This year also Latvia participated to the International RJ Week campaign launched by the EFRJ during the third week of November. The Latvian State Probation Service (which provides Victim- Offender Mediation since 2009) organized a week of public activities for raising awareness on RJ and implementing RJ in working places. The local organisers have chosen a different week to celebrate this international event (1-9 December) and today they sent us a brief report and pictures of their activities:
“The State Probation Service of Latvia organizes a RJ Week since 2009. During this week, we usually offer different activities for a wider society in Latvia, but this year we decided to organize activities within our own organization in order to implement Restorative Justice values in our working place. Our activities took place from 1st – 9th of December.
We [the State Probation Service] have 28 local structures around Latvia and every structure had the possibility to voluntarily organize a one-day event about a Restorative Working Place. Colleagues from 18 local structures and central office agreed to participate; all together we counted 210 people.
In the central office of the State Probation Service we started with a peace-making circle. In the circle we discussed one story about communication and how we perceive information, how we transmit it to others, what we expect from other colleagues and who I am as a colleague. Then we discussed in what kind of working place we would like to be every day and how we will reach a healthy working place. The results of all those who participated in the local structures and central office were presented in a creative way.”
Many thanks to Diana Ziedina, the Head of Mediation Division of the State Probation Service based in Riga, or being our contact person in Latvia and being one of the local organisers of this event!
