Global Refugee Crisis, Migration, and Trauma: Lessons at the Intersection of Peace and Sustainability Leadership

Session Submission Type: Pre-conference Workshop

Detailed Abstract

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
ILA 2017 participants, particularly educators, practitioners, and scholars, interested in Peace Leadership and Sustainability Leadership, and those with a particular interest in the ongoing refugee and migrant crisis, in Brussels, Europe, and around the world.

WHAT WILL ATTENDEES GAIN?
Attendees will take away:
*Learn about the current refugee and migrant crisis, particularly in Europe
*Understand the impact the refugee crisis has on peace and sustainability
*Discuss the role of peace leadership and sustainability leadership in understanding and providing solutions to the refugee and migrant crisis
*Share a space with others around the possibilities of peace and sustainability for challenging some of the world's most wicked problems.

ILA’s Peace Leadership Affinity Group and the Sustainability Leadership Learning Community, in collaboration with the The Coalition for Work with Psychotrauma and Peace (CWWPP), InterChange – the International Community-Base Peacebuilding Institute and the Quaker Council for European Affairs present:

We live in a turbulent world, full of chaos and complexity. Nowhere is this clearer than the ongoing refugee and migrant crisis in Europe, and indeed around the world. In Brussels, in the heart of Europe, such turbulence was amplified by the events of 22 March 2016. This terrorist attack predictably tightened immigration policies, but less predictably, increased the already unsettled lives of refugees in Brussels, and even those around the world, in a myriad of ways. This session provides a unique opportunity for participants to learn about the crisis first-hand, by
closely examining the implications for leadership for peace and sustainability. This pre-conference will be hands on, informative, and creates space to maximize that learning through reflection, brainstorming, and networking in order to create possibilities for new integration, and problem solving, and pathways to engagement. Attendees will have opportunities to experience on the ground efforts by European and other NGOs at the forefront of migration and trauma work followed by lunch and a facilitated dialogue.

8:30 - 9:00 Travel to the Quaker Council for European Affairs
9:00 - 11:00 Session on Global Refugee Crisis, Migration and Trauma with the Coalition for Work With Psychodrama and Peace, Interchange, and the Quaker Council of European Affairs
11:00 - 12:00 Walk to and Visit to Council of the European Union
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch at Quaker Council for European Affairs
13:00 - 14:15 Open Dialogue - Reflections, Networking and Project Generation Part I
14:15 - 14:30 Coffee Break
14:30 - 15:30 Open Dialogue - Reflections, Networking and Project Generation Part II
15:30 - 16:00 Closing address and looking forward
16:00 Transportation back to Conference Venue

Nowhere is turbulence more manifest than in the lives of refugees and migrants. While not a new phenomenon by any means, the increase in acts of terrorism and continued civil conflict around the world (Institute of Economics and Peace, 2014) has led to increasing numbers of refugees. This is particularly true in the wake of the Syrian Civil War, which saw a massive influx of 11 million people become refugees, fleeing the crisis (Syrian Refugees, 2016). One million of these refugees have sought refuge in Europe (Syrian Refugees, 2016). Almost 60 percent of those who arrived in Europe in 2016 came from the world’s top 10 refugee-producing countries, primarily from Syria (23%), Afghanistan (12%), Nigeria (10%) and Iraq (8%) (USAIM, 2017). In 2016 alone, Belgium resettled 550 refugees, most of whom were Syrian (Resettlement, 2016). This indicates that the challenge of resettling and addressing the refugee crisis is dire in our host country. This situation came to a head when the turbulence of the migration crisis was amplified by the terrorist attack in Brussels on 22 March 2016. This terrorist attack predictably tightened immigration policies, but less predictably, increased the already unsettled lives of refugees in Brussels, and even those around the world, in a myriad of ways. This pre-conference aims to explore the intersectionality of migration and trauma through the lens of peace and sustainability leadership.

Peace and sustainability leadership are fundamental frameworks for effectively addressing the wicked problems of our world (Satterwhite, Sheridan and McIntyre Miller, 2016). Some of the concepts examined through the lens of peace leadership will include the impact on building and sustaining community, resolving conflict, dealing with trauma and building diverse and inclusive systems. Some of the discussion of sustainability leadership will include access to resources; impact on resources such as land, energy, and consumption; and the social and fiscal economics of sustainability. We will examine issues and questions such as: How might the increase of people in a community impact the ability of the community to share resources? How might it lead to conflict and other challenges with such diverse perspectives? How might those engaged in the work of both peace and sustainability leadership help us to understand how we might design our communities to help build peace and create more sustainability?

Joining us to examine these issues are three organizations important to the work with migrants and refugees in Brussels: The Quaker Council for European Affairs, InterChange, and the Coalition for Work with Psychotrauma and Peace. The Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) “brings a Quaker vision of just relationships to European institutions…. [They] believe in non-violent approaches to conflict resolution, in the intrinsic equality of all people everywhere, and in a sustainable way of life for everyone that the one earth we share can support. QCEA calls on the European institutions and their Member States to contribute to a Europe which is peaceful, compassionate, open and just in its dealings both within Europe as well as with the countries and peoples beyond their boundaries” (QCEA, 2016, para. 1-2).

“InterChange is a growing, united, and diverse community of community-based peacebuilders around the world who: build relationships; share knowledge, skills and experiences; collaborate on educational and research projects; and support one another with the aim of nurturing and developing dynamic, durable and positive peace. Peacebuilding may involve a multiplicity of actors – community, academics, religious leaders, and policy makers – both within and outside the immediate conflict zone. Our particular focus is the actors and activities based at the level of the individual, the family, the group, the neighbourhood and the community” (Interchange, 2016).

The Coalition for Work with Psychotrauma and Peace (CWWPP) “empower[s] people, especially members of marginalized and vulnerable groups, in taking control of their own lives, through active development of new positive life values and perspectives, and re-integration into the community, particularly at the grassroots level… [They] seek to strengthen civil society by helping people to overcome the trauma of war and other social and natural disturbances and to become active participants in rebuilding society.” (CWWPP, 2016, para. 1-2)

These three organizations will join us for our morning session at the Quaker House, where we will learn about the refugee and migrant crisis in Brussels, Belgium and Europe as a whole, particularly through a peace and sustainability leadership lens. Upon spending some time learning about the crisis, we will visit some of the work that these organizations are doing with refugees in the areas. Our intention is also to visit the European Council to understand the work of the Council with the refugee and migrant crisis.

Beginning our time for reflection on the issues we discussed in the morning, will be a lunch either hosted at a local migrant or refugee restaurant, or catered by one at the Quaker House. This will give us an opportunity to reflect on our learning and begin to lay the groundwork for our afternoon session. This afternoon session will be an open, facilitated session to further explore the connections of the migrant and refugee crisis in terms of peace and sustainability leadership. Participants interested in each or both of these areas can begin to network, brainstorm, and discuss ways of bringing peace and sustainability leadership together to work toward challenging wicked problems, such as the migrant and refugee crisis. This afternoon space will be designed to be emergent and organic and to flow with the learning of the morning.

We live in a turbulent world, full of chaos and complexity. Nowhere is this clearer than the ongoing refugee and migrant crisis in Europe, and indeed around the world. This session provides a unique opportunity for participants to learn about the crisis first-hand, particularly with a focus on peace and sustainability leadership. It creates space to maximize that learning through reflection, brainstorming, and networking in order to create possibilities for new integration and problem solving. This pre-conference will be hands on, informative, and will create the space for reflection and pathways for engagement.

Sub Unit

• Public Leadership

Presenters

• Amanuel Melles, Aman Consulting

• Whitney McIntyre Miller, Chapman University

• Paul Kosempel, University of Denver