In the past 20 years, the European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ) has been committed to further developing the implementation of restorative justice in Europe. The year 2020, year of its 20th anniversary, finds the EFRJ, as other organisations and networks around the globe, facing the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic in our communities and in particular in criminal justice and restorative justice matters. In this crisis, the restorative justice movement faces new challenges, but also new opportunities. The most obvious opportunity is to make its restorative justice practices accessible through the digital world. For this reason, some EFRJ members initiated a series of virtual exchanges of good practices while others contributed to the #SolidarityOverDistance campaign with their personal and professional testimonies about the impact of the current crisis. Once more, these initiatives highlight the immense knowledge, expertise and human connection of our community.
We would like to go one step further with the aim of “Looking Forward” to restorative justice in the aftermath of the pandemic emergency crisis, through a series of webinars that will focus on the lessons learnt in this period and the role of restorative justice. The webinars will bring together experts, testimonies and practitioners and revolve around questions such as: What have we discovered about our societies during the pandemic? What strengths and what weaknesses were exposed in our societies? What opportunities and what threats do these discoveries present for restorative justice? What should be the contribution of restorative justice once the crisis is over, and how should we start to prepare now?
1. Looking forward to Sassari 2021 (26 June 18-19h)
2. Confinement, isolation and social distancing (2 July 18-19h)
3. Violence, hate and othering (23 September 17-18h)
4. Social inequalities, vulnerabilities, and solidarity (TBC)
The webinars are recorded and uploaded on this page a week after the live event.
