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The Peace Institute tries to engage the broad public, on Åland and beyond, in debates concerning public international law, human rights, gender equality and the peaceful solution of conflict.
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The demilitarisation and its challenges
Today, March 30th, is celebrated as the day of the demilitarisation of Åland. in advance of the demilitarisation day, a debate article on the current challenges of the demilitarisation, written by the director of the ÅIPI Dr. Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, was published in the two local newspapers and in the Swedish-Finnish morning paper Hufvudstadsbladet. Spiliopoulou Åkermark higlights that the demilitarisation is continuously higly relevant in our time, as a contrast to increased militarisation and use of violence, and lists current challenges to the demilitarisation regime, such as the trend towards increased merging of military and civilian activities.
The article in pdf (in Swedish) cen be downloaded here.
International day for elimination of violence against women, 2011
Today, 25th of November is marked as The International day for the elimination of violence against women. The ÅIPI highlights this day throug publishing two blog pieces. One, in Swedish, is written by Project manager Jenny Jonstoij and deals with Nordic circumstances. the other blog piece named Gender based violence in Azerbaijan is written by Gunel Isakova, volunteer at the ÅIPI.
The International day for the elimination of violence against women was designated by UN in 1999. The resolution established that the violence against women hinders to achieve the equality in the society, in legal, social, political and economic sense. Violence against women refers to any physical, sexual or psychological aggression, in a public or in a private sphere.
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
Debate article on importance of preventive youth work
In cooperation with several organisations on Åland the ÅIPI has written a debate article on the importance of preventive work among youg people, in the form of girl nd boy groups. The article was published in both the local newspapers on Åland20th respectively 21st of October.Debattartikel och radioinslag om kampanjen FAIR SEX
En debattartikel om kampanjen FAIR SEX publicerades i Ålandstidningen och i Nya Åland den 4.5.2011. Läs artikeln här.
Ulrika Navier, projektassistens inom projektet Utmana könsroller för att motverka sexslaveri talade om kampanjen i Ålands radio. Hör inslaget här.
Debate article on the demilitarisation of Åland and on the necessity of ”peace talk”
On 6.4.2011 the local newspapers Ålandstidningen and Nya Åland published a debate article on the demilitarisation of Åland and on the necessity of "peace talk", written by the director of the Åland Peace Institute, Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark. A link to the debate article (in Swedish) can be found on the Swedish site.In the debate article, Spiliopoulou Åkermark develops the argumentation of her earlier debate article on Åland, Libya and our relationship to military violence, which was published on the commemoration day of the demilitarisation of Åland, 31.3.2011. On the Swedish version of this page, you can find links both to this earlier debate article, and to the editorial of Niklas Lampi, the editor in chief of Ålandstidningen, who responded to Spiliopoulou Åkermark's earlier debate article on the demilitarisation day.
The discussion has also inspired the information officer of the Åland Peace Institute, Susann Simolin, to write a blog about the responsibility to protect-principle.
Debate article on military violence
What do the challenges for the demilitarisation of Åland and the UN-sanctioned intervention in Libya have in common? The director of the Åland Peace Institute, Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark argues in a debate article published in Ålandstidningen, Nya Åland and Hufvudstadsbladet on the commemoration day of the demilitarisation of Åland, 31.3.2011, that both may illuminate an increased tendency to use military means internationally. A link to the debate article (in Swedish) can be found on the Swedish version of this site.Debate article about racism
On the anti-racism day 21st of March a discussion about racism was arranged in the City Library by the Åland multicultural association and the Åland Islands Peace Institute. In advance of the event a debate article by the ÅIPI researcher Heidi Öst was published in the local newspapers. It can be downloades as pdf (in Swedish) here.
Debate article about Northen Coasts
In connection to the military exercise "Northen Coasts" in the Baltic Sea in September 2010, the ÅIPI Director sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark wrote a debate article that was published in Ålandic local media. the debate article is written in Swedish and can be downloaded in pdf here.What is the problem with Gender Roles?
An information campaign about gender equality was launched on Åland between 30th of August and 3rd of September 2010 within the project Challenging Gender Roles for Prevention of Trafficking.
A debate article about gender roles was published in the local newspapers. The article (in Swedish) can be downloaded as pdf here.
Article on dialogue in Crimea
ÅIPI researcher Heidi Öst participated in July 2010 in a meeting about language issues in Crimea. The meeting was arranged within the framework of the Crimea Policy Dialogue Project, partly financed by the Finnish foreign ministry. After the meeting Heidi wrote an article that was published in both the Ålandic local papers. The article (in Swedish) can be downloaded here.Debate article on Nordic security cooperation
With regard to the meeting of the Nordic Council of Ministers on Åland on 29 September 2009, the Ålandic newspapers have published a debate article by the Åland Islands Peace Institute's director Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark. Read the article here.
Åland and the world refugee day
On June 20th 2009, the World Refugee Day was observed around the world. On this day, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) draws attention to the plight of the 42 million people worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes and are now in need of protection.The Åland Islands Peace Institute sees the day as a time to reflect on Åland as both a host society for refugees and a model for preventing displacement. Researchers linked to the Åland Islands Peace Institute have jointly written an article on the issue.
The article can be found here.
Debate article on demilitarization
In connection with the demilitarisation day, 30th of March 2009, the debate article Ålands demilitarisering - självklar eller hotad, written by director Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, was published in the local paper Nya Åland (29.3.2009). The article (in Swedish) can be downloaded here.Debate article on the limits of the freedom of speech
In January 2008 a debate article "Yttrandefrihetens gränser was published in Fredsposten. The article (in Swedish) can be downloaded here.Varför granskas Åland av Europadomstolen för mänskliga rättigheter?
Europadomstolen för de mänskliga rättigheterna fann i juli 2007 att Åland och Finland har brustit i sin tillämpning av den europeiska människorättskonventionen p.g.a. Södra Ålands hälsonämnds långvariga ovilja att vidta de åtgärder som var nödvändiga för att skydda privat egendom i Lumparland. Ålands fredsinstituts direktör Sia Spiliopulou Åkermark beskriver i en debattartikel i Nya Åland och Tidningen Åland den bakgrund som föranledde granskningen. Hon betonar att det på Åland måste finnas kapacitet att bistå de finska representanterna inför Europadomstolen för mänskliga rättigheter i Strasbourg och kunna föra fram de åländska resonemangen precis som nu diskuteras i förhållande till EU-domstolen i Luxemburg. Läs artikeln här.
Uttalande om Ålands landskapsregerings språkpolitiska program.
Ålands landskapsregering har nu presenterat sitt språkpolitiska program som ska diskuteras i lagtinget den 19 mars. Programmet föreslår fyra huvudsakliga åtgärder: 1) tillsättandet av en språknämnd; 2) återkommande undersökningar av språksituationens utveckling på Åland; 3) ökat samarbete med finlandssvenska organisationer; samt 4) utökade kontakter med Sverige inom områden som handel, vård, utbildning och kultur.
Ålands fredsinstituts direktör Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark kommenterar det språkpolitiska programmet ur folkrättsligt perspektiv i en debattartikel i lokalpressen. Läs debattartikeln samt det språkpolititiska programmet.