Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide is hosting the annual Oslo Forum on 18 and 19 June, bringing together experts from all over the world for discussions on current peacemaking trends and challenges.
More than a hundred of the world’s most prominent conflict mediators, high-level decision-makers and other peace process actors will gather at Losby Manor outside Oslo for the 17th edition of the Oslo Forum. The forum is co-hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD).
Participants at this year’s event will include high-level representatives from Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Mali, Uganda, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. The African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security and the Executive Director of the World Food Program will attend, as well as the Special Representatives and Special Envoys of the United Nations Secretary-General for Libya, Syria, Myanmar and the African Union.
‘Peace and reconciliation is a cornerstone of Norwegian foreign policy, and the need for identifying effective ways of solving conflicts is becoming more urgent. The conflict landscape has become increasingly complex in recent years with a return of geopolitics, fragmentation of actors, porous borders and an influx of fake news. These are all complicating factors that make it necessary for all actors involved in peace processes to take a closer look at how we work to resolve conflicts, who should have a seat at the negotiating table and, not least, how to create more inclusive processes as a basis for sustainable peace. This is the objective of this year’s Oslo Forum,’ said Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide.
The overarching theme of the 2019 Forum will be ‘Rebooting mediation: connecting tracks, processes and people’, taking into account the growing fragmentation of conflict parties. Amongst others, the participants will explore how peace processes can efficiently accommodate multiple armed groups, and how to include the voice of civil society, and of women and young people in particular, in high-level processes. Dedicated sessions will be held on the situation in Syria, Libya, Venezuela, the Red Sea region, Myanmar and other hotspots.
(mfa)
