FROM EDUCATION TO SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS: THE PATHS OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN WESTERN PARÁ Josineide Gadelha Pamplona Medeiros, Nirson Medeiros da Silva Neto

Abstract

It was with great honor that we received the invitation from the organizers of the 1st National Conference on Restorative Justice in Education to present the experience of restorative justice that has been developing in the western part of the state of Pará since 2011, which began in the educational field and gradually migrated from education to other sectors and social segments, until it was confronted with complex and multifaceted conflict situations, such as the socio-environmental conflicts experienced by traditional peoples and communities in the Amazon region, who have to deal daily with economic, political and social pressures that threaten their territories and ways of life, putting at risk the continuity of their existence and the ecosystems they need for their physical, social, economic and cultural reproduction. This experience has shown us that different fields such as the justice system, education, social assistance, religion, politics, community, family, etc., which were conceived as separate and independent spaces in the imagination of modernity, are revealed to be interconnected in the work of restorative justice, forming a collective capable of operating in sustainable peacebuilding processes, with a view to the well-being of humans with themselves, with others and with the other beings with whom they share their existence (ACOSTA, 2016). In this article, we aim to recount the history of the Restorative Justice Program Amazônia da Paz, in which we participated directly for about a decade. This program, which began its actions with a focus on the educational field, over the years has expanded its scope to a diverse spectrum of areas of activity, revealing the potential that restorative justice presents when intermingling with different fields, interconnecting them without necessarily mixing them, but making them operate as a network.