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The Peace Institute's staff, guest researchers and interns regularly attend conferences, courses and seminars related to the Peace Institute's areas of interest, both as lecturers and participants. Find below reports and reflections on such events. Sarah Stephan took part in "Brussels Democracy" seminar
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Kyrgyz culture arrives to Åland
Café Bönan receives Kyrgyzstan as a guest country in its multicultural café. Last Friday 27 th of August people could know a little more about that country, where it is located, their political situation, their traditions and their food.
The Nordic Forum for Security policy 2010
The nations around the Baltic Sea are increasingly using the same language when discussing security policy, but there are still differences in what threats are percieved and confidence between countries still needs to be strenghtened. Those where some of the conclusions from this year's Nordic Forum for Security Policy, which was organized in St Petersburg, Russia in the end of april.The Nordic Forum for Security gathered in 2010 under the heading Freedom, Security and Justice - Common interests in the Baltic Sea Region.
The information Officer of the Åland Islands Peace Institute participated, and has written a short article about the content of the forum.
You can download it in pdf here.
Report from NATO New Strategic Concept Seminar
On the 4th of March 2010 a NATO New Strategic Concept Seminar was organized in Helsinki by the Foreign Ministries of Finland and Sweden. The NATOStrategic Concept is a document that guides the Alliance as it pursues its agenda of safeguarding the common security interests of its members. The
topic of the seminar was the integration of civilian and military actors in crisis management.
Heidi Öst, researcher at the Åland Islands Peace Institute, participated and has written a report from the event.
The report can be downloaded here.
Conference on youth, gender, norms and politics
On 1-2 December Andrea Bolos participated in the national conference of the Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs in Stockholm. She has now written a short report on the four seminars in which she participated. The seminars concerned men and equality, European youth politics, female entrepreneurship, and youth that sell sex.
The report is available in Swedish for download here.
Study visit "youth work realities in Azerbaijan"
In October 2009 the Åland Islands Peace Institute's project manager and researcher Sarah Stephan participated in a study visit to Azerbaijan, organised by Salto Eastern Europea and Caucasus Resource Centre and the Minsitry of Youth and Sport of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Swedish Youth Council Conference 2009
On December 1-2 Andreea Bolos participated in the Swedish Youth Council's 2009 conference in Folkets hus in Stockholm as one of 800 participants. The Swedish Youth Council is a public authority established in 1959 to increase the wellbeing and participation of youth in society.
Det närpesiska receptet för god integration
År 1988 blev Närpes den första svenskspråkiga kommun i Finland som tog emot flyktingar. Det handlade då om vietnamesiska flyktingar, som var startskottet för en stor invandring till den relativt lilla landsbygdskommunen i Österbotten. Under över 20 år har nu invandringen av främst vietnameser och bosnier fortsatt. Både av lokalbefolkning och inflyttade ses detta som något positivt. Man går t.o.m. så långt att säga att invandringen har varit en lösning för Närpes.
I maj 2009 besökte Petra Granholm, som under våren 2009, arbetade som forskare och projektledare vid Ålands fredsinstitut Närpes för att lära sig mer om hur man i Närpes hanterar integrationsfrågor. I juli 2009 publicerades hennes rapport Översikt av lagstiftning och policy gällande integrationen av inflyttade i Finland och på Åland, i rapportserien Rapport från Ålands fredsinstitut.
En artikel om det närpesiska receptet för god integration hittar du här.
Rapporten Översikt av lagstiftning och policy gällande integrationen av inflyttade i Finland och på Åland kan laddas ner i pdf här.
Knowledge on mediation gathered in Washington
Between 9th and 13th march 2009 the United States Institute of Peace organized the course “Mediating Violent Conflict” in Washington D.C. as part of its conflict management training programme. The course aimed at providing an overview of mediation in contemporary international and intrastate conflict, situating mediation in a larger peacemaking or international affairs context and at building competences for practicing mediation. Conflict management education and research into peace and conflict are among the core activities of the Åland Islands Peace Institute and hence the Institute’s participant Sarah Stephan did not miss this chance to learn more about mediation in sensitive inter- and intrastate conflict settings.Sarahs reflections on the course content are found here.
Reflections on borders and concilitation in Western Balkans
From the 24th of February to the 2nd of March, Wille Valve, Head of the Åland Mediation Office, participated in the EU-sponsored seminar ”Youth breaks the barriers! Mediation & reconciliation tools in European youth work activities” in Kljuc, Bosnia-Herzegovina. This is a mediator’s perspective on a volatile region, where borders matter more than ever.
Sarah Stephan took part in "Brussels Democracy" seminar
The Åland Islands Peace Institute's research assistant Sarah Stephan partcipated in the seminar "The Brussels Democracy - Citizen Participation and Multi-Level Governance in Europe" in Brussels between 13 and 18 February. The seminar aimed at exploring which stakeholders are involved in European governance and how citizens can make their concerns heard in Brussels. Read about Sarah's impressions from the seminar here .
Focus on minorities at Hanaholmen
The Åland Islands Peace Institute's former trainee Gustav Blomberg participated in a minority conference at 21 November at the Hanaholmen Cultural Centre for Sweden and Finland. Among others the particpants discussed the position of the Finnish minority in Sweden, the revival of the Estonian-Swedish culture and the link between language and identity. At the conference the Ålandic member of the Finnish Parliament Elisabeth Nauclér adressed the Åland example and the Ålandic cultural autonomy. Gustav's report about the conference in Swedish can be read here.
International Seminar on disarmament, terrorism and poverty
The Åland Islands Peace Institute's university trainee Gustav Blomberg participated in the International Peace Bureau's seminar on terrorism, disarmament and poverty in Copenhagen on 14-15 November.Read Gustav's article on the conference in Swedish here.
The Peace Institute at the Nordic Forum for Human Rights
This year’s “Human Rights days” took place in Luleå 13-14 November. Focus was on the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples. Almost 4000 people attended the forum that mainly took place in the “House of Culture” in a beautiful snowy Luleå in the North of Sweden. The Peace Institute was represented with three people. Director Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark was a speaker in several seminars, such as “Minority Representation in the Majority Society”, “Roleplay about the Duty and the Possibilities of the Authorities to Consult” and “Global Impact of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”. Guest researcher Rhodri Williams held a lecture on how the Guiding Principles for protection of internally displaced people can be used with regards to the exceptional vulnerability of indigenous people and minorities. Also researcher Petra Granholm participated, to gather information and make contacts during the days. Here you can read Petra’s personal reflection from this year’s “MR-dagar”.
Report from conference on protection of minorities
The director of the Peace Institute, Sia Spiliopulou Åkermark, participated on the 9th and 10th October in an international conference arranged by the Council of Europe. The aim of the conference was to assess the protection of national minorities ten years after the entry into force of the first binding international treaty on this subject: the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The conference was held under the theme “Enhancing the impact of the Framework Convention: past experience, present achievements and future challenges”The report The impact of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National
Minorities in selected countries of Western Europe after two monitoring cycles presented by Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark at the conference can be downloaded here.
More information on the conference can be found here.