Speeches and pictures from seminar on the Åland Example, held in Helsinki 10th of april 2012

About 120 persons, many of them diplomats, politicians or civil servants, attended the seminar ”The Prospects of the Åland Example as a tool of Nordic Peace Mediation - Tackling Identity Conflicts, Autonomy and Minority Rights” that was held at the Parliament Annex Auditorium in Helsinki the 10th of April 2012. The seminar was arranged by the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and the Åland Islands Peace Institute with the support of the Constitutional law Committee of the Parliament of Finland and the Contact group for Åland and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

Below, speeches in pdf can be downloaded.

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Erkki Tuomioja, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Johannes Koskinen, Chair of the Constitutional Law Committee, Parliament of Finland, Britt Lundberg, Speaker of the Åland Parliament, Roger Jansson, member of the Åland Parliament and Member of the Board of Directors of the Åland Islands Peace Institute, Camilla Gunell, Head of the Åland Government and Arne Selander, Head of Administration of the Åland Government.

The keynote speaker was Mr Erkki Tuomioja, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Speakers included: Johannes Koskinen, Chair of the Constitutional Law Committee, Parliament of Finland, Britt Lundberg, Speaker of the Åland Parliament, Dr. Kristine Höglund, Associate Professor Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University Peace and Conflict Research, Ambassador Kai Eide, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway, Dr. Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, Associate Professor, Director of The Åland Islands Peace Institute and Elisabeth Nauclér, Member of the Parliament of Finland, representing the Åland Islands. Moderator was Dr. Teija Tiilikainen, Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

In her speech, the Director of the Åland Islands Peace Institute (ÅIPI) Dr. Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark highlighted how the three distinctcomponents of the Åland Example – the demilitarisation and neutralisation, the self-government and the guarantees for language and culture all are relavant and may be used separately and in combination as tools in many current crises and conflicts

Ambassador Kai Eide welcomed a greater interest in demilitarization as an alternative and Dr. Kristine Höglund maintained that research shows that it is less likely that conflicts are resolved through negotiated arrangements when the international community has intervened violently.

The importance of regular fora for discussion where both diplomats, civil servants and other practitioners on the one hand and researchers and representatives for the civil society can meet to discuss current issues was also emphasized. Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark wants the ÅIPI to be able to host such discussions at a Nordic level. Suggestions in this direction have already been proposed to the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers.