The Sasakawa Peace Foundation Cordially Invites You to Attend:
“On peace mediation – learning from the experiences of President Ahtisaari"
a lecture by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Martti Ahtisaari, former President of the Republic of Finland(November 24, 2011)

At the invitation of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, former President of the Republic of Finland, President Martti Ahtisaari, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008 for his outstanding contribution toward conflict resolution and peace mediation, will share his rich experience in the peace mediation field at a lecture in Tokyo, Japan.

Two decades have passed since the former UN Secretary General Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali underlined the importance of peace building in his “An agenda for peace”, which outlined his vision for promotion of international peace and safety in the post-Cold War world. Since then, although conflicts arising from confrontation between the West and the East have fallen sharply, we have witnessed a rapid increase in serious conflicts over differences in ethnicity or religion. In response to this change, international society has tried to help the conflicting parties to end hostilities, to prevent conflicts occurring or re-occurring and to build sustainable peace in politically unstable or fragile countries and regions.

Upon leaving the presidential office in 2000, President Ahtisaari founded Crisis Management Initiative, the non-governmental organization, and successfully facilitated the peace process between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement. President Ahtisaari has worked earnestly for conflict resolution and peace building in many difficult conflict areas worldwide, with capacities including the chair of an independent panel on the security and safety of UN personnel in Iraq (2003), the UN Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa (Somalia and neighboring parts of northeastern Africa, 2003～2005), and the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the future status process for Kosovo (November 2005～February 2008).

This lecture offers an excellent opportunity to learn from President Ahtisaari’s rich experience in peace mediation, and to seek possible roles for Japan in light of its foreign policy-level commitment to promoting international contributions to peace building.

Details of the event are as follows;