CfA: Terrorism and Peacebuilding in the Western Balkans

'Human Security can no longer be understood in purely military terms. Rather, it must encompass economic development, social justice, environmental protection, democratization, disarmament, and respect for human rights and the rule of law.' (Kofi Annan, Towards a Culture of Peace, 2001)
International Summer Academy on Human Security
Special focus on the influence of transnational terrorist and criminal organisations on the peace-building process in the Western Balkans
20 - 30 July 2008, - ETC European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, Graz, Austria

'Human Security can no longer be understood in purely military terms. Rather, it must encompass economic development, social justice, environmental protection, democratization, disarmament, and respect for human rights and the rule of law.' (Kofi Annan, Towards a Culture of Peace, 2001)
International Summer Academy on Human Security
Special focus on the influence of transnational terrorist and criminal organisations on the peace-building process in the Western Balkans
20 - 30 July 2008, - ETC European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, Graz, Austria
Background: The International Summer Academy on Human Security is part of the HUMSEC project (www.humsec.eu) and will be held in the Human Rights City of Graz. The project is designed to contribute to a better understanding of the connection between transnational terrorist and criminal organisations in the peace-building process of the Western Balkan region not only on the scientific level: through the organisation of an annual summer academy, the network aims to bring the scientific discourse closer to civil society, to strengthen democratic principles and to raise awareness by means of human rights education and education for democratic citizenship on the danger that transnational terrorist and criminal organisations are for the peacebuilding and reconstruction process in the Western Balkan region.
The summer academy will be mainly held by experts nominated by the HUMSEC partner institutions, but also by external experts. The programme is drafted in order to give general information on the topics of human security and threats to security such as terrorism and organised crime, and to analyse the influence of terrorist and criminal organisations on the peacebuilding process. Societal factors such as poverty and corruption, but also rule of law or the influence of civil society will be studied in relation to the goals of human security and the respect for human rights. The focus will be posed on the influence that transnational terrorist and criminal organisations have on the peacebuilding process in the Western Balkan region (the leading topic of the third year of the project).
The participants will partly be selected among the HUMSEC partner institutions and partly among those who apply, following the public call for application. Participants will be selected on the basis of their field of interest and their personal motivation to be involved in the programme. Full or partial scholarships will be available in limited numbers:
Topics:
- What is human security - notes on human security as personal security, human security and human rights, and human security interlinked with post-conflict stabilisation
- The concepts of terrorism and organised crime
- The concept of peacebuilding
- Institution building, human rights and minorities
- Law enforcement
- Media and civil society
- The impact of economic development and corruption on peacebuilding
- Victims
- Synthetic approach and conclusions
Target Group: The summer academy is designed as ten-day-course for postgraduate students, young professionals, young researchers and representatives of NGOs whose work agenda focuses on the topics of terrorism, organised crime and peacebuilding. Special focus will be made on the selection of participants from South Eastern and Eastern Europe.