How to Create a Peace Dialogue? Preparing for the Sahel Leaders’ McGill Visit in March 2020

During this conference with Sarah Federman, Assistant Professor, Negotiations and Conflict Management, College of Public Affairs, University of Baltimore, we’ll be talking about the creation of peace dialogues that will take place at McGill the first week of March with leaders from the Sahel region.

Hailing from three countries and four tribes, these peacebuilding leaders will come to us from active conflict zones. During their visit, they will try to put tribal and unresolved historical wounds aside to consider how to put an end to the contemporary violence that threatens their lives and their cultural heritage.

The peace dialogues will address the on-going assassinations of elders, jihadist youth recruitment, and social media campaigns that continue to upend peace building efforts.

We will share how these dialogues came together and what we, as organizers, must consider to ensure a positive experience for all. By transparently sharing with you our experiences and challenges, we hope you will be inspired to assist in conflicts of interest and importance to you.

Organized by Professor Ronald Niezen, holder of the Pearson Chair, the closed peace dialogues will hosted by the CHRLP in March. There will be a meet and greet for interested Law students at the dialogue.

About the speaker

Assistant Professor Sarah Federman specializes in the role of language in conflict, post-conflict contexts and the role of market actors in mass atrocity. The social construction of victims and perpetrators remains a central theme of her work, as well as questions of corporate accountability for mass atrocity.