Scotland's for Peace - Peace Centre

Scotland has a long international tradition, some of it benign, some in the context of empire, less so. We also have a substantial Scottish Diaspora from our long experience of out-migration. But Scotland is a small country and, it could be argued, cannot be expected to make any significant international contribution. Should engagement with the major problems of our world be left to countries with more substantial resources? Can a small country make a contribution to addressing issues of war and peace, environmental degradation, human rights, social and economic injustice? If we look around us, smallness is not a bar to effectiveness. Switzerland, as home to the International Committee of the Red Cross, has made such a contribution during the last century and is also home to U.N. agencies and the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. Sweden/Norway have the international Nobel prizes and the Swedish International Peace Research Institute. Finland has the Crisis Management Initiative for mediation. Austria is a centre for several international organisations and has the European University Centre for Peace Studies. Ireland has a strong record of contributions to the United Nations and its agencies. The Netherlands is a centre for international justice. So, why not Scotland?

Scotland has a wide range of organisations concerned with peace and international justice issues. They do valuable work but are constrained by very low and insecure income. Despite our history of global involvement, Scotland at this point in time is poorly resourced in terms of expertise and facilities relating to international issues. We do not have a resource like the Bradford School of Peace Studies or the Oxford Research Group or an equivalent of Chatham House. We have a small number of university departments who do some work on these areas and we have overseas aid and human rights NGOs and peace movement organisations. There is a British Council presence in Scotland but it has a distinctive agenda. There is expertise in business, trade unions, the arts, the professions and the churches but this is often individual and not ‘networked’. We are not short of the potential expertise and interest but we are short of the resources and the institutional support to make it effective. Scotland with its academic and civic strength should have developed this in a more focussed way. Yet the Scottish Government and Parliament across the political parties have indicated an interest in developing their role in relation to ‘soft’ international powers e.g. the Malawi initiative, E.U. affairs, economic/cultural delegations, and have expressed views on disarmament issues. Such international interests are likely to expand rather than contract but they need to be well-informed and developed from a Scottish perspective. We want to give Scotland the building blocks to develop a positive role in international affairs, a role that might lead to greater social, cultural and economic interaction. A Scotland International Institute would aim to develop knowledge and interaction in Scotland in relation to international issues.

We are proposing a value-based educational and networking organisation to promote informed understanding of general international, conflict transformation, environmental and disarmament issues to the public, the media and to specialist groups. The value base would be very broad – a general commitment to peace, justice, sustainable development and international understanding. While an organisation of this kind has to develop flexibly over time, it does require a clearly-defined focus for its initial activities. It is suggested that these would be:

1) Providing a centre to bring together visiting contributors from home and abroad together with Scottish-based participants with general or specialist interests. A variety of formats would be used – seminars, informal meetings, lectures, debates – to give people in Scotland access to perspectives from different parts of the world. This would be done in the form of a core programme with additional initiatives in response to topical issues. Where relevant, the aim would be to encourage sustained relationships

2) Promoting informed opinion and debate through briefings and other short publications.

3) Mapping individuals and organisations with international expertise in Scotland.

To ensure plurality in management and wider civic engagement, there should be a supervisory board with nominees from a range of organisations in Scotland. For example – the Parliament, the universities, human rights, aid and peace organisations, the churches, the trade unions and professional organisations, local authorities. This would provide a broad base of stake-holder involvement.

A possible location has been identified which is central and would provide access to some residential accommodation when required. The core staff can be small (director and part-time administrator) since it is envisaged that much of the activity would come from a large pool of contributors from academic, NGO, professional, political and faith backgrounds, home and overseas. The involvement of these broad networks would be central to the success of the project.

The core costs (for accommodation and small staff) would be modest and we would hope might be financed by the Scottish Government. The programme costs for bringing overseas guests, etc. could be financed from trust and other organisational contributions.

We plan to invite individuals, initially on an informal basis, from the suggested stake-holding organisations. If the response is positive, we would set up a working group and approach the Minister and then other potential funders.

Introduction