in a ceremony just a spark of awareness resulting in the willingness to personally contribute to a culture of peace and non-violence.
Addressing the Cause of Conflict in Domestic Violence, Crime and War
The Bridge of Peace continues today to be used where there are conflicts due to race and religion, ethnic difference, gender and generation differences. It is also, and most importantly, used to restore and strengthen humanity's most elemental social relationship the marriage partnership that gives birth to, cradles and houses humanity in its various states ranging from primitive violence to enlightened interdependence.
Therefore, WFWP consistently seeks to address the issue of restoration at all levels including the need for the restoration of the most elemental (procreative) social relationship between man-woman, the health of which is key to the health of all our social systems. WFWP focuses on the marriage partnership in its role as model and progenitor of violence or interdependence for the generations and social structures that follow.
[1] The Bridge of Peace: A New, Effective Social Technology for Healing the Wounds
of Abuse, Misunderstanding, Intolerance, Prejudice and War. Karen Judd Smith and Marily Morris, 1999. WFWP USA.
[2] "Primitive "has nothing to do with technological development and everything to do with relational advancement. Some of the most primitive humans, unfortunately have access to much of today's latest technology.
Last edited: 10.6.2003