Rotary Peace Fellowship awarded to District 5020 Nominee
Written by Bob Cairns, District 5020 Rotary Peace Fellowship Chair
District 5020 is proud to announce that Annemieke Holthuis was selected in Oct 2014 by Rotary International to be a Rotary Peace Scholar. As a pioneer district from the inception of the Rotary Peace Fellowship program, District 5020 has had a nominee selected almost each year since the inception of the program in 1987-1988.
Annemieke Holthuis will attend Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand for a 3-month program in peace and conflict resolution beginning in Jan 2015. This program is designed for those with more extensive experience in peace-related fields.
Annemieke was honored by her selection in this very competitive, worldwide selection process. She commented: At a young age, I had a strong sense of fairness and justice. This led eventually to legal studies and a particular interest in legal and policy issues related to human rights, national security and criminal law issues. For almost twenty-five years I have worked as a lawyer for the Department of Justice Canada. I have provided legal advice in relation to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Canada's international human rights obligations and now work on reforming Canada’s criminal laws and addressing international criminal law issues. My work relating to the serious international crimes prosecuted by the International Criminal Court has brought home to me the importance of preventing and resolving conflicts and building peace. How states protect human rights, establish public order and address criminality are important parts of peace building.
While as a wife and mother of four daughters, I have gained some personal insights into managing conflict, pparticipating in the Professional Development Certificate will give me a unique opportunity to learn negotiation and conflict resolutions skills with people from around the world. I will have the chance to study the theory and practice of peace and conflict studies more broadly. These experiences will no doubt inform my law reform work at Justice Canada and after I retire in eight years, the international peace building work I hope to do in the next stage of my career.
District 5020 currently has 2 other Rotary Peace Fellows in the program. Krystal Renschler is in the first year of a 2 year Masters Program in Peace Studies at Uppsala University in Sweden. Geysar Gurbanov is in his second year of a 2 year Masters Program at Duke University.
Clubs are encouraged to provide opportunities for these Rotary Peace Fellows to speak at their clubs when they are available. The Peace Fellows do concentrated studies during their summers but are sometimes travel back to District 5020 during the summer and break times. If you are interested in a program, please contact Bob Cairns at: bobandchriscairns@wavecable.com