|
|
| |
| Looking Back at 2020 |
 |
|
When we prepared for 2020 we knew it will be a special year. Mostly because the year marks our 20th anniversary and we were also preparing for the upcoming 11th international conference in Sassari. Yet, we didn’t expect the year to be so unusual. 2020 challenged us in many ways. Still, the EFRJ proved to be a network of dedicated professionals and organisations that are showing commitment and solidarity amid unexpected difficulties. Despite the hardship, the organisation managed to grow in 2020 in several ways, thanks to the active engagement of its membership. In this special end of year Newsflash edition we are taking you through the most remarkable moments of the year.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| Renewing our Communication |
|
|
 |
|
|
| Engaging in Policy Work |
| We made key steps in our work for policies that enable wide access to high quality restorative justice across Europe. We gave our feedback on the EU’s new Victims’ Rights Strategy, and were invited to join the EU Victims’ Rights Platform. We also submitted a joint position paper with Terre des hommes Europe on the EU’s Strategy on the Rights of the Child for the upcoming four years that highlighted the significance of restorative justice in the justice related cases that involve children as victims, offenders or concerned family members. We organised this year for the third time the annual meeting of the European Restorative Justice Policy Network. Among other topics, we are working on a policy paper proposing restorative measures to respond to the harms of covid-19 in our societies. |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| Providing Training |
| This year the we made a great step to become a training provider in the field with ultimate aim to advance the accessibility of high quality restorative justice services in Europe and beyond. We established a Register of Qualified Trainers with over 60 experienced members, covering a wide range of topics and languages. In the future the EFRJ aims to connect the most suitable trainers with the emerging training needs, and also to offer its own courses every year. We already held the first two of such courses during the 2020 EFRJ Winter Academy. These were accompanied by three unique Insight Talks, which remain accessible for the future. |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| Celebrating Our 20th Anniversary with the REstART Festival and the Jubilee Magazine |
To mark the organisation’s 20th anniversary we organised REstART, an online art festival on restorative justice. It presented award winning documentaries and a feature film, theatre performances, photo exhibitions, workshops, presentations, a multimedia art work. The audience met with the creators of the artworks in live talks every day, engaged in mind blowing discussions, and pondered questions related to justice, solidarity and repair. We are grateful for the more 500 visitors and the team of more than 60 people who contributed to REstART. Many of the artworks are still available on our website and the recordings of the talks will be released early next year.
To keep the memories of the organisation alive the Editorial Committee prepared the special edition of the Newsletter, the Jubilee Magazine. It has more content and design than usual to facilitate the reflections on the achievements of the past 20 years and the challenges ahead of us. It was launched on the Jubilee Party on the 8th of December.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Responding to the Impacts of the Pandemic |
|
|
The unexpected outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on so many aspects of our lives and social interactions significantly affected our work and the work and wellbeing of everyone in our network. A group of people mostly in the EFRJ’s membership coordinated by Dr Ian Marder convened several times and discussed what the pandemic meant for restorative justice professionals, and shared innovative answers to the situation. The reports of these meeting are published in The Restorative Blog.
To give voice to the human impacts of the pandemic and to strengthen our connections we launched the Solidarity Over Distance Campaign and published interviews with people in our network and their reflections on coping with the situation. In June we published a thematic Newsletter presenting the reflections of nine restorative professionals from around the globe.
Finally, we organised the “Looking Forward” webinar series exploring injustices exacerbated by the pandemic and other consequences of the situation and ways of responding to them.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| Serving Our Growing Network |
|
In 2020 we registered 235 new membership applications, and with this we reached the 1000th membership application in the history of the organisation. This year’s Annual General Meeting was held online, and members elected two new Board members: Maia Chouchua (Georgia) and Petra Masopust Sachova (Czech Republic) after the terms of Aarne Kinnunen (Finland) and Roberto Moreno (Spain) came to their end.
Based on the initiatives from active members, we launched three new working groups this year, on gender based violence, on environmental justice and on restorative schools. We are really pleased to have nine active committees and working groups within the EFRJ. The work of these teams make up an essential part of the organisation’s endeavours.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| Sharing Practices and Doing Research |
The EFRJ started three new project this year to support the advancement of restorative justice through exchange of good practices and research in specific areas. LetsGoByTalking is exploring how restorative justice can help to protect the rights of the LGBT+ hate crimes. We engaged in two Erasmus+ projects dedicated to training in restorative justice: PROTECT is developing training focusing on victims’ rights and restorative justice, while MEDIAREJ aims to create training for restorative justice trainers. We also carried on with our ongoing three other projects (i-RESTORE, Re-Justice and Restorative Justice Strategies for Change) and worked on and concluded the two years long KINTSUGI project.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| The Secretariat will be closed between 24 December 2020 - 3 January 2021. We will be back with you again from 4 January 2021. |
|
|
| |
| We hope to connect with many of you again next year. We wish you pleasant and peaceful end of year holidays and a happy and healthy 2021! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
