RJWorld 2020 eConference

The European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ), in cooperation with other international and national organisations in the field of restorative justice, takes part in the first RJWorld 2020 e-Conference on 22-31 August 2020. During 10 days, participants from all over the world can listen to inspiring presenters – facilitators / practitioners / teachers / researchers / artists – who are passionate about sharing insights and ideas in the realm of restorative justice and restorative practices in all sectors. The e-Conference is entitled "Vision, Voices and Values".

Topics include: Criminal Justice / Youth Justice / Prisons / Legal and Judicial / Environmental Justice / Victim support / Schools / Faith / Academic / Hate Crime / Extremism / Literature / Sexual Violence / Creative Arts / Training / Policy.

                                                    EFRJ Keynotes

Professor Ivo Aertsen has been already engaged with restorative justice when this way of responding to crime was far less known and accessible than today. He has not just witnessed the development of restorative justice throughout the last decades, but actively contributed to make restorative services more available, accessible and acknowledged in Belgium and internationally as well. The development that in some countries legal frameworks adopted the option to allow addressing serious crimes restoratively has been one of the significant achievements in the field. In his keynote lecture during the RJWorld 2020 eConference Professor Aertsen will take us through the recent history of restorative justice with a particular focus on its application in serious crime cases.

Gemma Varona will give a keynote lecture on restorative justice and violent extremism. She will introduce projects developed in the Basque Country involving victims and former perpetrators or combatants from different countries in Europe. Gemma works as a Lecturer in Victimology and Criminal Policy at the University of the Basque Country and is a senior researcher at the Basque Institute of Criminology in Spain. 

                                                     EFRJ  Speakers 

The presentation of Dr Marie Keenan (Associate Professor at the School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, University College Dublin is based on four decades of practice and research in the field of sexual violence, offered through the lens of a practitioner researcher who has worked in therapeutic, justice and community safety systems with victims, offenders and their families. The presentation focuses on one aspect of that work: restorative justice.

Mediator and criminologist Claudia Christen-Schneider, the founder and president of the Swiss RJ Forum will present on how a 'trauma-informed care' approach can contribute to restorative justice processes in her lecture on the RJWorld 2020.

Our Vice-Chair’s, Annemieke Wolthuis will have an interview with Jaap Doek childrens’ rights expert on restorative justice and children. A good opportunity to learn about new developments, promising practices and challenges of the field.

Jee Aei Lee, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer at the United Nations Office on Drugs (UNODC) will present the recently published 2nd edition of the Handbook on Restorative Justice Programmes in the context of the UNODC’s efforts to promote the use of restorative justice in criminal matters internationally. The talk will provide a special insight in the organisation's work within the field.

Reflecting on the protests triggered by George Floyd’s death, Marta Sá Rebelo and Laura Hein will discuss how insights of transitional justice can integrate into a restorative approach and help to seek responses to such large scale and ongoing trauma. Both presenters are experts of these special areas: Marta Sá Rebelo from Portugal is researching the role of human rights in restorative justice. The EFRJ Policy Officer Laura Hein is exploring transitional justice cases in her research. 

Lindsey Pointer and Kathleen McGoey (authors of The Little Book of Restorative Teaching Tools that was published recently) will offer a special insight into their work: teaching restorative practices through games and activities. 

In this session there will be an overview of developing restorative justice in Estonia in the last years. Annegrete Johanson will explain how restorative practices are evolvingin this country during Covid-19 times.

A dialogue on “restorative cities” in an ideal passing of the baton between the first Chair of the EFRJ Working Group on Restorative Cities and the current one. After presenting the main examples of “restorative cities” that have developed concretely in Europe, the speakers will try to apply the SWOT Analysis to the “restorative cities” projects, evaluating their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The goal is to contribute to the work planning of the EFRJ Working Group and all those involved in promoting “restorative cities”.

Although apology and forgiveness are often associated with each other and discussed as powerful elements of a restorative justice process, they are not necessarily interrelated. The aim of this conversation is to delineate the fragilities of these two elements. The notion of apology will be discussed based on empirical findings from Poland, which explore how lay people’s confidence in apology is limited due to cultural and socio-linguistic reasons. Similarly, forgiveness, when taken to be the primary goal to be reached by a restorative process, can generate mistrust and suspicion. This is especially true on the victims’ side who feel to be forced to grant it. Neither apology, nor forgiveness (while being valuable and very powerful tools) can play this role. A fundamental question then arises: what is the goal of Restorative Justice?