On 20-21 April, Research Director Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark took part in the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of The Hague Recommendations Regarding the Education Rights of National Minorities, organized by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Astrid Thors, in The Hague.
The two-day conference, brought together 180 government representatives, experts, teachers, education professionals, non-governmental actors and other local and international stakeholders active in the field of education, conflict prevention and peace-making to discuss the challenges in adapting education systems to ethnically diverse societies.
Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark took part in a high-level panel discussion on the role education when building sustainable diverse societies, together with Srđan Verbić, Minister of Education of Serbia, Ketevan Tsikhelashvili, First Deputy State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality of Georgia as well as professor Jan de Groof from Belgium.
During the conference, Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark also met with PhD-candidate Sarah Stephan, former Researcher at the Åland Islands Peace Institute and currently employed as a Project Officer with HCNM, co-ordinating a research project focusing on the role of minorities as bridge builders, conducted in co-operation with The European Academy of Bozen/Bolzano (EURAC) and European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI).
In a short film, published on the OSCE homepage, Spiliopoulou Åkermark as well as five other experts at the conference were asked to answer the question: ”Why is education a useful tool for conflict prevention?”
