This Seminar is hosted in partnership with the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT), an international NGO that helps fragile and conflict-affected states achieve more inclusive negotiations and integrated and sustainable transitions out of war, crisis or authoritarianism by supporting locally-led efforts at breaking cycles of conflict or repression.

The Peace Treaty Initiative is a major project of the Institute for Integrated Transitions and is intended to help develop an international law of peace negotiation, which will fill a critical gap in the existing laws of war, which mainly regulate how to fight, and which would provide an international legal framework to incentivise warring parties to choose the pathway of negotiation to end violent conflict and prevent recurrence.

The ‘indicative text’ of the Treaty builds on three years of research and engagement with key stakeholders and provides the starting point for an ongoing global consultation process, which includes UN member states, multilateral organizations, academia, faith-based entities, think tanks and human rights NGOs from around the world.

The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast has been chosen to take part in this consultation due to the wealth of expertise in Northern Ireland on conflict and peace locally and internationally.

The seminar speakers include:

• Mark Freeman, IFIT Executive Director
• Mariana Casij Peña, IFIT Associate
• Soliman M. Santos, Jr., a Filipino judge and member of the Peace Treaty Initiative Expert Advisory Group

This special interactive session aims to:

a) provide participants with an overview of the initiative and the rationale for the treaty;

b) promote a discussion of certain key elements in the indicative text of the treaty; and

c) foster a conversation regarding its relevance from a Northern Ireland Perspective

It is hoped that this introductory event will lead to a collaborative project with Mitchell Institute scholars in which the Northern Ireland peace process can be used as a ‘simulation’ to explore the strengths and limitations of the indicative text.

To see the full schedule of Mitchell Institute events this Semester, please click here.

To view the document to accompany the seminar, 'Framework Convention - Indicative text', please click here. Please note this is a password protected document. The password will be forwarded to you once you have registered for the event.