Nordic Women Mediators meet in Helsinki

The annual meeting of the Nordic Women Mediators’ network will be held in Helsinki on 2–4 November 2022. The three-day meeting will explore topical issues related to peace and security. Minister for Foreign Affairs Haavisto will host a panel discussion in connection with the meeting.

The annual meeting of the Nordic Women Mediators (NWM) will bring almost 50 professionals with expertise relevant to peacebuilding and security to Helsinki on Wednesday.

Women mediators’ networks play an important role in implementing and promoting the Women, Peace and Security agenda, which is based on UN Security Council resolutions.

The meeting agenda reflects topical issues related to peace and security. On Wednesday 2 November, a panel hosted by Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will discuss the effects of the global security situation on peace promotion under the heading Navigating peace in the current global security environment at Pikkuparlamentti. Minister for Foreign Affairs Haavisto will be joined in the panel by President Tarja Halonen, Chair of the Governing Board of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund Stefano Manservisi, and Executive Director of the African Development Bank Mette Knudsen, who represents Denmark in the NWM. The panel will be moderated by Astrid Thors, a Finnish member of the NWM, who previously served as OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities.

The Nordic Women Mediators’ network convenes in Helsinki in a situation where Europe is overshadowed by Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. The annual meeting of the NWM focuses on Nordic cooperation in questions related to peace and security in the changed security situation in Europe. The network will also discuss the impacts of Russia’s war of aggression and support for the agency of women.

Speakers from outside the NWM include Ukraine’s Ambassador to Finland Olga Dibrova, Director of the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre and Deputy Head of the OSCE Secretariat Tuula Yrjölä, and Ukrainian Senior Fellow Tetiana Kyselova from Swisspeace.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs organises the annual meeting together with the Nordic Women Mediators – Finland and its operational partner CMI — Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation. The annual meeting is now held in Finland for the second time. The network last convened in Helsinki in 2017.

The Nordic Women Mediators – Finland is part of the Nordic Women Mediators’ network established in 2015. The Nordic network consists of the national networks of all Nordic countries. The Nordic network aims to bring together Nordic women who have experience of mediation tasks or peace talks to share their experiences and discuss different ways of training, mentoring and actively developing women's competence and recruitment to mediation tasks. Today, the Nordic network comprises almost 130 women and the Finnish network has 16 members.