Author: admin 4 December 2018

On 10th December 2018, Operazione Colomba, the Nonviolent Peace Corps of the Association Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII, launches the “Kundër Gjakmarrjes” campaign to raise awareness of civil society on the eradication of the blood feuds phenomenon. Do you know that social pressure is able to push a whole family, involved in a feud, to take revenge? If relatives, neighbors, classmates, work colleagues, friends tell you that you are not a man, if you do not avenge, it is hard to resist the pressure, for fear of losing respect of the society. Blood feuds entails injuries, murders, self-isolation, it takes lives, school, health and work away from men, women and children. Once started, it triggers cycles of endless violence, destroying the future of many families. And it can strike everyone: you too!

What can you do?

Help us to say Goodbye to blood feuds!
Download and hang this sticker  on your car, on your bike, on your scooter, outside your home or your business, on your school bag or notebook, and share this initiative on your social networks.

With this action, you will help us create a culture of Peace so those involved in a conflict renounce to resort to violence and take revenge.

If at school a friend of yours has lost a relative because of a blood feud, tell him that men’s men are those who forgive.

If your employer does not want to hire those involved in a feud, remind him that he is denying the economic support for an entire family.

If your sports team refuses to involve a young man in revenge, persist in letting him play.

If your family says you have to avenge the death of one of your relatives, say NO and prevent them from doing it on your behalf.

If your neighbors have lost a child for revenge, stand by them to overcome their pain and encourage them to make choices that put life over death.

If you can’t stand the gossip, ignore them and go on your own way.

On December 10th we wait for you at 10 am on the pedestrian area of Shkodër to share the campaign
And at 6 pm in the “Arka” Youth Center (Palok Kurti Street nr. 1, Shkodër) for a drama reading and a music concert with the singer Jozefina Simoni

Share with us a story or an episode of conflict, which ended with a gesture of forgiveness and reconciliation that you know: write it down on our facebook page/instagram page.

This campaign is organized in the framework of “Alternative dispute resolution and legal aid to solve blood feuds” part of the sub granting scheme of the project The Civic Engagement for a Functional Judiciary System and Access to Justice in Albania, funded by the European Union and implemented by Save the Children and the Centre of Integrated Legal Services and Practices.