25 June 2015, New York, USA –The UNITAR New York Office organized a workshop on Multilateral Negotiations: Social Cohesion and Peaceful and Inclusive Societies. It welcomed over 40 delegates from United Nations Member States, as well as representatives of non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations. The workshop, which spanned over two days, took an interactive and practice-oriented approach, aimed at promoting awareness of the components of social inclusion, the nexus of social inclusion and peaceful and inclusive societies, understanding the factors for violence in communities, and how to enable sustainable peace and development.
The first part of the workshop focused on negotiations techniques. Dr. Taj Hamad, Secretary General of the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO) and Dr. Massimo Tommasoli, Permanent Observer to the United Nations and International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) opened the workshop by drawing from their own experiences the importance of an inclusive society as well as the opportunities and challenges linked to the post-2015 development agenda and SDGs. Mr. Lee Miller, Senior Faculty Expert of The Negotiations Institute carried out an intensive and a highly interactive negotiations training.
On the second day, the workshop focused on the components of social cohesion and peaceful and inclusive societies. Ms. Daniela Bas, Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development of UNDESA; Mr. Henk-Jan Brinkman, Chief of Policy, Planning and Application, United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) and Mr. Huw Beynon, Programme Officer, Human Security Unit of United Nations discussed the respective work of their departments in seeking to achieve social cohesion in the first session on the Nexus to Peaceful and Inclusive Societies – SDG 16. In the second session which highlighted Social Cohesion, Inclusive Governance and Process, speakers included Dr. Omer Salem from Yale University and Mr. Patrick Keuleers, Director Democratic Governance Group of UNDP. The experts discussed the importance of social cohesion as an essential element in reinforcing the development pillar and decreasing conflict. Social cohesion relates directly to the goals for peacebuilding, which requires trust. In governance reforms, building inclusive dialogues and constitutions is crucial in preventing political exclusion and addressing the recent challenges of the world.
In the afternoon, Ms. Dara Katz, Deputy for the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Secretariat, United States Agency for International Development (USAID); H.E. Mr. Ufuk Gokcen, Mr. Syed Meesam Razvi, Director of International Affairs, Al-Khoei Foundation spoke at the third session entitled Social Cohesion, Peaceful and Inclusive Societies, and Preventing/Countering Extremism. The panelist examined how the erosion of social cohesion influences violence and breakdown of trust in society. This is contrary to the belief that the drivers for violence derives from religion. There is a need for effective counter-narrative strategies to prevent the spread of violent extremism. At the same time, promoting the sense of belonging at local level enables sustainable peace.
Over the workshop, delegates became acquainted on the concept of social cohesion, on an inclusive sustainable development agenda and on preventing and countering extreme violence. The workshop also equipped participants with the ability to negotiate, draft and adopt resolutions for components of social cohesion and inclusive peace.