H4C Family & Residents
ASSOCIATION FOR HISTORICAL DIALOGUE & RESEARCH (AHDR)
The birth of the Association almost coincided with a historic change that took place on the island when on 23 April 2003 travel restrictions between the two sides of the buffer zone in Cyprus were eased. Several thousand Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots had their first chance in decades to cross the divide. It was evident that, more than ever before, the AHDR had to actively begin to realise its shared mission and vision, and in doing so, recognise the values of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, the covenants of Human Rights issued by the United Nations, and the UNESCO recommendations relevant to history teaching.
The AHDR envisions a society where dialogue on issues of history, historiography, history teaching and history learning is welcomed as an integral part of democracy and is considered as a means for the advancement of historical understanding and critical thinking. The Association contributes to the advancement of historical understanding amongst the public and more specifically amongst children, youth, and educators by providing access to learning opportunities for individuals of every ability and every ethnic, religious, cultural, and social background, based on the respect for diversity and the dialogue of ideas.
http://www.ahdr.info/
CYPRUS DIALOGUE FORUM (CDF)
The Cyprus Dialogue Forum is a non-formal dialogue that aims to support and complement the formal peace process in Cyprus. It is a safe space for broad based participation and knowledge sharing that has been created to act as an accompanying mechanism to the formal peace process. In their founding joint statement the members of the Forum declared that ‘through joint reflection and consensus building we believe this dialogue will address issues related to the Cyprus problem, by focusing and strengthening the flow of information between the wider society and the leaderships’.
In the Forum, the organisations work together to support change through the creation of joint visions, options and consensus building instruments; through the development of common understandings and shared knowledge resources. On the 12th March 2015, the member organisations publicly announced the creation of the Cyprus Dialogue Forum in a Common Declaration. The Forum consists of organisations from Political Parties, Trade Unions, Business and Professional Associations and Non-Governmental Organisations from the two communities.
VOICE OF THE ISLAND
Voice of the Island is an online newspaper founded in 2016, under Umut Rüzgar Medya & Haber Ajansı. Publishing news in Turkish and Greek, it released a new view for Cyprus media. Voice of the Island continues to publish news with growing staff and rising spectator chart. Its aim is to be a strong instrument for both communities’ news traffic.
http://voiceoftheisland.com/
PEACE PLAYERS CYPRUS (PP-CY)
PeacePlayers – Cyprus (PP-CY) was founded in 2006 and has since had over 4000 participants throughout the island. As a locally led, independently registered charity it uses basketball to allow 8-18 year old Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot boys and girls to play together, learn together, and build positive relationships that overcome generations of mistrust and formidable physical barriers to interaction.
As the island’s only year-round bi-communal youth sports organization, PP-CY helps reverse prejudices built over years in segregated communities and foster long-term trust necessary for friendship and lasting peace.
PeacePlayers – Cyprus also operates annually the following activities:
- Basketball Teams
- Basketball Meetings
- 3on3 Tournaments
- Leadership development workshops (12-18 year olds)
- Summer Camp
- Erasmus+ European trips & PeacePlayers International trips
- “Imagine” Program – Anti-Racism Education / Peace Education training program
HUMANITARIAN RELIEF MISSION (HRM)
Humanitarian Relief Mission was established in 1998. It aims to support and enable the efforts of local stakeholders to advocate for human rights, basic freedoms, and sustainable peace in Cyprus. HRM responds to the needs and requests of concerned stakeholders by supporting dialogue processes and consultations. The ultimate aim of HRM is to support stakeholders in reaching common values, cooperation and solidarity.
OFFICE OF THE RELIGIOUS TRACK OF THE CYPRUS PEACE PROCESS (RTCYPP)
The Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process under the Auspices of the Embassy of Sweden is a peace building initiative with the religious leaders of Cyprus – a more formal and structured Track 2 diplomacy – to encourage the religious leaders of the island to engage constructively in the Cyprus peace process. The work, which started in 2009, has succeeded to bring all 5 religious leaders of Cyprus together for an engaged and honest dialogue and encouraged them to cooperate in two main areas in which there is interplay between religion and the political process: 1) Ensure respect and improve freedom of religion as part of Human Rights, e.g. right to free access and worship, protection and restoration of religious monuments, religious property rights and that these rights are considered in the Cyprus peace process and formal negotiations; 2) Explore agendas where religious leaders can offer constructive contributions to the Cyprus peace process and to the complex process of forgiveness and reconciliation. http://www.religioustrack.com/
