Category: Traces of Peace Work

Fredis 10 years old The 10th anniversary was celebrated in 2002 with a peace cake and a seminar at which Teija Tiilikainen presented her paper on Åland, Finland and European security (link), which addresses Åland’s position in a possible NATO future. At the time, Finland was in a position where only one-fifth were in favour of NATO membership, and the seminar concluded that Åland’s demilitarisation was best guaranteed by popular support and a good knowledge of Åland’s international legal status outside Åland. (In 2018, Saina Heinikoski wrote a follow-up to Tiilikainen’s paper in the Journal of Autonomy and Security Studies – The Åland Islands, Finland and European Security in the 21st Century) Fredis 20 years 20th anniversary, celebrated in June 2012. The Åland Islands Peace Institute received the house on Hamngatan as a gift from the Government of Åland, and this was celebrated with an open house and programme in the courtyard. Fredis 25 years The 25th anniversary was celebrated with a symposium that looked to the future: “Åland – a perspective on the future” in Alandica. Speakers included Jan Sundberg, Professor of Political Science at the University of Helsinki, Christian Pleijel, Programme Director at KTH in Stockholm, Secretary General

…research seminar, which took place in February 1993, dealt with minority rights. Sia, then a doctoral student at Uppsala University, participated together with Paul Smyth from Peace People in Northern Ireland under the leadership of Susanne Eriksson, then Parliamentary Secretary. …Youth Exchange took place in August 1993 and built on the contacts with Northern Ireland. Ten young people from Åland spent a week in Northern Ireland and ten young people from Northern Ireland spent a week in Åland at a peace camp. …summit, in May 1993, was organised by the Peace Institute in cooperation with TFF – The Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research in Sweden. Croats and Serbs met on neutral ground in Mariehamn as a follow-up to a meeting in Austria in which Susanne Eriksson had participated.

The Åland Mediation Office opened in 2006 with Anna-Lena Sjölund as the first mediation officer and the County Administrative Board as the supervisory authority. The mediation office mediates in crimes and disputes under Finnish law. Over the years, some 60 mediators have been trained and more than 1500 cases have been handled at the office, which is now under the THL at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The Åland Islands Peace Institute continues to provide mediation services in Åland.

The Peace Institute started its activities in the basement of Villa Julius in 1992. In 1995, the Peace Institute moved into Villa du Nord on Ålandsvägen. Ten years later it was time to move to the “County Council House” at the corner of Hamngatan- Storagatan, a house that the Peace Institute received as a gift from the Åland Government on its 20th anniversary in 2012. Today the house is owned by the Peace Institute’s subsidiary Fredsfast. The building has become a real centre for the non-profit sector, with tenants such as the Nordic Association, the network bärkraft.ax and Åland Society for Nature and the Environment, in addition to the Peace Institute itself and the Åland Mediation Office.

Welcome to seminar! The Åland Islands Peace Institute is pleased to present the Åland Peace Lecture, which will take place on UN Day, 24 October. This year’s Åland Peace Fellow, Dr. Ralph Wilde, international lawyer and researcher, will speak on the topic “Human Rights in Occupied Territories”. The seminar is free of charge and will be held at Alandica in Mariehamn from 16.00-17.00. The evening will end with a mingle. Register today! The seminar is part of the 30th anniversary of the Åland Islands Peace Institute.