This week Mediation Northern Ireland welcomes our partner in the MOST Project, the Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation (MCIC). 15 participants from a range of organisations in Macedonia, all of whom are involved in Policing and Justice, will be visiting Belfast from the 23rd to the 28th May 2010.
Aleksandar Krzhalovski and Jana Bacheva will be representing our partner organisation and will facilitate a diverse group including representatives from the Macedonian Assembly, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Macedonian Police Service and Human Rights groups.
The delegation are contributing to the first of six international learning exchanges in Northern Ireland and will be joining us in conversations and learning surrounding the theme of Policing & Justice in Northern Ireland, the six Border Counties and Macedonia.
The activities planned for this week will provide an opportunity to reflect on the current challenges and deepen awareness of issues past, present and future.
MNI will also have the opportunity to further develop relationships with organisations that we met on our first exchange visit to Macedonia in March 2010. We also aim to strengthen relationships amongst relevant institutions and organisations in NI, ROI and Macedonia and assist in integrating learning in key institutions and in wider society.
The group will have the opportunity to meet with the Justice Minster, Mr. David Ford, MLA, the PSNI, the Garda Siochana, Al Hutchinson, the Police Ombudsman and Kathleen O’Toole the Chief Inspector in the Garda Inspectorate.
They will also be introduced to representatives from other policing ‘oversight’ bodies, adult & youth prison and probation services, victims groups, human rights organisations, and community groups who all work in this field.
We wish to take this opportunity to welcome them all and wish them an enjoyable and fruitful week.
The Special EU Programmes Body is the Managing Authority for the PEACE III Programme
