Nonkilling Discussed at Närpes Town Hall, Finland

CGNK Director Joám Evans Pim gave a lecture at the Town Hall of the Finnish municipality of Närpes on March 21, invited by the local Peace Society (Närpesnejdens Fredsförening). Närpes, with under 10,000 inhabitants but a large refugee and migrant population from around the world, is well known for its successful model to integrate newcomers while preventing violence.

The Peace Society members and others who joined in the discussion, were interested in knowing how the nonkilling approach can be relevant to understanding the lack of lethal violence in their region and as a framework for the different actions and policies the community has been implementing for years. The lecture received attention from local and regional media.

Some participants also joined CGNK for its two-day international conference on Nonkilling Education held at Åbo Akademi University in Vasa on March 24-25 and other members of Närpesnejdens Fredsförening took some of the courses being taught at the same university by Joám Evans Pim, including an annual course on Nonkilling Studies at the Master’s on Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research.