Different kinds of peace, different solutions
Peace is a question of will, say President Martti Ahtisaari and the former Secretary-General of the UN Kofi Annan. Annan visited Finland to attend the tenth anniversary seminar of Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), the peace mediation office of President Ahtisaari. The seminar marked the first event of the Ahtisaari Days.
At the anniversary seminar held on 19 April, Tuija Talvitie, Executive Director of CMI, emphasized the benefits of a small independent actor that is not burdened by power politics in the same way as, for example, a Government. In addition, a small actor like CMI can keep its administrative processes light and smart. Only the narrow funding base is an Achilles heel. In consequence, Talvitie thanked everyone for the donations that CMI had received.
Talvitie also said that CMI had benefited from being Finnish:
“As a small Nordic country, we are without colonial baggage and the resulting problems. Moreover, we have our own story to tell of how we rose from poverty to an OECD country.”
“The issue is just to start using sufficient resources for peace mediation,” President Martti Ahtisaari crystallized Finland’s situation. “We mediators don’t choose the conflict, it is the parties that choose us,” he said, characterizing his work.
The change starts from within
Several different solutions and stories associated with conflicts and peace mediation came up during the seminar. “There is no one-size-fits-all solution to all conflicts,” Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb summarized.
Stubb underlined that change must start from within, not outside. The five years after a conflict are decisive. In addition to rebuilding the economy and peace mediation, it is important to involve civil society organizations, women and the private sector in the work.
The rule of law and human rights make a State
Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General of the UN, also gave a speech at the seminar. He told the audience that he had tried to figure out what was the quality that made Ahtisaari so good in difficult negotiations.
“Then a friend told me that Ahtisaari has a certain Finnish quality. He has lots of sisu.”
Annan also said that Ahtisaari is the only man he knows who has made peace on three continents. Annan underscored the importance of the rule of law and respect for human rights. Without these, no country can really exist.
The seminar participants included several high-level actors in peace mediation, such as Stephen Heintz, President of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Ambassador Swanee Hunt, former child soldier and present rap artist Emmanuel Jal, and President Tarja Halonen.
The Country Brand Delegation came up with an initiative for the Ahtisaari Days
The Country Brand Delegation, which considered solution-orientation to be one of Finland’s strengths, gave the Ministry for Foreign Affairs the mission of arranging an annual event on peace mediation, the Ahtisaari Days. The goal of the Days is to increase people’s awareness of peace mediation work by emphasizing the importance of education, information and communications, in particular. The Days consist of three parts, of which the seminar was the launching event. In November, around Martti’s nameday, a discussion open to the public will be held at the University of Oulu. There are also plans to hold an Ahtisaari Day at schools, for instance, as a day of reconciliation.
The Ahtisaari Days can reinforce international cooperation in peace mediation and can bring out Finland’s know-how in the sector. In the future, Finland wants to give an increasingly strong contribution to peace mediation. Peace mediation can be used to influence conflicts at different stages. In the best of cases, conflicts are prevented even before they arise.
- www.everypeacematters.com
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- twitter.com/cmioffice
- CMI seminar recorded by MTV3