SEVILLE EUROPEAN APPEAL :
"TO DEVELOP MEDIATION TO REBUILD SOCIAL LINKS"
addressed to the new European Parliament constituted by the European elections of 9 June 2024.
On the initiative of the European collective of national mediation organisations*.
In addition to signing, you wish to support the European collective to finance the promotion of the appeal
There is an urgent need for mediation. All our European societies are under serious threat. Inflation and job insecurity are deepening rifts, leading to a climate of revolt. Deep rifts are tearing apart our social fabric. They are jeopardising our ability to "make society". A gulf is widening between the population and democratic institutions, whether national or European. Emotions and conflicts are taking precedence over taste, pleasure and the desire to "live together". A climate of mistrust is taking precedence over trust, the basic building block of social cohesion. Our societies are losing their ability to find ways of regulating and holding things together.
There is an urgent need for mediation. Mediation has proved its worth in Europe. It has become essential. It must be reinvested in all the places and spaces where tensions and conflicts affect the daily lives of citizens, their safety and good cooperation between all the players and institutions. In this way, it must establish ways of resolving problems that are as close as possible to citizens, thereby restoring their rightful place in the exercise of their responsibilities in the life of the community.
There is an urgent need to "mediate". Europe has established itself as a reference point for the encounter of diversity and coexistence based on the differences between its states and regions. The birth of a united Europe has shown that a society of coexistence is not a utopian model, but an achievable reality that requires an ongoing effort to live together. Europe's founding values and its social model must be strengthened by the creation of a new right: the right of access to mediation for all citizens, including new arrivals. The right to asylum (internationally recognised by the 1954 Geneva Convention) must be the cornerstone for the reception and support of refugees, whatever the origin of their migration.
There is an urgent need for mediation. While studies show that our European societies are increasingly tolerant and open, political forces are blowing on the wounds and resentments fuelled by the real difficulties faced by the people to spread a culture of hatred of others. They pose new challenges to respect for human rights, particularly in terms of the duty of hospitality owed to migrants.
Urgent choices need to be made
The first signatories of this appeal (mediators in the field, academics and political leaders who have been involved in the development of mediation for many years in various countries of the European Union) call on actors, institutions, groups and individuals to "mediate". The intervention of mediation professionals is essential to affirm social cohesion, and its effectiveness depends on the awareness and cooperation of all citizens and their institutions.
Mediation is about the law, as the foundation of "living together" and the link that the law alone cannot provide. More than a technique, more than a device, it is based on tried and tested methods, a code of ethics that safeguards the confidentiality of individuals and, above all, a positive vision of individuals, their ability to go beyond the narrowness of their own interests and representations to build common ground. Mediation promotes a culture of non-violence and peace, through the recognition of each person as a responsible actor in the future of humanity and the commitment to respect the dignity of others, of oneself, one's identity and one's culture.
We call for the promotion of the right of access to mediation for all. Every person, every actor, must be able to find, in his or her immediate environment and whatever the social space, a place where he or she can be welcomed, listened to, protected by confidentiality, recognised in all his or her dimensions, including emotional ones.
Mediation should be developed in all European countries according to their own characteristics:
● In neighbourhoods, professional social mediators, who have proved their effectiveness, must work alongside citizen mediators to manage neighbourhood and everyday conflicts and create new solidarity in neighbourhoods.
● In local areas, to provide a link between residents, public services and local institutions and revive democratic participation, which has been undermined by the multiplicity of layers of government.
● In schools, by bringing together different forms of mediation inside and outside schools and by making schools a school of citizenship.
● In families, to prevent and manage conflicts that go well beyond those of married life, namely, their relationship with their children and between family members of different generations.
● In the healthcare sector, retirement homes, youth hostels, to re-establish trust between carers, those being cared for, young people, professionals and families.
● For the reception and support of migrants, enabling them to be full citizens with equal rights and duties and to play a part in their integration and destiny.
● In companies, to anticipate, prevent and manage the various conflicts at work.
● In the criminal justice field, through restorative mediation, which does not rely solely on punishment to deliver justice, but opens the hearts of victims, offenders and their social environment to restore links.
● For environmental issues, by developing mediation to support the ecological transition and regulate environment-related conflicts, such as those relating to conflicts of use to safeguard common goods such as water and natural areas and between humans and nature, a stakeholder in mediation.
To strengthen and develop this mediation, we are calling for the development in each European country of "mediation cities and territories" which propose a vision and a global policy for the insertion of mediation in all areas of life of the inhabitants and commit themselves to ensuring that they have access to mediation.
This requires a GATHERING OF ALL MEDIATION ACTORS to promote all forms of mediation at the level of national and European institutions and states, in order to move towards a more inclusive, peaceful and sustainable society and Europe.
To implement this rallying around mediation, we call for the launch of a dynamic in which all political, social and civil forces participate in the constitution of forums for mediation at the level of cities, states and then Europe to develop its content.
IF YOU ARE A MEDIATOR, A MEDIATION ORGANISATION, A POLITICIAN OR INSTITUTION RESPONSIBLE FOR SOCIAL COHESION, OR AN ORDINARY EUROPEAN CITIZEN,
BY SIGNING THIS APPEAL :
- You undertake to promote mediation as a means of rebuilding social links;
- You are asking all candidates for the future European Parliament and all future elected representatives to commit, during the next term of office, to taking all measures to promote mediation.
European collective of national mediation organisations.
Europe: European Association for Social Mediation CreE.A, AÏSSA Mediation NGO, Bridge-Intercultural and international mediation network
Belgium: Forum de médiation dans les quartiers, Forum bruxellois de médiation dans le quartier, Association de médiateurs familiaux, Association de médiateurs dans les hôpitaux, Union belge des médiateurs professionnels.
Spain: Barró, Sevilla Acoge, Enseñantes con Gitanos, FISC
France: Association nationale des médiateurs, Réseau des médiateurs d'entreprise, IMGH institut de médiation Guillaume-Hofnung
Italy: National Federation of Restorative Justice.
Portugal: Federação Nacional de Mediação de Conflitos (FMC)
Rede de Ensino Superior de Mediação Intercultural (RESMI)
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