JORDAN: Princess Basma Highlights Role of Education in Conflict Resolution

HRH Princess Basma on Sunday highlighted the importance of education in conflict resolution and the UN University for Peace's (UPEACE) efforts in promoting a “global culture of cooperation”. In her address at the opening of the final networking conference for the UPEACE programme in South Asia, the Horn of Africa and the Middle East (UPSAM), the Princess, who has been a member of the UPEACE Council since 2003, referred to the challenges facing the region that threaten its security. Noting that Jordan has been directly exposed to the threats to regional peace and stability for too long, she added that in terms of displaced persons, Jordan has been the “biggest host of refugees per capita”.

“As a country which has consistently tried to steer the course of moderation and tolerance, Jordan continues to play an indispensable role in peace building,” the Princess said, noting that the Kingdom remains committed to advancing the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis as well as working for greater stability in the area.

“Within the country, efforts are under way to empower hosted displaced communities and women in particular, in order to further strengthen their capacities to be peace builders,” she highlighted, citing the role of the Queen Zein Al Sharaf Institute for Development (ZENID) in offering training courses to build the capacities of Palestinian women to manage small businesses through which they can support their families. The Princess indicated that ZENID also offers training to displaced Iraqi communities in the Kingdom, providing women and youths with skills to cope with their changed circumstances and to prepare them to play catalytic roles in their country after returning home.

She underlined that in order for academic research to have a bearing on policy and practices, the transfer and exchange of knowledge between policy makers and practitioners, citizens and scholars, is inevitable. “From this perspective, the establishment of the master's programme on peace and conflict resolution at the Hashemite University has provided a significant opportunity for the co-production of knowledge and its application in Jordan and the region,” Princess Basma indicated.

She highlighted UPEACE principles and goals to “promote the discourse on peacemaking at a transnational level and broaden the understanding of today's conflict, which stem from struggles over land, ideology, resources and extend to issues of power, as well as social and cultural identity”.

“Indeed, both ethnocentrism and academic orientalism have often created more problems than solutions, prolonging conflicts rather than solving them expediently. In our shrinking world where conflict knows no boundaries, cross-national education is all the more needed, not only for us today, but for future generations,” Princess Basma noted.

Underscoring that experience and research have shown that access to education and learning can be instrumental in resolving conflicts, she congratulated UPEACE on the occasion of its 30th anniversary. Participants from Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Somalia, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Kenya, Sudan and Costa Rica, representing 16 universities, are taking part in the four-day conference to look into means to enhance networking and cooperation.

Francis Keny, from Sudan, told The Jordan Times that the programme has helped him in changing the way he perceives conflicts. “I know how is it to live in a war-torn country. We have been in war for 50 years and people are suffering,” the University of Juba professor and graduate of UPSAM‘s postgraduate studies in conflict resolution said.

Keny noted that he has benefited from his studies by developing practical thinking and real approaches for reaching peace.

Amani Nsairat, who was elected by the Hashemite University to do her MA in media peace and conflict studies, echoed Keny's sentiments. “I learned how to analyse conflicts, in addition to the diverse approaches to address them,” Nsairat, said, indicating that she used to feel intimidated and angry “each time a colleague showed misunderstanding of Arabs”.

“Now I learned to be tolerant and logical in defending my beliefs,” she pointed out. UPEACE Rector John Maresca noted after 30 years, the university is expanding “very rapidly”. “Because of our mandate we have to be available everywhereة we have built partnerships with universities in the three areas covered by UPSAM,” he told The Jordan Times yesterday. The university offers 12 different degree programmes in order to cover all aspects of conflicts to address the challenges that accompany them, such as urban gangs and ill-treatment of women, according to Maresca.

During yesterday's opening ceremony, Dutch Ambassador to Jordan Joanna van Vliet underlined that the programme, funded by the Dutch government, is necessary in bridging the gap between available academic studies and the actual needs and interests in the three regions covered by the programme. “In our views, ‘early warning' is very significantة it is important to anticipate instead of react,” she indicated. Headquartered in Costa Rica, UPEACE was established in December 1980 as a treaty organisation by the UN General Assembly and is governed by an independent council.