Projects and Events on "Conflict Transformation"

Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Tbilisi Office - South Caucasus Region organized the public debate "Russia’s hybrid warfare in Ukraine and Georgia". 

There are five potential solutions to the problem of Ukraine's, Georgia's, Moldova's and Azerbaijan's current location in a security-political nowhere-land. They include a Western-Russian grand bargain, NATO accession, EU membership, US security guarantees, and the Intermarium. Yet, none of these models has so far materialized. Why is that the case?

Taking the Long View: Georgia’s Conflicts in an International Context is a Public Lecture by Thomas De Waal, that took place on January 10, 2019, at HBS Tbilisi Office - South Caucasus Region.

Such narratives allow living with those who distrust you because they are not held responsible for this distrust.

After completion of the Scholarship Program, hbs provided its alumni S. Rumyantsev and S. Huseynova with an additional opportunity to implement a joint project with colleagues from Armenia. One of the results of this collaboration was the book Beyond the Karabakh Conflict: The Story of Village Exchange written together with Arsen Hakobyan. Ten years later, the acquired experience has not lost its relevance for the authors. in Russian

(closed project) The cooperation project "News from the South Caucasus" aims to inform Georgian-speaking audience about recent developments in the South Caucasus region through publishing news, analytical articles, interviews and photo essays.

From the outset, Germany’s chairmanship of the OSCE, in 2016, promised to be fraught with sizable challenges. One of these challenges came from the recent developments in the South Caucasus, which demonstrated with renewed force that national boundaries in the post-Soviet space, and thus the security situation, are still far from stable.

Is it possible that simplified travel to and from Europe and step-by-step integration with it can help to create a consensus in Abkhaz society that will make it possible for us Georgians to live in a single state with them?

Conflicts in the Caucasus have an unfortunate resemblance to volcanoes. They erupt in short and devastating episodes of violence, then for a long period everything is quiet and nothing moves.

(closed project) The project Stories from the South Caucasus is implemented in cooperation with netgazeti.ge and its main goal is to produce news and articles regarding to the latest developments of the South Caucasus and accordingly, raise awareness and the level of interest of Georgian population on neighboring countries, as well as conflict regions of Georgia.

(closed project) The project CAUCADOC was implemented in cooperation with Czech organization People in Need. It was part of a wider program funded by EC to support documentary filmmaking and running in the whole South Caucasus in 2012-14. HBF SC cooperated with project during 2013 by co-funding part of the festival.

(closed project) The project "Voices of South Caucasus" was implemented in cooperation with Liberali magazine. Articles by journalists from Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia were published in the print and online publication of the magazine.

What is the new political reality, and what does peaceful transformation imply? What are the most important problems of the Geneva process?

What hinders resolution of the conflicts in the South Caucasus, especially since there is no fundamental problem of ethnic tension between individuals? Thomas de Waal, Senior Fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace states that the people involved in the conflict have nothing against each other.

Media plays an enormous role in conflict transformation process and social media tools have proved to be rather efficient in cases when exchange of information and mutual awareness is extremely limited in societies across conflict lines. New media tools not only serve as fast and least costly means of sharing information but also act as online platforms for dialogue, cooperation and networking between civil societies across conflict divides

On 3rd and 4th of June, 2012 within the frameworks of the project “Empowering Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Parliamentary Election Context”, initiated by the South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, two roundtable discussions were held in Poti and Tskaltubo. The goal of the initiated project is to promote and strengthen the civil activism and participation of IDPs in political processes and encourage political parties to integrate into their party programs the issues important and crucial for IDPs.

Public discourse on the issue of IDP integration in characterized by various attitudes – IDPs themselves often consider integration as a factor hindering return to their homes and are less likely to view this process as a positive change either for them or for a wider societal life. For that reason, there exists diversity of approaches while defining the term “integration.”

The issue of the integration of internally displaced persons (IDPs) into local communities is still problematic for our country. The lack of integration is the issue not only for an older generation of IDPs from Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but also for those born in displacement. New generations of IDPs also suffer from this problem.

After almost two decades of the ethnic conflicts in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the legacy of the displacement remains a reality for 246,000 internally displaced people in Georgia. The number of internally displaced population is substantial for a small country like Georgia, comprising 6% of the total population.

On 20 October 2010, the Heinrich Boell Foundation hosted a public debate about the current situation in the Northern Caucasus and its possible influence on the security and stability of Georgia.

On October 10th a group of Georgian and international policy shapers and researchers went to a Field-trip to investigate best practices of regional cooperation between Georgia and Abkhazia. As an impressive example for regional cooperation the group visited the Enguri Dam near the Administrative Border Line.

The South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation and Europe House Georgia organized the photo exhibition entitled: “Nachklang – Georgia one year after the war” by the photographer Uwe Schober.

On 2 June 2010, the HBS invited experts, representatives of non-governmental organizations, political parties and interested individuals for a debate on the theme of “The Georgian-Russian Relations: Perspectives for Restoring the Dialogue”.

Within the framework of the project “IDP Public Debates” the Heinrich Boell Foundation organized the series of public discussions for the community of IDPs in Gori, Tskaltubo and Zugdidi. The topic of discussions for all three debates was: “Local Self-Government, Upcoming Local Elections and IDPs – accountability, responsibility and participation”.

“If Poland becomes a member of NATO, there will be nuclear war.” A Russian general delivered that warning to Ronald D. Asmus in the 1990s, on just his third day in the job of advancing the Clinton administration’s policy of NATO enlargement. When Asmus spoke on a panel at the HBF on April 15, 2010, he did not reveal how he answered his pugnacious counterpart. Diplomatically, he also left the general unnamed.

(closed project) The HBF is conducting a new series of debates, dealing with the problems of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Georgia. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), due to the conflicts in the 1990s and the August war 2008, more than 247,000 people have fled from their hometowns and are now living in settlements or former sanatoriums and hospitals especially in the border regions to the occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The Georgian-Russian War in August 2008 raised questions towards the strategic configuration of Europe, which are unanswered until today. In Georgia, the HBF is a leading actor running public debates on the August War and its implications for International Politics. The profound discussions which are organized by the Foundation in Tbilisi are an important contribution to democratic development in Georgia.

A packed house greeted the first major public discussion in Georgia about the Tagliavini Report since it was issued. The standing-room-only crowd on November 11, 2009, numbered more than 100 Georgian citizens, joined by numerous members of the international community.

The South Caucasus Documentary Film Festival of Peace and Human Rights – “Nationality: Human” is a unique traveling film festival that connects the South Caucasus by screening documentary films concerning reconciliation, conflict resolution, and human rights issues, and later encourages audience discussion on the issues the films expose. The festival annually screens between 10 and 12 award winning documentary films. Over the past two years, the festival has traveled to a total of 51 towns and villages.

Vakho and Teo, the main heroes of this documentary are twenty-something university graduates from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.  Born as the Soviet Union collapsed, they've grown up in the shadow of the wars that tore their country apart in the early nineteen nineties. They're too young to remember the fighting, but like everyone from their generation, their lives have been shaped by the legacy of the violence.

On June 17-20, 2008 South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation together with University of California, Irvine and Conciliation Resources, London, organized a conference “Conflict and Migration: The Georgian-Abkhazian Case in a European Context.”

On June 12-15, 2007 South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation together with University of California, Irvine, organized a conference "Georgian NATO Accession and Potential Impacts on the Georgian-Abkhaz Peace Process".