2007 in Review

National Organisation Justice Activities in 2007

• Restorative Justice Initiatives
  • Providing training: Colombia Costa Rica, Lesotho, Philippines,
  • Organizing seminars/conferences: Bolivia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Portugal,
  • Encounter programmes: Argentina, Colombia, Liberia, Rwanda, Zambia,
  • Other activities: Colombia, Lithuania
• Legal Assistance: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Chile, Cote D’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Fiji, Ghana, Guyana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, Peru, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Ukraine
• Aftercare/Re-entry initiatives: Fiji, Curacao, Namibia, Malawi, Singapore
• Participate in Government committees:  Cayman Islands, Ghana, Guyana, Hungary, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Panama, Solomon Islands, Trinidad and Tobago
• Awareness raising activities:
  • Participate in conferences: El Salvador, Swaziland
  • Organize public events: Hong Kong, Norway, Bermuda
  • Use Media outlets: New Zealand
• Technical Assistance to Government: Albania, Argentina, Bulgaria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guyana, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela
• Other activities:
  • Bolivia –proposal to congress on releasing elderly inmates
  • Antigua and Barbuda – crime prevention programme

Sycamore Tree Project® (STP)

In 2007, the following national organisations were running or had run the programme at least once:

• PF Australia (Western Australia)
• PF Cayman Islands
• PF Colombia
• PF Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)
• PF Costa Rica
• PF England and Wales
• PF Guam
• PF Hong Kong
• PF Hungary
• PF Korea
• PF New Zealand
• PF Netherlands
• PF Northern Ireland
• PF Panama
• PF Palau
• PF Philippines
• PF Rwanda
• PF Scotland
• PF South Africa
• PF USA
• PF Zambia

Communities of Restoration

During 2007, Communities of Restoration programmes were running in:

• PF Argentina
• PF Australia (Victoria)
• PF Belize
• PF Bolivia
• PF Brasil
• PF Bulgaria
• PF Chile
• PF Costa Rica
• PF Ecuador
• PF Germany
• PF Latvia
• PF New Zealand
• PF Norway
• PF Singapore
• PF USA

Centre for Justice and Reconciliation

Onsite assistance to PF National Organisations

• Dan Van Ness
  • PF Hong Kong – participated in justice reform symposium in China
  • PF Belize – conducted a conflict resolution seminar
  • PF Nigeria – presentation at restorative justice seminar
  • Restorative Justice training in Nairobi for PF national organisation representatives from: Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, DRC, Ethiopia, Guinea-Conakry, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe
• Lynette Parker
  • PF Nicaragua – provided restorative justice training
• Graeme Taylor
  • PF CNMI – STP Training
  • PF Fiji – STP training
  • PF New Zealand – assist in training new STP facilitators
  • PF Solomon Islands – STP training
  • West Africa Zonal Training (serving Gambia, Guinea-Conakry, Liberia, Senegal, and Sierra Leone) – STP Training

Other Assistance Provided:

Long distance assistance:

Over the course of 2007, the Centre responded to 77 requests for information from PF national organisations in 31 countries. These requests ranged from copies of restorative justice Bible studies from previous years to information for the development of re-entry and aftercare programmes to materials for running PFI developed programmes to information for conference presentations and responses to government policy proposals.

International Diploma in Restorative Justice Course

In 2007, the Centre sponsored the International Diploma in Restorative Justice in conjunction with Queen’s Theological College at Queen’s University. The course provided students with an overview of restorative justice and different applications of the restorative concepts and processes. The class explored themes such as Biblical justice, peacemaking in national conflict situations, use of restorative processes in crimes of severe violence, assisting sex offenders to reintegrate into the community and the future possibilities for restorative justice. After completing the six days of in-class course work, several students went on to complete additional requirements and received the International Diploma in 2008. The course served 64 students from 33 countries.

Books, Papers and Articles

• Dan presented the paper To Understand the Right Thing: The Evolving Understanding of Justice for Juveniles in the United States at the International Conference on Restorative Justice and Juvenile Justice, Nanjing University (China) July 31 - August 2, 2007
• Dan presented the paper Restorative Justice Policies and Programs at International Conference on Correctional Social Welfare and Restorative Justice, December 14, 2007, Soongsil University, Seoul, Korea
• Dan co-authored Briefing Paper 1: Introduction to Restorative Peacebuilding for the Working Party on Restorative Justice of the UN Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice

UN Activities

• Lynette participated in three meetings of the UN Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
• Dan was a panelist in a presentation on Restorative Peacebuilding conducted for New York UN members and staff, staff members of the UN Peacebuilding Commission Support Office and several NGOs (International Centre for Transformative Justice and World Vision International)

Centre Websites

• 12 editions of the Justice Network Newsletter
• 13 editions of the Sycamore Tree Network
• 11 editions of the Communities of Restoration Newsletter
• Monthly updates to the home page of www.pficjr.org

Restorative Justice Online

• 12 editions
• 707 abstracts added
• Over 1,160,000 visitors during 2007

Print Publications

• Distributed brochures on overcrowded prisons and prisoner re-entry to PF national organisations
• Developed and distributed a brochure on making sentencing more restorative