The Cordoba Update, January 2024
Dear Reader,
2023 saw a bloody last quarter in West Asia, with a war that is still ongoing and whose atrocities have eclipsed other violent conflicts in the world, in Ukraine, Africa and elsewhere, with significant consequences for the credibility of the system of international law, in particular international humanitarian law and international human rights law. It is the duty of all of us to mobilise and bring about an end to the violation of these international norms, established over many decades, in order to avoid a serious setback for the whole of humanity.
In the second half of 2023, CPI continued its projects on social cohesion in Iraq, interfaith in action in West Africa, the dissemination of constructive alternative narratives in northern Nigeria, and research on the influence of Islamic jurists on shaping the actions of armed groups and their ability to craft practical solutions to conflicts, covering different contexts in Africa and Asia.
In this edition of the Cordoba Update, you will find some of the activities, publications and events that took place in the second half of 2023, as well as two articles, one by Ali Alahmad, which presents the work that CPI has been doing in Iraq since 2017, and the other by Alice Carchereux, on the return of coups d’état in Africa.
With continued hope, we wish you a Happy New Year 2024!
The CPI-Geneva Team
© Cordoba Peace Institute – Geneva
News of the Institute
1/ Workshops & Trainings
Interfaith in action in Nigeria and Burkina Faso:
– A one-day workshop was held on 15 July 2023 at Plateau Central, Burkina Faso, for 30 religious leaders, focusing on strengthening interfaith relations. This was accompanied by the launch of an awareness-raising campaign, including the distribution of a short video clip online and on the radio, aimed at promoting citizenship and social cohesion within communities.
– A step-down training for 80 students, including both Muslims and Christians, was organised in Abuja on 28-29 July 2023, aiming to reduce inter-religious tensions and strengthen social cohesion across Nigeria. The media team then produced and aired six episodes of interfaith dialogues with key resource persons on national radio.
– Two meetings were held in Abuja, Nigeria, on 3 October 2023 and in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on 20 October 2023, to assess the impact of the project, explore strategies for the sustainable operation and cooperation of these platforms, and to discuss future directions. These meetings also served as a forum to identify specific needs that could be addressed by the platforms and to strategise on future initiatives, defining their geographical focus within each country.
Promoting social cohesion in Nigeria:
– A workshop entitled “Women IDPs Training” was held in Maiduguri in July 2023. This workshop targeted 50 women living in IDP camps who had experienced trauma as a result of the activities of armed groups. The main objective of this recurring workshop is to empower vulnerable women living in IDP camps in Maiduguri and its neighbouring areas, many of which are located in informal settlements.
– A workshop for traditional rulers in Bauchi and journalists in Gombe was organised in September 2023, with over 100 participants. The workshop focused on disseminating the key messages of the CAN Book (Constructive Alternative Narratives) and promoting the concept of peace journalism. In addition, the CAN Book was translated and recorded in French to extend its reach to the French-speaking population in the Lake Chad Basin region.
– In October 2023, CPI facilitated a face-to-face capacity building workshop for the DAAC team in Abuja (CPI’s local partner). This workshop focused on positive reconciliation methodologies, with the aim of helping the project team prepare for a “Sulhu” workshop involving communities in northeast Nigeria.
Promoting social cohesion in Iraq:
– Between July and December 2023, CPI (co)organised more than 25 socio-cultural events at the Cordoba Cultural Café in Talafar, a space for creative and socio-cultural exchange that promotes social cohesion between communities and returnees.
– CPI continued its support to Iraqi refugee families living in Turkey who face difficulties in accessing their civil documents. A legal clinic has been set up with the support of jurists and lawyers to deal with complex cases requiring legal assistance. Currently, 25 cases are being handled.
– CPI responded to a request from the Martyrs Foundation to organise training for ten of their agents. One week of training took place in Lebanon in August 2023 and another week in Erbil in October 2023.
– A conference was held in Baghdad on 10 December 2023 (Human Rights Day) and was attended by 60 people from various ministries, security bodies, civil society and international humanitarian law experts, who discussed among other issues the “Law on Missing Persons Affairs” which is awaiting final parliamentary debate and approval.
Fiqhi Pathways:
– From 6 to 13 July, CPI participated in Mogadishu in the inception workshop of the UNDP-supported project “Islaamku wa Nabad: A Peacebuilding Approach to Address Violent Extremism in Somalia”. CPI provided input to the Network of Islamic Scholars on Peacebuilding and Governance in Islam, the peacebuilding approach to extremism and violence.
– In August 2023, CPI travelled to Afghanistan and Pakistan for a week to conduct field research about the upcoming Taliban constitution. CPI and Ahmed Waleed Kakar successfully interviewed influential pro-Taliban religious scholars, academics, and also opponents of the Taliban regime.
– CPI-Geneva organised with its local partner Friends of Peace, Tanzania, a regional workshop on the status of non-combatant civilians in Islam, on 18-20 November 2023, in Zanzibar. The workshop, supported by the Swiss FDFA and held under the auspices of the Grand Mufti of Zanzibar, convened 17 scholars from Tanzania, Mozambique, DR Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Mali and Turkey who exchanged on provisions for civilians during war in Islam, as well as the differences between jurisprudential opinions during the armed conflicts in Syria and Mali. Besides, the scholars exchanged experiences in promoting restraint in conflicts in their contexts.
2/ Publications
– Ozair Khan. Monthly Afghanistan News Roundup, which aims to keep track of the discussions and debates among scholars on issues of governance policies of the Taliban, especially in the areas of education, social policies, and statecraft and governance institutions. January-December 2023.
– Zacchari Cheikh. Transitional Justice in Iraq (in French). Cordoba Research Papers. Cordoba Peace Institute – Geneva. August 2023.
– Catherine Borrelli. Empowerment of Youth through the Construction and Dissemination of Alternative Narratives: Sulhu Process in Northeast Nigeria. Conflict Transformation in Practice. Cordoba Peace Institute – Geneva. August 2023.
– Alice Carchereux. The Return of Coups in Africa: Local and International Reconfigurations. Cordoba Research Papers. Cordoba Peace Institute – Geneva. January 2024.
– Ali Al-Ahmad. Building Social Cohesion in Iraq. Conflict Transformation in Practice. Cordoba Peace Institute – Geneva. January 2024.
3/ External Events
– On 5 July 2023, CPI participated in a roundtable conversation on “Possibilities for Peacebuilding and Pluralism” hosted by Pepperdine University (PU) and the Templeton Religion Trust (TRT) at the PU’s new international campus, the Pepperdine Chateau d’Hauteville in Saint-Légier-La Chiésaz, Switzerland. The event brought together scholars and practitioners whose work intersects with the concepts of religious freedom, religious literacy, and pluralistic virtue.
– On 5 October 2023, CPI participated with other experts in a panel discussion at the ZHAW School of Management and Law in Winterthur, Switzerland on the topic “Why has the Middle East become a global mediation hotspot?”. CPI contributed to this event with an insight into the requirements for effective mediation in the MENA region.
– CPI participated in the 15th Advisory Group Meeting and the celebration of the Network of Religious and Traditional Peacemakers’ 10-year anniversary, held in Helsinki, Finland, 25-27 October 2023.
– On 6 December 2023, CPI attended the presentation of the “ICRC’s Global Mapping of Armed Groups 2023” by the International Committee of the Red Cross organised at the ICRC’s Humanitarium in Geneva. The ICRC has been conducting an annual survey of armed groups of humanitarian concern for several years in order to identify behavioural trends and improve its engagement.
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