For the fourth time, the Basel Peace Forum on January 9-10 brought together experts and decision-makers from politics, business, civil society and academia to discuss innovative approaches to peacebuilding. The theme of this year’s event, organized by swisspeace, was “Cities of Peace?”. The role of cities as drivers of innovation in peacebuilding was emphasized in numerous panels and workshops.
In a workshop organized by KOFF on the links between peacebuilding and migration, she shared terre des hommes schweiz shared her experiences of psychosocial support for young migrants in El Salvador. In the exchange with experts from Bangladesh, Colombia and Ethiopia, it became clear how similar the fundamental challenge of social integration is in different contexts. All speakers emphasized the great importance of psychosocial support and dealing with trauma for integration processes. The speakers confirmed the approaches of terre des hommes schweiz to focus more on the resources of young refugees. “The refugees have shown a great deal of resilience and perseverance on their journey. It takes a lot of strength to keep going. It is fatal if they are condemned to inactivity and passivity due to the long asylum procedures in the host country. Because young people want to be able to take their lives into their own hands,” emphasized Arancha Garcia del Soto from the Colombian Truth Commission, which documents the stories of Colombian refugees. At the end of the workshop, recommendations were presented to the FDFA on approaches to peacebuilding in the context of migration. One key demand was to make the voices and perspectives of young migrants heard.
Cover photo: Joel Plattner © swisspeace
