At the 2002 Triennial a theme group on Dealing with the Past took place. It had a very broad participation and had a significant attendance and active participation of people coming from different walks of life. Some already belonged to WRI, others already had a link to or wanted to link to WRI beyond the meeting. The group gave a comprehensive report, and having the expertise of WRI staffperson Roberta Bacic, the Triennial Business Meeting agreed to the development of this programme area to address how to deal with post-conflict situations in a more structured way.

2003 was an intensive year of activities for the Dealing with the Past programme with wide travel involved. WRI received numerous requests from affiliate groups, other organisations, NGOs, universities and peace groups for input and assistance in the field.

The team developed a Pilot Project for 2004, to work in Sri Lanka and Croatia. These places were chosen because both countries have endured war and we had elected council members from these regions who could make the necessary local links.

At the end of October 2004 Roberta Bacic decided to leave after 6 years, so Dealing with the Past is no longer a staffed programme. However, members of the network continue to work on this issue and resources are posted on the WRI website.

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