College of Law and Governance, HU, Organizes Peace Seminar.
College of Law and Governance, Hawassa university, in collaboration with British Council Ethiopia, has organized a cluster university peace seminar under the theme “Women, Transitional Justice and Peace Building in Ethiopia: Practices, Challenges and Opportunities” as part of its ‘Enabling University Peace Education (EUPE)’ Project with the financial support from European Union, on 3 April, 2024.
Dr. Tafesse Matewos, Vice President for RTT at HU, officially opened the seminar where he highlighted on the great importance of ‘governance, peace and security’ as one of Ethiopia’s national top priority areas and the invaluable role of women in peace building at all levels. Dr. Tafesse remarked that EUPE project is among the 86 active collaborative projects at HU which are currently working on improving academic quality, human and material capacity building, joint researches and community services with the collaboration forged among numerous international partners on areas of shared priorities. He also deemed such scholarly discussions crucial in prompting and strengthening women’s participation in the ongoing transitional justice and peace building initiatives of Ethiopia, including the national dialogue through local networks and international collaborations.
Dr. Debrework Debebe, Dean of CLG and Coordinator of EUPE Project at HU, on his part said that the cluster seminar was organized with the objective of establishing mutual institutional networking with neighboring universities to Hawassa University (Arbaminch, Dilla and Wachemo) in promoting the role of women in peace building. He pointed out that Hawassa University is closely working with British Council Ethiopia and European Union on peace education under the EUPE Project whereby 16 academic staff of the university received a rigorous Training of Trainers (TOT) and then trained 500 students and 100 academic staff in rounds of consecutive peace education trainings, and all were certified for their successful completion of the trainings so far. In addition, Dr. Debrework mentioned that EUPE project has sponsored researches on conflict resolution, peace building and women’s role which is another scholarly contribution to strengthening women’s participation in this time issue.
The seminar involved presentations by scholars from Hawassa, Dilla and Arbaminch universities. A senior researcher from Dilla University, Dr. Abdu Mohammed spoke on the global and African experiences of transitional justice, the role of women, and lessons for Ethiopia from a historical perspective. His elaborate presentation was followed by Dr. Seyid Ahmed from Arbaminch University whose presentation emphasized the role of women in peace building efforts in Ethiopia. The third speaker was Mr. Yirgalem Gurmo from Hawassa University School of Law whose presentation was focused on the essence and practice of Transitional Justice, Women's roles, challenges and the way forward.
The presentations were followed by plenary discussions where many participants forwarded questions, comments and suggestions on the way forward. More than 70 academic staff, college deans, and university officials as well as representatives of CSOs attended the half-day seminar held at African Union Hall, HU.
