When the Åland Islands Peace Institute organises Kastelholm talks on peace for the fifth time, the theme is "Democracy, participation and the role of civil society". The Kastelholm talks are recurring discussions about peace, under the patronage of the former President of Finland, Tarja Halonen. The talks are always held in connection with Åland's demilitarisation day, which is 30 March. The talks of 2019 will be held on Thursday, 28 March. The moderator will be the Peace Institute's Director, Associate Professor Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark.

This year’s panel consists of the following speakers:

Panellists 2019: Ms. Maud Olofsson (photo Patrick Trägårdh), Mr. Pär Stenbäck (photo Kevin Abosch), Ms. Li Bennich-Björkman och Mr. Göran Djupsund.

Due to the widening content of the concept of “security” in recent decades, it is no longer possible to talk about security in general terms in a meaningful way. Instead, more specific approaches are needed. This issue of JASS is a very good example: it contains articles that range from a traditionally formulated context of security, to identity, collective security and ontological security. In particular, the context of security through demilitarisation is highlighted in some articles, while in other a more explicit or implicit comparative perspective is taken. Åland, with its international regimes of demilitarisation and neutralisation, is put in perspective in relation to Svalbard as well as to Nagorno-Karabakh. An equally important dimension is the possibility to link security to human rights, or vice versa - something that is developed in an article on North Korea. Finally – and in between all of this – stands an article analysing the development of the identity and ontological security of the Åland Islands.

The Vol. 2 Issue 2 of JASS includes the following contributions:

Aspects Regarding the Svalbard Demilitarisation in Relation to Norway Joining the Atlantic
Alliance in 1949, and Reflections on the Åland Islands’ Demilitarised and Neutralised status in
the Event of a Finnish NATO accession
Åsa Gustafsson

The French Perspective on the Åland Islands: A Cyclic Interest? Between Geopolitics,
Historiography, and a Case Study
Matthieu Chillaud

The Nexus Between Arms Control and Human Righs in the Case of North Korea
Katja Creutz

The Future of Ålands’ Identity
Pertti Joenniemi

Comparing the Åland Islands Precedent and the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
Kamal Makili-Aliyev

What is the Essence of the Institution of Demilitarisation? Reflections upon Completion
of the Research Project “Demilitarisation in an increasingly militarised world – International
perspectives in a multilevel framework: the case of the Åland Islands”
Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark

The issue can be found at www.jass.ax.

The Contact Group between the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Government of Åland was founded in 1998. It's 20th anniversary was celebrated on December 14th in Helsinki, where two of its founders, President Tarja Halonen and former MP Roger Jansson held speeches at a seminar held for an invited audience. At the seminar, Susann Simolin, the Ålands Islands Peace Institute, presented a report about the first 20 years of the group. The report was written as an assignment from the Contact Group.
The group was formed after Åland's long-standing request for such a group, The Ministry for Foreign Affairs endorsed the idea with then Foreign Minister Tarja Halonen at the forefront. The purpose of the Contact Group is to "develop and increase the use of the Åland Example in international contexts as well as to further enhance information about and contacts with Åland".

On the basis of protocols, activity plans and reports, as well as interviews; this report identifies the objectives of the contact group and how they were implemented; who participated in the work and how the cooperation was conducted; what significance the group's work has had on the dissemination of knowledge about the Åland Example; and the highlights and difficulties in the contact group's work over the last 20 years.

The report, written in Swedish, can be downloaded here.

CONTENTS

• New issue of the Journal of Autonomy and Security Studies
• Lunch seminar 11.12.2018: Who will save the Baltic Sea? The role of law in environmental governance. Professor Henrik Ringbom.
• Report describes the first 20 years of the work of the Contact Group between the Foreign Ministry and Åland.
• Seminar and report about trust on the Åland Islands.
• And more

INNEHÅLL

• Nytt nummer av e-tidskriften JASS
• Lunchseminarium 11.12.2018: Vem ska rädda Östersjön? Om juridikens roll i miljöstyrningen. Professor Henrik Ringbom.
• Rapport om kontaktgruppen mellan UM och Åland 20 år.
• Seminarium och rapport om tillit på Åland.
• m.m.

Marielle Fellman will be an intern at the institute from November 2018. She has a one year master degree in Human Geography from Örebro University. During the internship Marielle will focus mainly on information and organisation of seminars.

Lunch seminar 11.12.2018: Who will save the Baltic Sea? The role of law in environmental governance.

Tuesday, 11.12.2018 at 11.30-12.30 in hotel Arkipelag's restaurant.
 
Professor Henrik Ringbom is a specialist in maritime law and the law of the sea. At this seminar he presents research recently conducted within the framework of the BALEX network, in particular regarding multi-level governance and environmental regulation.
The Baltic Sea is affected by up to six different levels of legislation at the same time, thus probably the world's most regulated and managed sea area. What happens when so many different levels of legislation regulate the same thing? What happens when there are no rules? And what kind of legislation works?

The seminar is held in Swedish. Lunch can be bought in the restaurant and taken to the seminar held in the southern part of the restaurant. The seminar will start at 11.30 and will last an hour.

On 12 November, Åland Statistic arranged a seminar launching the first ever Åland trust study, a survey to which the Åland Islands Peace Institute has contributed. Researcher Sanna Roos (ÅSUB) and Research Coordinator Petra Granholm (Åland Islands Peace Institute) presented the results of the trust study. Other speakers were Maria Bäck, PhD and researcher at Samforsk, Åbo Academi university, Lars Trägårdh, Professor of History and Civil Society Studies, and Laura Hartman, Associate Professor in Economics and Chairperson of the Swedish Trust Delegation. Moderator was the director of Ålnd Statistics, Katarina Fellman.

Around 50 people attended the Symposium ‘Collective Security, a Rules-Based International Order and the Åland Islands’  held in Mariehamn on 4 and 5 October.

Here you can listen to an interview 'Svalbard's unknown cousin between Norway and the north pole' (in Swedish) with ÅIPI's Director Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark and Geir Ulfstein, Professor in public law at the University of Oslo.

Click 'Read More' to see a photo slideshow and a brief summary written by Hasan Akintug, the current research intern at ÅIPI.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2018 is to be awarded to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad "for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict". Denis Mukwege is a physician devoted to helping the victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nadia Murad, a member of the Yazidi minority in northern Iraq, is one of an estimated 3,000 Yazidi girls and women who have been victims of rape and other abuses by the IS army. She managed to flee and has since spoken openly about what she had suffered.

Comment from the Director of ÅIPI, Associate Professor Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark:

"This award is a manifestation concerning crimes against human rights and humanitarian law, as well as regarding sexual violence as a weapon in armed conflict. It also highlights that minorities are often particularly vulnerable in conflict situations."

The symposium ‘Collective Security, a Rules-Based International Order and the Åland Islands’ will be held in Mariehamn on 4 and 5 October. Discussions will concern collective security and a contractual world order in relation to Åland's demilitarisation and neutralisation. The symposium is based on research results from a three-year research project on demilitarisation and neutralisation, (2015-2017). The results of the project have been collected in the book ‘Demilitarisation and International Law in Context: The Åland Islands’. The symposium will be held in English for invited researchers and practitioners. After the symposium, a summary of selected highlights and reflections will be presented in Swedish for everyone interested. This will be at a seminar open to the public on 5 October from 13:30 to 15:00 at Alandica's Auditorium.

The speakers at the symposium will be:
Matti Anttonen, Permanent Secretary at the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Professor Emeritus Lauri Hannikainen, University of Helsinki
Professor Geir Ulfstein, University of Oslo
Professor Timo Koivurova, Director of the Arctic Centre
Associate Professor Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, Director of the Åland Islands Peace Institute
Professor Tuomas Forsberg, Director of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies
Doctor Pirjo Kleemola-Juntunen, Lapland University, Rovaniemi
Doctor Saila Heinikoski, University of Turku
Doctor Gunilla Herolf, Chair of the Research Board of the Åland Islands Peace Institute
Professor Kjell-Åke Nordquist, University College Stockholm