Åland 100 jubilee seminar in The Hague

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the autonomy of Åland, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will organise a seminar in The Hague on 5 April in cooperation with the Government of Åland and the Embassies of Finland and Sweden in The Hague.

The jubilee seminar will be held at the Peace Palace, which also houses the International Court of Justice. The Åland Islands Solution was and continues to be an exemplary peaceful settlement under international law of a conflict between states. Thus, organising the event at the Peace Palace is of great symbolic importance.

The jubilee seminar will feature speeches on the significance of the Åland Islands Solution in the historical, present and future contexts alike. Panel speeches will be given by Judge Georg Nolte, Director of the Åland Islands Peace Institute Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Kairat Abdrakhmanov, Director of the Minority Group International Joshua Castellino, President Tarja Halonen, and Ambassador Marie Jacobsson. 

The seminar will be moderated by Päivi Kaukoranta, Head of Mission at Finland’s Embassy in The Hague. The opening and closing addresses will be given by Johannes Oljelund, Swedish Ambassador to The Hague, and Veronica Thörnroos, Premier of the Government of Åland.

The event can be watched online starting at 14.30 on 5 April on the YouTube channel of the Government of Åland(Link to another website.)

A digital exhibition on the Åland Islands Solution, produced by Researcher Pertti Hakala and Dr Kennet Gustavsson, will also be presented at the event. The exhibition can be viewed on the Government’s YouTube channel(Link to another website.).