Society survey to 1000
On Tuesday 16th of Septembre the Åland Islands Peace Institute posted 1000 surveys to randomly choosen ålanders. The society survey contains questions on attitudes on identity, immigration, immogrants and integration and is the first of its kind on Åland. The survey is made by Bogdan State, who is a student at Amherst College, Massachusetts, U.S, where he is aiming at a Bachelor of Arts. His majors are History, American Studies and Economics. Last summer Bogdan State wrote the report Immigrant Integration: An Exploratory Study, for the Peace Institute that can be downloaded here.
Petra Granholm researches laws related to integration
During the autumn of 2008 Petra Granholm will be working at the Åland Islands Peace Institute with a overview of the legal framework for the integration of migrants in the Ålandic society. Throughout the years, Petra has been involved in the youth work of the Peace Institute in various ways, including participation in international youth exchanges and conferences. As an intern at the Peace Institute during the summer/autumn of 2007 Petra wrote the report “The Saami Right to Participation in Environmental Matters” (Ålands Fredsinstituts rapportserie nr 1-2008). After concluding her studies in public international law at Åbo Akademi University Petra was working with a project on the Right to Political Participation of the Roma People at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Lund, Sweden.
Petra Granholm in course on protection of minorities
Petra Granholm from the Åland Islands Peace Institute has participated in the EURASIA-Net – Transregional Summer School: Europe South Asia Exchange on Supernational (Regional) Policies and Instruments for the Promotion of Human Rights and the Management of Minority Issues 25 August – 5 September 2008. 18 participants from various countries in Europe and South Asia came together at the European Academy in the beautiful city of Bolzano/Bozen in South Tyrol to learn, compare and discuss the different situations, including existing (and non-existing) standards for minority rights protection in the two regions. Read more about the network and the project at the website of EURAC.
Inspiring environmental camp in Karelia
The eight young alanders participating in an environment camp in Karelia, Finland, in August were mostly satisfied with their experiences. – It was more of a sports camp than I had expected, but it was rewarding to have the opprtunity to hold our presentations of Åland and the Baltic sea, since the awareness of those topics was very low among the other participants, says Isac Bonam, head of the delegation. The alandic presentation dealt with the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea and a vision on Åland becoming a green society and a role model to the rest of the world it comes to environmental awareness.During the week the camp participants visited a young woman who had decided to live in harmony with the nature by cultivating her own food and try in general to make as few ecological footprints as possible.– For the camp participants from the eastern countries this was not very remarcable, it just becomes remarcable to us in Finland because it is an active choice, says Boman.