Debate article on local possibilities to benefit from EU-project?
It is positive and important that the EU and the Åland government wants to invest in projects that promote peace and prevent violence, but it is equally important that support programs and funding arrangements are designed in a way that facilitates – rather than hinders – the efforts of the project owners. Both the EU and Åland have an interest in providing Åland organizations, such as the Peace Institute, with de facto opportunities to realize projects that generate work positions and benefits the community. This is stated in an opinion piece written by the Peace Institute Board and Director published in the local papers on Åland 7-8.12.2011. The full article, in Swedish, is available in pdf here, and at the Nya Åland website, here.
Education for girl and boy group leaders Sept. 7 to 8
The Åland Islands Peace Institute organizes in collaboration with Folkhälsan on Åland a training for new girl and boy group leaders. The training will be held on 7-8 September between 9 a.m and 16 p.m at Folkhälsans Allaktivitetshus in Mariehamn, Åland. The education is free of charge and the age limit is 18 years. The training is aimed at people who are interested in leading a girl or boy group for at least one semester, starting in autumn 2013. Remuneration to Group leaders is offered. Application deadline is August 30. Read more (in Swedish) at www.folkhalsan.fi. Registration and questions can be addressed to Malin Söderberg at [email protected].
Mediation Manager participated in summer school on restorative justice
From the 29th of July until 2nd of August the Manager of the Mediation Office Linda Johansson participated in the summer school ”Restorative justice in intercultural settings: business as usual?” that was arranged by the European Forum for Restorative Justice in cooperation with the Institute for the sociology of law and criminology (IRKS), the research project ”Alternative” and the European Commission in Vienna. The participation was made possible with support from Grundtvig workshops for adults, through the European Commission’s “Program for lifelong learning”. During the summer school the participants took part in discussions and role plays concerning intercultural connections to restorative justice and mediation. Study visits were made to local organisations that are active in intercultural environments and with conflict resolution. During the last day of the summer school the participants learnt about the “Alternative” project that includes research on practical experiences on intercultural conflicts, including Roma in Hungary.
Op-ed on Finno-ugric languages and minority strategies
Results from the research project ELDIA are discussed in a debate article written by ÅIPI director Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark in the Swedish newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning 26.07.2013. Read the article (in Swedish) at UNTs home page, here. Download pdf, in Swedish.
Åland and the South Caucasus – why we should support personal encounters among youths
Sarah Stephan is a researcher at the ÅIPI and also functions as the Project Manager for the project Open Doors that is focusing on gender equality, empowerment and participation in Azerbaijan. Sarah’s research interests include European and Public International Law, in particular post-conflict governance and multilevel governance in the European Union and beyond. Sarah holds an LL.M. in Public International Law from Helsinki University and a Bachelor’s degree in European and Comparative Law from the Hanse Law School of the Universities of Bremen and Oldenburg. I first encountered the South Caucasus in late 2008 when I took up a research post at the Åland Islands Peace Institute. I had just started working my way through a web of multi-level governance structures in order to disentangle the complex relations maintained by the institutions of autonomy on Åland with the European Union, when the Institute’s first volunteer from the South Caucasus arrived. Tamara, a peer in age from Azerbaijan, had worked as a journalist in her home country. She had visited Åland for the first time a year earlier with a group of young journalists from Armenia, Belarus, the UK, Sweden and Finland. I quickly understood that meetings between young Azerbaijanis and Armenians […]
ÅIPI director in interview on minority issues
The director of the Åland Islands Peace Institute, Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, has been interviewed concerning the situation of minorities around Europé in a podcast that can be found at the homepage for the Europaen Council webbpage on Human rights in Europe, here.
Researcher Sarah Stephan participated in summer school in South Tyrol
From 24 June to 5 July researcher and project manager at the Åland Islands Peace Institute Sarah Stephan participated in the two-week Summer School on Human Rights, Minorities and Diversity Management which was organised by the Institute for Minority Rights at the European Academy in Bozen/Bolzano. Sarah’s participation was made possible by a personal research grant awarded by the Åland Parliament. This focus of the summer school was on “The revival of self-determination: opportunities, concerns and challenges”. The summer school was an excellent opportunity to discuss current questions and challenges in the field of Minority Rights and self-determination with 25 colleagues from all over the world and gain new insights into territorial conflicts and solutions. The summer school included a number of lectures, by among others Jens Woelk, Joshua Castellino, Francesco Palermo, Joseph Marko and many minority rights experts from all over Europe as well as a study visit to the quarto-lingual canton of Graubünden in Switzerland and a role play exercise. Read more about the summer school at the European Academy’s webpage here (in German and Italian).