Killing Me Softly;The Conflict Resolution Conference

Resolving External Community Conflict

Elleni Bereded-SamuelCommissioner,

Victorian Multicultural Commission Board Member Royal Women’s

Hospital

September, 2006Melbourne

Conflict Resolution versus conflict Management

Conflict resolution, generally, seeks to resolve the incompatibilities of interests and behaviours that constitute the conflict by recognizing and addressing the underlying issues, finding a mutually acceptable process and establishing relatively harmonious relationships and outcomes.

Conflict management

Conflict management by contrast involves taking action to keep a conflict from escalating further - it implies the ability to control the intensity of a conflict and its effects through negotiation, intervention, institutional mechanisms and other traditional methods.

Active speaking

Active speaking is a communication process whereby a speaker appeals to another individual's higher self - the deepest level of humanity within each individual where dignity, integrity and compassion resonate the strongest.

Active listening

When two parties in conflict are speaking with each other, one or both sides are often more concerned with formulating a response and winning the argument than listening attentively.

Attack problems, respect people

Transforming conflict can be as simple as reframing a situation - creating a new context in which people attack problems, rather than each other. The perception of a situation can be shifted so that both sides are working together on a common problem, rather than seeing each other as the problem.

Perceptions versus reality

From the conflict resolution perspective, the absolute reality of a conflict situation is often less important than what each party's perception of that situation is.

Transforming stereotypes

Typically in protracted conflicts, extremely negative stereotypes of opposing parties form based on their group identities.

Expanding identity

Often in violent, intractable conflicts, group identity is the central dividing factor around which a dispute revolves. Such a partition of identity creates an "us versus them" mentality, which inhibits communication and diminishes peaceful resolution options.

HORN OF AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Sudan

Ethiopia

Eritrea

Somalia

War & Conflict in Africa

African Refugees and Humanitarian entrants have suffered immense hardship due to tribal, civil conflict and as a consequence of controversial colonial boundaries, clan wars and economic problems.

War & Conflict in Africa cont…

The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees defines “a refugee as a person who is “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

Resolving Local issues by local people

HACN’s Management Committee