Why the Balkans?

Why the Balkans?
The Institute for Sustainable Peace grew out of our founder’s experiences helping, since 2002, to lead the ROM Leadership Development and Peace Gathering (ROM) that has met every summer since 1999 in Fuzine, Croatia.  The ROM project aims to reconcile young leaders who grew up influenced by the 1991-1995 Yugoslav wars that pitted Serbs versus Croats, Croats versus Bosniaks, Bosniaks versus Serbs, and involved numerous war crimes and ethnic cleansing.

ISP is an invited partner in ROM.  The ISP continues to be invited by ROM, an indigenous faith-based peace project, to partner to provide significant, substantive content and facilitation of dialogue in its workshop. Each year our founder, Randy Butler, gives multiple lectures on Generative Dialogue, the Presencing Process (Theory U), and breaking the cycle of violence through forgiveness and corporate repentance.

The peace in the region is fragile.  Since the 19th Century, there has not been a generation in the Balkans that has not witnessed widespread ethnic violence and war.  Most recently, during the ethno-nationalist wars of the 1990’s, 750,000 people were killed and three million people were forced from their homes.  More than 300,000 people remain displaced, either within their own countries or living as refugees in other countries. (CIA World Factbook) Parts of the region have not recovered from the destruction of the infrastructure and means of production.

Friends on the ground in Bosnia-Herzegovina report that the hostility between ethnic groups continues.  One friend reports that the number of radical Islamists in Bosnia continues to grow.  Another reports that the groups appear to be rearming for another round of violence.  One friend reported with great relief that their apartment building was not affected by the car bomb that went off in the street out front.

Kosovo’s 2008 Declaration of Independence also led to cross-border tensions, with some countries recognizing Kosovo as independent and others protesting their independence.  In particular, the Serbian communities along the Kosovar border challenged the border status.  NATO-led peacekeeping forces continue to quell violence between Albanians and Serbs within Kosovo. (CIA World Factbook)

As it has been since the beginning of WWI, the Balkans region continues  to have strategic importance.  The Balkan Peninsula has always been a major bridge between the Middle East and Europe.  Not only is the region a major corridor for human trafficking and traffic of illegal drugs into Europe, it is a potential corridor for construction of a natural gas pipeline to transport natural gas from non-Russian sources into Europe.

The conflict transformation process initiated at ROM is reaching an important phase.  More than 550 young leaders and potential leaders have completed the ROM workshop.   A large number of them now serve in positions of responsibility and influence in multiple sectors of society in their home countries.  They are physicians, business owners, managers in larger enterprises, religious leaders, human rights activists, educators and journalists.  Many are serving as mayors, leaders in political parties, cabinet members, and members of the parliaments in their countries.  In short, one of the first objectives of ROM has been met.  A new generation of leaders dedicated to peace-building and healing ethnic division and strife has been developed and deployed.

Leaders emerging from ROM have undertaken multiple peace-building initiatives in their home countries, including:

“Building Broken Bridges” – Croatia

Albanian Free Forum – Albania

“Walking Differently” – Kosovo

Dialogue groups in Macedonia

Mentoring and chaplaincy to political leaders – Serbia

A minority relief project in Montenegro

WAVE – Bosnia - Community School of English (emphasizing inter-ethnic reconciliation)

ROM Jr. – “Inclusion & Embrace” – for Serb and Croat high school students

Economic Diplomacy Seminar in Croatia, drawing from all over the Balkans

Production of the documentary film,  “Untold Stories,” about the people who risked their lives by helping persons of other ethnic backgrounds during the time of war in the region of former Yugoslavia.   

The ISP has the opportunity, working in partnership with ROM, to continue mentoring these leaders and to help them develop and strengthen peace-building initiatives within their home countries directly addressing their specific divisions and polarizations.  We are having a real impact.  Now is the time to expand our efforts in the region.

Join us in our work!