URL: Latest posts
Landscape and history
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I recently had an opportunity to do some walking around what Quakers call the ‘1652 Country’. To those, like me, who are not very familiar with English geography, let me explain that this is north of Lancaster, on the western … Con...
Alternatives to Imprisonment at the Council of Europe
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On the 20th March 2013, The Legal Affairs and Human Rights (LAHR) Committee of the Council of Europe adopted a draft resolution on alternatives to imprisonment in Council of Europe Member States. Non-custodial sentences recommended in the draft resol...
Fantasy economics
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One of the most important recent ‘discoveries’ in economics is not about either growth or jobs. It is about people. We have discovered that we are not actually the logical, cool, and selfish people that economic models often assume we &he...
Restoring Faith in Criminal Justice
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Celebrating Success in the Criminal Justice System: Quakers in Criminal Justice Conference 2013 Quakers in Criminal Justice (QICJ) is an informal network of Quakers with an active interest in criminal justice. I recently joined them in Swanwick, Derb...
Losing the way with robots and inflatable shields
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This blog draws on a new report by the Flemish Peace Institute, ‘A European Agenda for Security Technology: From Innovation Policy to Export Controls’, and a presentation by its author, Jocelyn Mawdsley, at the launch event in the Flemish...
Technical Difficulties
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Our main website (qcea.org) is currently unavailable due to issues with our web servers. This is out of our control, but we hope to be back online as soon as possible. In the mean time, please enjoy our blog. We … Continue reading →...
Democracy in the EU – Time for Citizens to Take the Initiative
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On 11th February this year, the “Water is a Human Right!” initiative became the first European Citizens’ Initiative to succeed in gathering 1 million signatures. In this first of two blog posts, I look at what Citizens’ Initia...
Visiting Friends by Caroline Finney
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This is the second of two posts written by pupils from Friends’ School Lisburn, who came to Brussels for a week of work experience with QCEA. During their stay Chloe Hassard and Caroline Finney attended a number of meetings and … Continu...
A Week at QCEA by Chloe Hassard
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Towards the end of January, two pupils from Friends’ School Lisburn, Chloe Hassard and Caroline Finney, came to Brussels for a week of work experience with QCEA. They attended a number of meetings and have each written a short piece … Co...
Where is Inequality Headed?
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The European Union (EU) was created from a desire for peace and prosperity after the carnage of World War II. It all began with the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 which aimed to unify and … Continue reading →...
PEACE in Nothern Ireland
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“The PEACE programme is a fine example of the European Union’s longstanding commitment to peace and reconciliation”. These were the words of EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn at the opening of an event held yesterday...
‘Living Under Occupation’
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François Alfonsi, Jill Evans and Ana Miranda are all members of the European Free Alliance (EFA), a group of only seven Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who represent stateless nations and regions. François Alfonsi is a long-st...
Defence Cooperation: Is it the way to build peace?
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“The Union’s aim is to promote peace, its values and the well-being of its peoples”. Article 3 – Consolidated Version of the Treaty on European Union Europe is said to be slowly losing its global influence. The continent, which undoub...
Video: Rami Levy Supermarkets in the West Bank: Promoting Peace or Normalising the Occupation?
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This is a guest blog post by ex-Programme Assistant Hannah Slater. QCEA is pleased to present a new short-film looking at the role of the Rami Levy supermarkets in the West Bank. You can watch the video below, and please … Continue reading U...
Arms exports: a subject of debate in the European Union
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The control of arms exports is highly technical, often controversial – and very interesting. This was proved at a conference this week which was hosted by the European External Action Service of the European Union (EU) and non-governmental orga...
A Taste of the Middle East: Cuisine, Culture and Conflict
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This is a guest blog post by Martina Weitsch. How can we talk about the Middle East today? On 8 November incidents took place in Gaza that led to the most recent outbreak of violence; on 9 November 32 Quakers and … Continue reading →...
Technical Difficulties
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We’re currently experiencing technical difficulties with our main website (qcea.org). We hope to be back up and running as soon as possible, but this may take some time. Please do enjoy this blog in the meanwhile… Our email servers are &#...
‘Trading Away Peace’ – EU can do more to stop expansion of illegal settlements
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The European Union (EU) imports fifteen times more from Israel’s illegal settlements than it does from Palestinians themselves within the West Bank. This was revealed in a report released last week by a coalition of European NGOs, including the Qua...
Six decades of Pax Europa: The European Union and the Nobel Peace Prize
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The award of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union (EU) is being met with some derision and disdain. Commentators are confusing the current economic troubles in the Eurozone with the founding ideas of the European Union. Perhaps … Co...
Europe – a Peace Project or a Peace Process?
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In the most recent edition of Around Europe QCEA discussed the European Union as a peace project. How can we defend, learn from and apply its history of peacebuilding today? This question is all the more relevant given that the … Continue readi...
