Basque Forum for Restorative Justice

Sometimes, as individuals or groups we don’t get the chance to hear the other side or person. We have our own private, cultural or public narrative, part of our underlying assumptions and perceptions about ‘the other.’ However, Restorative Justice on an International scale must be positioned to facilitate / mediate rather than judge. To silently hear the pain, the anguish, the call for help and healing, the longing to live without fear or conflict. We have to try our best to maintain our position as restorative practitioners to listen with impartiality and hold our emotional distance from such conflicts before us, knowing the harm, the suffering and the fear on all parties and participants. However, that doesn’t preclude us from investigating, and pointing out misinformation. It shouldn’t stop us from challenging the narratives, including that we in a Western Alliance are never wrong. Restorative Justice calls us to stand with humanity, all humanity, and be resolute in our efforts of peacemaking and building up families and communities who can bridge cultural and national divides. To our friends and colleagues with connections to Russia and Ukraine, we call out to you as sisters and brothers. To governments, we call for an immediate end to armed conflict, and establish a vehicle for open dialogue that leads to a lasting peace for all people.

The responsibility of the international community doesn’t end with the complete withdrawal of US & NATO forces from Afghanistan. There are still thousands of Afghans who remain at risk of reprisal from the Taliban.