Peace Camp 2006 - Georgia

The goal of this Peace Camp was to increase youth participation in the promotion of reconciliation and conflict resolution processes in post-conflict societies. Twenty-five youths from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia spent seven days in Tsaghveri, Georgia attending training and workshops based on a Model United Nations Camp.

Training was conducted by experienced trainers from the United Nations (UN) Association of Georgia and World Vision Georgia. 
During their time outside of the training sessions and preparation of formal UN resolutions, youth spent time playing volleyball, hiking, visiting historical sites of the town and working on mini theatre plays which were presented at the end of the Peace Camp.

Sixteen year-old Adelya from Azerbaijan finished the camp convinced that youth can do much more towards building peace and so decided to spread this message in a youth newspaper which she manages in her school in Baku.
Sixteen year-old Lina, from a region of Georgia settled mainly with Azeri minority, dedicated a poem to her dream of a peaceful Caucasus and hopes that conflicts in Abkhazia, Ossetia and Karabakh will soon be resolved, because, according to her, "life is too short to waste it in conflict and war".

Fifteen year-old Manvel, an ethnic Armenian from Georgia believes that it is the youth that must take the stand for peace because they have so much in common with each other.  Through Peace Camps like this one youth can become closer friends and find more common ground to build on. He plans to go back to the Youth Drop-in Centre in his town and share his experiences with other youth.

At the end of the camp, a UN General Assembly session was held, where the youth representing different countries, discussed their case study. Each group of countries presented their draft resolution and voting took place to decide on the final resolution passed by the UN General Assembly of the Model UN session.

Eagle Down President, Rudy Scholaert, presenting Peace Medallions and certificates to Peace Camp participants with local media covering the event.

The final day was marked by a celebratory closing of the camp, where the participants received certificates and peace medallions from the president of The Eagle Down Foundation, Rudy Scholaert. The event was covered by local and national media with TV reports being broadcasted on two local channels and three newspapers producing articles about the event with interviews of young peace makers from the three countries.

On the last day, the president of The Eagle Down Foundation, Rudy Scholaert spent some time with the participants and shared an emotional story of young Fatmire Feka, an 18 year-old Muslim Albanian girl from Mitrovica, Kosovo, now director of Eagle Down, and initiator of the world renowned Kids for Peace movement.  He explained how Fatmire was among the 1,000 'peace women' nominated to collectively receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005, representing the millions of women who work daily to promote peace. The story inspired many of the camp participants to go back to their communities and make an effort to fight stereotypes in different ways.

Peace Camp participants saying their goodbyes before loading their buses for the long ride home to each of their countries.

Observations from Youth Participants

"I’ve been in this camp for a week. And this camp has changed my thoughts about the Peaceful Caucasus. I think people and governments should work really hard to get the Caucasus designated as conflict-free zone. I’m sure that with the knowledge I gained in this camp with the help of people I met, I’ll be part of the power that will suggest the resolutions for those problems. This camp showed me that it’s not the easiest thing to make peace but hard work can overcome everything. I believe that in less than ten years the countries of the Caucasus will show their great hospitality, because there will be no conflict. I also believe that peace will happen only if we, the kids from the camp will unite and solve the problems together. This coalition will be useful, because we share the same opinions. And it’s always easy to decide something with people with whom you share the same opinion. I hope in 10 years my children will see no more war. "
Fuad , Azerbaijan

"It has been a week that Georgians, Azerbaijani and Armenians have been living a friendly life in this camp. After the time I spent here, I really understood the importance of friendship among people and the importance of solving conflict in the world in a peaceful way. In this camp we discussed the conflict in Kosovo and solved everything peacefully. If the adults would give youth a chance to express their opinion, then the conflict in the Caucasus can be solved with friendship and love. The experience from this camp will help me have friendly relations with people of the Caucasus."
Mariam , Georgia

"During these 7 days, when we were trying to solve the conflict over Kosovo in a peaceful way, I understood that all conflicts must be solved peacefully. We, the new generation from different countries, who have spent some time together here, have become friends, lived peacefully and even learned a lot about each other and each other’s countries, where we live. When I grow up, I want to have trade, cultural and simply – friendly relations with my friends from this camp. This camp for me was an experience which taught me how to solve conflicts peacefully in the future. I would like to propose a camp for politicians from different countries –it will be beneficial for everyone. "
Minasyan , Armenia

"It has been 1 week since I have come to know different young people from all over Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in our summer Peace Camp. Until I came here I had blurred vision about the conflict situations in the South Caucasus and so the vision of peaceful Caucasus was vague and abstract for me. Now I know for sure that the situation in the Caucasus today - conflicts between our countries - is the work of adults. If the job of solving the conflict was in the hands of the young, then the Caucasus would be very peaceful. Because we, the children from the different republics can agree and come to a common opinion, we can achieve peaceful solutions to conflicts by friendship, love and respect. "
Manvel, Georgia.

This project was funded by The Eagle Down Foundation in partnership with World Vision Switzerland (www.worldvision.ch).