Completed Externally Funded Projects
Human Rights and NGOs in Conflicts
in the World Society
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Funding: European Union support programme 6 (2007-2009)  SHUR is an international research project that investigates the role of civil society actors in ethno-political conflicts. Focusing on human rights violation, it aims at formulating guidelines for strengthening the complementary action of civil society and European Union actors. SHUR is a Specific Targeted Research Project-STREP (July 2006-June 2009) funded by the Sixth Framework Programme-FP6 of the European Commission. The European Union has identified peace-making, the respect for human rights and the development of civil society as key priorities in its external relations. Non-governmental actors have become key players in ethno-political conflicts, both as violators and as promoters of human rights. This has been facilitated by the transformation of these conflicts, increasingly characterised by high intensity in intra-border ethno-religious tensions and strong international appeal to human rights protection. Yet neither have the precise inter-relationships underpinning the human rights-civil society-conflict nexus been fully understood, nor has the potential complementarity between non-governmental and EU actors been sufficiently explored. Shur's overall objective is thus to analyse the impact of civil society on ethno-political conflicts through human rights, and to identify the means to strengthen the complementary actions of civil society and EU actors. It does so by analysing four case studies in the European neighbourhood: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Turkey-Kurds, and Israel-Palestine. Through the comparative examination of these cases, Shur will draw-up policy guidelines tailored to governmental and non-governmental civil society action. |
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Funding: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Förderprogramm zivik (2008-2009)  The project research focuses on Cambodia and Uganda and the role of civil society in the inclusion of victims of gross human rights violations, in connection with the ongoing criminal processing of the Cambodian dictatorship by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), as well as in the Ugandan civil war. At the same time, it asks why it has taken some 30 years to start the processes of dealing with the past (initiated internationally), and to what extent international cultural norms and their dissemination through international NGOs are important for the development of local Transitional Justice processes. The project is conducted through a collaborative effort between Prof. Dr. Christoph Safferling and Wolfgang Form from the Marburg Research and Documentation Centre for War Crimes Trials (ICWC), and Prof. Dr. Christoph Weller of the University of Augsburg. In addition, there are numerous local partners, including the German Development Service. In conjunction with these partners the current phase of the project mainly explores new approaches to victim participation in the context of Transitional Justice research and discussions. In December 2008 a workshop was conducted in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with funding from the Foreign Office and the support of the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (IFA) Civic programme. The aim was to bring together different groups, particularly various civil society actors working on victims support projects relating to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. The aim of the workshop was to create exchange and networking opportunities for NGOs in this field as well as reflect on and discuss the conditions for successfully dealing with the past in Cambodia.
Workshop: Victims Participation in Transitional Justice in Phnom Penh |
