Detention centre teenagers are exposed to lots of conflicts. Some of them know how to manage conflicts, others don’t. In order to support them, Terre des hommes specialists organised an online session about conflict management, attended by young men from Tichilești Detention Centre and a group of young women from Craiova Detention Centre. The session was held by Ioana Mureșan – lawyer and CAB facilitator (Child Advisory Board) within i-Access My Rights project.
Conflict management is a skill that can be developed, the facilitator explained. The youth spoke about how they would manage a conflict: ”We can calm down, talk, listen to the other person, understand his/her problem, negotiate.” ”We can communicate, talk to the other person and try to reach common grounds. If this is not possible, we can make compromises but we do not resort to violence,” Tichilești teenagers explained. Indeed, giving in is a solution, but it can affect us on a long term, Craiova detention centre educator added. ”At that very moment it is frustrating to compromise to someone else. But if we have done something good (a good choice), this makes us feel more confident”, the participants confessed.
Based on case studies, the youth learnt about conflicts and their causes, and gave examples from their life: ”Bad words: we allow ourselves to talk badly to each other jokingly, and joking goes to something worse. Bad words, misunderstandings in the room – this is where all the quarrels start”, Craiova young women explained.
The youth understood that they cannot control how the others react, but they can choose how they react: ”It would be preferable to end any connection with that person, so as not to get too far, so as things do not get worse”. ”We should not allow him/her that much.” – the girls added.
Another solution would be to ask for help from a friend of a trusted person. The entourage has a big influence on them, the educator explained, therefore it is important who they take advice from.
Through discussions with the facilitator, the youth learnt how to make decisions by analysing the options and the consequences, how to solve problems and how to take responsibilities for their decisions or actions. Most of them admitted that in the past they acted based on hasty decisions, on emotional impulses. „It was a momentary decision. If we had thought of consequences, we would not be here now”, a Craiova young woman confessed. „When we make a decision, we must weigh benefits and risks ... The choice is in our hands”, the girls added.
If someone does a bad deed, the youth agreed that he/she must apologize, take responsibility for the deed and prove that he changed his behaviour.
The session was held within i-ACCESS MyRights project – artificial intelligence driven support for a smart justice with children in Europe, a project through which we help children in contact with the law to have easier access to information. The project is implemented in Romania by Terre des hommes Foundation and co-funded by the European Union.
