An embrace between an Albanian and Serbian widow in Kosovo, or between Muslim and Christian women in Bosnia: it’s a small gesture of great significance, example of the work of reconciliation that Caritas agencies are fostering in the conflict zones, where the wars – now ended and tragically forgotten – have left “unhealed wounds” which risk causing new tensions. Such gestures of reconciliation are just some of the stories and testimonies described by local Caritas personnel in Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia, Macedonia, Croatia and Albania at the recent seminar on “Forgotten but unresolved conflicts: the example of the Balkans”, organized by Italian Caritas, French Caritas-Secours Catholique and the Movement for Peace as part of the European Social Forum. The seminar was born “from the consciousness that Europe is a place of forgotten but unresolved conflicts – explains Paolo Beccegato, head of the international department of Italian Caritas – or conflicts that could erupt anew”, such as in Kosovo, Chechnya and Ossetia. In this regard, the Caritas agencies in the Caucasus, Kosovo and Bosnia have for some time being conducting a programme of reconciliation involving hundreds of victims of conflicts, especially widows, orphans and elderly people of the various ethnic groups. Apart from financial help, self-help groups and psychological support, efforts are made to forge relations between the families of victims on both sides in the conflict. The result is “fantastic”, as confirmed by the embraces between Serbian and Albanian women or between the elderly. “They are micro-experiences that work and that’s why they ought to be shared with others, so as to create not a ‘forgotten’ peace – like that of the war in Bosnia 11 years ago – but a peace rooted in people’s consciences and in the institutions”. “Unfortunately the international community and the mass media are ever more attracted by the spectacular – continues Beccegato – with the result that their interest and solidarity are confined to emergencies. Solidarity never starts out from the concrete needs of people or the damage caused by the war: it has increasingly become a means of political or electoral propaganda”. What might the antidote be? In his view, “the work of reconciliation ‘from below’, through a more united and interactive civil society, dialogue between the religions and the provision of alternative information. To this end, the networks of journalists who seek to give voice to all the options alternative to war need to be supported”. This is also because, he recalled, citing a recent Caritas survey, 77% of Italian public opinion asks for a non-violent approach to conflicts. In this sense, “information – he concludes – has a fundamental role to play if it is not to back the manoeuvres of governments in support of military operations”.
