“Negotiating with Non-State Armed Groups” Advanced One-Day Virtual Training with Miloš Strugar

Most armed conflicts today are internal in character, involving an array of non-state armed groups of diverse nature. Approximately 100 of these groups can be legally classified as parties to non-international armed conflicts, i.e., civil wars (source ICRC). Engagement with non-state armed groups with the aim of providing humanitarian assistance, protecting civilians and promoting human rights, is generally recognized and accepted. It is also widely argued that these groups should be engaged in mediation and facilitation efforts to manage or resolve armed conflict, although some legal and political challenges persist in this regard.

The advanced one-day online training program with Miloš Strugar will focus on necessary skills and techniques to engage and negotiate with non-state armed groups. Miloš Strugar, who spent over twenty years as a high-ranking civilian officer with the United Nations Peacekeeping Department in various missions in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, will share different approaches, cases and methods based on his considerable experience with facilitating and maintaining discreet and open dialogue with non-state armed groups.

Special guest speaker, Alastair Crooke, will address the topic “Working with Islamist Movements”. Mr. Crooke has extensive experience working with Hamas, Hezbollah and other Islamist movements in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is a member of UN Alliance of Civilizations Global Experts.

The participants will learn how to: analyse armed groups; open channels and create safe spaces for talks; turn talks into negotiations; negotiate across cultures; approach intractable identity, ethnic and religious issues; deal with obstacles and difficult counterparts; and address political, moral & legal challenges related to terrorist designations and anti-terrorism measures, sanctions lists and regimes.

The training will consist of lectures and facilitated discussions, and all the activities are devised to be highly interactive through Q&A, group work, and hands-on exercises. A virtual space will be provided for group discussions and best practices and experience sharing among the participants.

The program is designed for mid and senior level staff in peacekeeping operations, political and peacebuilding missions of the UN and regional organizations (AU, OSCE, EU etc.), diplomats, those working in governments and non–governmental organizations.

The training will take place on  5^th & 6^th  November 2024, both days from 09:00 – 12:30 CET (UTC+1), with two 15-minutes coffee breaks.

The training will take place via the online platform Zoom.

The number of participants is limited.

Registration is open until 1^st November 2024 and can be done via the following link: https://www.confluxcenter.org/events/application-form/

The course fee is 500 USD.

The course is conducted in English and translation is not provided.

APPLY NOW