Race riots in inner cities, neighbourhood disputes in which racial or religious prejudice fuels the conflict, youth and gang violence, terrorism, bombings: Ireland/Britain, Basque separatism, Chechnya, Afghanistan, September 11th attacks on USA, Kashmir, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Aceh, East Timor, Bosnia/Yugoslavia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Punjab, Tibet/China, Black Churches being firebombed in the USA, continuing racial tensions in Los Angeles, New York, East London, South Africa....
Everywhere we look we see violence and conflict fuelled by religious and racial hatred and ignorance raises its head to greet us......Yet only by working together can we make a difference ! We can mediate these conflicts, using the very same spiritual values and wisdom teachings which the great faiths and cultures of the world profess to uphold and believe in. Teachings and legal codes on peace and reconciliation exist in all the great religions of the world, yet their contribution to practical mediation and peacebuilding is often neglected. The Multifaith and Multicultural Mediation Service will be drawing on the expertise and spiritual wisdom of representatives of all these traditions to enable its service to be offered impartially, comprehensively, and with profound attention to the details of the particular disputes under attention. Volunteer mediators have already come froward from the Christian, Buddhist, Bahai, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Islamic, Jain, Zoroastrian, Humanist, Indigenous, Druid, Pagan and New Age traditions.

The International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy is developing a Mediation Service specialising in dispute resolution in situations of religious or racial violence and conflict. The service is available to provide mediation in all situations of conflict in which there is either a specifically religious or racial dimension to the dispute or in which both parties to the dispute prefer to refer the matter to the Service. The Service is available for consultation throughout Britain, Ireland, Europe, the Commonwealth and globally. Operated from London, one of the world's great cosmopolitan cities, with one of the most developed international communication and transportation infrastructures, we are available for consultation and advice 24 hours per day. Many of the world's current civil and international conflicts involve religious disagreements and ethnic prejudices, yet until now there has been no international agency offering specific guidance and expertise on inter-religious and inter-cultural mediation. In the UK and Ireland there are many communities experiencing religious or ethnic conflict and violence. We intend to provide a service, which can make a genuine contribution to resolving these conflicts, in short term, local disputes, and long term wider conflict situations.

The United Kingdom, although geographically a small area, has also been a great crossing place in international history, and is now the home of a great experiment in multicultural and multifaith good relations, with many Commonwealth citizens living alongside each other in peace and tranquillity, learning that from diversity comes strength and tolerance. This advanced degree of experience in pioneering good relations between people of different cultures and faiths, and in conducting research and study into the best ways to foster such good relations, is something on which the Service is founded. A special feature of the Multifaith and Multicultural Mediation Service will therefore be to facilitate dispute resolution in Commonwealth or former Commonwealth countries, and to share with other world regions some of the experiences gained from this perspective. The Gandhian tradition of non-violence, forged out of the long dialogue of British and Indian cultures, particularly inspires the Service.

We held our first training session for mediators in April 1996 at the Abbey, Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire. A future training programme is underway. Regular day training events for people interested in becoming volunteers with the Service are taking place in the UK and elsewhere by arrangement (full details on application). A training also took place in the USA in 1999.

The International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy, which works in the academic field of peace studies and global philosophy, has arisen out of several years of exploratory work at the Institute of Education (University of London), and is now an autonomous Institute working in close association with academic institutions in the U.K. and abroad. The Institute is providing the academic and educational input to the Multifaith and Multicultural Mediation Service through its international network of mediation and conflict resolution practitioners and specialists.

The Institute organised an innovative series of seminars on conflict resolution and ethics and politics in different world regions in concert with Lord Ennals at the House of Lords from 1993-1995. We attended the United Nations World Social Summit in Copenhagen in 1995, the 1995 International Conference on Peacemaking at Ladnun, Rajasthan, India and the United Nations City Summit in Istanbul in 1996. The Institute also publishes a pioneering journal: "Love, Peace and Wisdom: An International Journal of Education Dedicated to the 9 Muses" and other publications concerning the quest for peace worldwide.

Initial work is undertaken by telephone for exploratory discussions with both parties followed by a formal mediation session in which the parties concerned are invited to travel to London or another meeting place of their agreed choice. The Service will be free of charge to disputants, and will instead rely on donations and funding, as is usual for religious works of charity. Those who can make donations to the project however are welcome to do so. Mediators likewise give their time voluntarily, but we intend to pay their travelling expenses as possible. A fundraising committee is in operation to develop the Service and volunteers with expertise in this area are always appreciated.

The Service is independent of all government help. In this way we are free, as neutral, independent third parties, to speak with authentic moral authority on behalf of the victims of conflict and violence, and in a language which the disputants will themselves understand and respect.

If you feel you have a case which could benefit from referral to our service, or if you have personal knowledge of some dispute or conflict underway which involves religious or racial elements, and would like to see a formal intervention and offer of assistance from the Multifaith and Multicultural Mediation Service, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Either write in to us to the above address, giving clear details (in so far as you know them) of the dispute underway, or telephone us on the number below.

One of the unique features of the Multifaith and Multicultural Mediation Services is its access to a wide body of volunteer translators and interpreters, through collaboration with the Peace Translation Service. We are working to produce a unique International Dictionary of Peacemaking and Mediation. Further volunteers are always welcome who have linguistic or editing skills.

The MMMS was launched at the time when its founder, Dr Thomas C. Daffern, was serving in the capacity of Secretary General of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (UK and Ireland) and Director of the Gandhi Foundation School of Nonviolence - from both of which organisations he is currently on sabbatical leave in order to develop the work of the MMMS as a practical outreach service organisation.

The Service is also available to undertake in-depth background research into specific cases involving religious or ethnic conflict on behalf of clients. Members of the Service are also available to act as Consultants to other organisations, governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental, who wish to avail themselves of our experience in this complex field. The guiding ethos underlying the Service is that conflict can be managed peacefully to the interest of both parties to a win/win outcome, no matter how deep or entrenched the conflict may appear at first reading. Together we can help create a peaceful world for our children to inherit, by drawing together the ancient teachings of the religious faiths with modern approaches to conflict resolution and mediation.

The MMMS also works in association with the Global Green University, a new academic initiative arising from the work of the IIPSGP in 1999.

For further information, to refer cases of conflict for mediation, for training and consultancy requests, to provide language translation services, or to volunteer to assist the publicity and outreach of MMMS in any way whatever, please contact:
Dr. Thomas C. Daffern, Director, IIPSGP, Castle of the Muses, Craigard, Carrick Castle, Cairndow, Argyll and Bute, Scotland PA24 6AH. Telephone: 01301 703053 - Mobile: 07500 238523.
Email: iipsgp@educationaid.net. Website: www.educationaid.net