Dear Reader,

In this issue you can find recent peace-related news and forthcoming events in and around Coventry.

Please do let us know of any peace-related news or activities happening in or near Coventry and we will be happy to add them to our website http://coventrycityofpeace.uk and include them in a future edition of this newsletter.

Philip Brown
Coventry Lord Mayor's Committee for Peace & Reconciliation
covlmpc@gmail.com

Peace News

Coventry Restorative Stories

The United Nations Association Coventry, working with the University of Warwick and Coventry Restorative Justice Forum, invites communities to host a presentation on the subject of Restorative Justice. The Ministry of Justice wants a process called Restorative Justice (RJ) to be embedded into the criminal justice system and offered to all victims of crime. The benefits to the victim, the …

Rising death toll in Occupied Palestinian Territory

On 1 November 2022 the most right-wing government in Israeli history was elected. Members of the new Israeli coalition government have pledged to accelerate the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank – a practice that negates the possibility of a two-state solution – and loosen the rules of engagement for soldiers and police. On 2 January, the Israeli …

Report on Coventry's Holocaust Memorial Event

On 27 January, 140 people crowded into St Mary's Guild Hall to hear the powerful voices of those that have witnessed the horrors and atrocities of the Holocaust and Holodomor. People gathered in the hall accompanied by music performed by Coventry Music's Brass quintet while overhead daylight streamed through the windows, casting a vivid winter glow on the assembly. When …

Coventry Lord Mayor's Committee Annual Report 2022

The Coventry Lord Mayor's Committee of Peace and Reconciliation has worked for 42 years to promote peace and reconciliation with the City of Coventry, particularly through acts of witness that people of Coventry can be involved in. Coventry City Council has adopted the vision "The City of Peace and Reconciliation" Coventry was City of Culture 2021 - one fifth of …

Olaf Scholz agrees to send tanks to Ukraine

After refusing to send tanks to Ukraine since at least July 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz succumbed to huge international pressure from his allies on 25 January 2023 and finally agreed to send German-built Leopard 2 tanks. He will also allow other countries to do so. This followed the recent decision by the UK to send its own tanks and …

UN Secretary-General says there is no chance yet for serious peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Antonio Guterres said "There will be an end, there is an end of everything, but I do not see an end of the war in the immediate future. I do not see a chance at the present moment to have a serious peace negotiation between the two parties." Reiterating that the …

UN calls on Taliban to end discrimination against women and girls

On 20 January, the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed and other UN women on a fact-finding mission in Afghanistan called upon Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership to put the good of the country first and end recent policies towards women and girls that have confined them in their own homes, and violated their basic human rights. In meetings with de facto authorities …

8 Peer Mediation Bursaries Available for West Midlands Schools

Peacemakers have secured funding for bursaries for 8 West Midlands schools to establish or re-establish a Peer Mediation scheme in their school. What is Peer Mediation? Peer Mediation enables children to mediate conflicts that occur on the playground between other children. Training helps the mediators develop the skills needed to support children to find ways of resolving their differences between …

School Peer Mediation Plus Training

Peacemakers have funding available for primary schools in the West Midlands to help them set up a Peer Mediation Plus scheme in 2023 and train staff to get the most out of the scheme. Peer mediation involves children being trained to mediate their peers’ conflicts at school. It is underpinned by the same values that inform adult mediation. It is …

Forthcoming Peace-Related Events

If you know of other peace-related events please let us know.

Write to covlmpc@gmail.com

Female Genital Mutilation Day theme in 2023 - Partnership with Men and Boys

6 February has been recognised as the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation since 2012. The aim of this day is to amplify and direct the efforts on the elimination of this practice. See here for more details. In 2023 4.32 million girls around the world are at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation. In 2023, the …

One-day Introduction to Restorative Practice for Schools and Community Settings

Peacemakers are offering a training course on 6 February 2023 that will provide participants with the background knowledge and skills that are required to use informal restorative practices in their day-to-day work. The course will introduce participants to the philosophy and language of restorative practices. It also engages participants in identifying how to apply this innovative and relational way of …

Coventry Restorative Stories

At 2pm on 2 March 2023, Sherbourne University of the Third Age (U3A) will host an event called Coventry Restorative Stories in Wyken Community Centre. This project aims to promote awareness of Restorative Justice (RJ) within Coventry. RJ brings those harmed by crime or conflict and those responsible for the harm into communication, enabling everyone affected by a particular incident …

MICHAEL: An Angel's Journey

Dresden sculptor Reinhard Pontius's large wooden sculpture of the Archangel Michael will be in St. Michael's Cathedral garden until 9 April 2023. He designed it an angel of peace without weapons, open to a direct encounter with people. Reinhard Pontius is touring this sculpture through Europe with the desire to set a sign for peace and reconciliation. He has already travelled with …

Ruined and Rebuilt

This classic book is on sale now in hardback or paperback and would make an ideal and unique gift. On the night of 14 November 1940, Reverend Richard Howard, Provost of Coventry Cathedral, was one of four firefighters who climbed onto the roof to smother with sand the incendiary bombs that were landing not just on the Cathedral but starting …

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Website and newsletter created by Coventry Lord Mayor's Committee for Peace and Reconciliation

For their generous support, the Lord Mayor's Committee for Peace and Reconciliation expresses our thanks to the Lord Mayor's Office and Coventry City Council. We also thank Coventry Cathedral, Coventry University and Warwick University for their support and assistance.