Can Faith-Based NGOs Advance Interfaith Reconciliation: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina;Special rept

摘要

The Religion and Peacemaking Initiative of the U.S. Institute of Peace concluded that it would be valuable to explore the extent to which faith-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) can advance reconciliation in situations of ethnoreligious conflict. Bosnia and Herzegovina provides a ready-made laboratory for this research, given the nature of the conflict and the substantial involvement of faith-based NGOs there. The initiative contracted with Branka Peuraca, then a graduate student at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and currently an independent consultant, to undertake this research, which involved interviews (conducted in August 2001 and from June to October 2002) with local and international staff members of numerous faith-based groups in six cities and towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Gornji Vakuf, Konjic, Tuzla, and Prijedor. The research also drew on materials of the Imagine Coexistence project, including ninety-six interviews with members of organizations active in reconstruction and reconciliation, conducted by the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This report was written by Peuraca and presents her findings.