Speech by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen at the Loviisa Peace Forum in Loviisa Church on 3.8.2003

Distinguished Participants at the Loviisa Peace Forum,

On the anniversary of Hiroshima, the sixth of August, people will once again gather in Finland and all around the world to commemorate the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. People in many parts of the globe will be appealing for peace and a nuclear-free world and opposing weapons of mass destruction. The tragedy must not be repeated. All of us here in Loviisa can concur with these thoughts.

Our goal is a world of peace, a world that is more democratic and equal than the present one. We must examine both the causes of conflicts and ways of resolving them.

Conflict analysis is the buzz phrase in international politics. The factors in the background of conflicts are often poverty or inequitable sharing of wealth and prosperity or disputes over the exploitation of natural resources. Within the framework of our own resources, we must shoulder responsibility for the world we share so that we can make it one of greater equality in the social, economic and ecological senses. It is morally the right thing to do and it improves the possibility of peace.

Another growing cause of the use of weapons is actual or perceived insecurity. This danger appears to afflict states and communities that are powerful in the traditional sense just as much as it afflicts weak ones. The new threats are not conventional wars and, according to military experts, conventional measures are ineffective against them. Thus there is room and a need for new thinking on security policy.

The world has shrunk. The world is with us and we are in the world. Active internationalism and cooperation are not threats. On the contrary, internationalism should be seen as first and foremost an opportunity to influence the world and the global environment in which, as an inextricable part, we live.

New things and managing life in a process of transformation are genuinely difficult matters. Here, religious communities and cooperation between them have their own important role to play in building peace. Religions give people a way to bring the world and the meaning of life into focus. Religion is often associated with crises and it can also be deliberately used as a foundation for extremist attitudes. In this world situation it would be important for cooperation between religious denominations to strengthen for peace and tolerance. We can see encouraging examples of this, also here in our own country.

The challenge facing the peace movement is to examine future development over the long-term, to see the globe as a totality, to present alternative operational models as well as to remind people and decision makers that conflicts are preventable and that stability can be built without having to be founded on deterrence or exploitation of others.

Working for peace is also concrete action here and now. It is first and foremost peace education through influencing attitudes and values. Culture also has an important place in this, as we have seen at the Peace Forum over the years.

The peace movement has the important task of inspiring hope and faith in the possibility of change. Without faith in change, this work would wither away. The peace movement itself must – in accordance with its own thinking – work more actively also on the global level. If the movement can succeed in lessening people’s fears and their reservations about those who are different as well as in opening our eyes to the possibilities of international cooperation, then it will have done the future of humankind a great service.

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We Finns still remember the horrors of war, even though half a century has passed since the end of the Second World War. Accounts of the experiences of war have been passed down from generation to generation and have contributed to creating a foundation for public opinion and political action in favour of stability and peace. Finland has worked actively in the cause of peace in many different ways and in many international forums. This would not have been possible without the strong support of public opinion.

Finnish peacekeepers and aid workers enjoy a good reputation in the world. They are trained to perform peacekeeping, conflict-management and aid tasks together with local people, to be people for people. In times of conflicts and reconstruction, one must know how to encounter people who have lost their homes and whose entire living environment may have been shattered.

Finland has worked actively within the EU in the cause of civilian crisis management. Now that plans are taking concrete shape and training in the field is being created within the Union, the peace movement has its own contribution to make to the development of civilian crisis management.

As a militarily nonaligned country, Finland has been able to act as a mediator in conflict situations where what is needed is expert knowledge of the region without in any way being an involved party. The credibility of every person chosen for a task must be based on not only his or her personal abilities, but also on long-term and consistent work in the field of international politics on the part of that person’s background community.

The most recent demonstration of the confidence that we Finns enjoy was the decision by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to appoint Counsellor of State Harri Holkeri as his special representative in Kosovo. Mr. Holkeri’s position as the hew head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) can also be seen as a part of the commitment to peacekeeping, stabilisation and reconstruction in the entire Western Balkans region that Finland has been honouring for years.

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The character of wars has changed, but violence and the number of violent conflicts have increased rather than decreased.

In the course of history, nation-states have had a central position as parties to wars, but also as peacemakers. Nowadays armed conflicts often begin within a country, but tend to spread through a large region and the victims of war are first and foremost civilians.

One of the strengths of the peace movement is that its thinking was global already when many other actors were only beginning to wake up to globalisation. Later, especially environmental problems prompted an awareness in people everywhere that the world has integrated into a single entity, for better and for worse. We depend on each other no matter what corner of the globe we live in. NGOs have combined their efforts across borders. The economy is nowadays also increasingly globalised. Economic prosperity has not been spread evenly on either the national or the international level. Demands for a system that is more humane, takes better account of people and nature and exists for people in all continents have been gathering strength. Important international agreements with the purpose of consolidating sustainable development have been achieved, but a lot still remains to be done.

In a globalising world there are many actors and phenomena which are not always controllable by nation-states or alone within their sphere of influence.

Strengthening international democratic institutions is every bit as important as the democratisation process in nation-states was in its time. Only by strengthening global democracy can we guarantee a more equitable, fairer and more stable world.

We need a strong international community, which has collective institutions and a common policy and values, and which can create ground rules and intervene when common norms and regulations are violated. The establishment of the International Criminal Court was an important step towards ensuring that human rights crimes committed in wars can be impartially investigated and the guilty sentenced.

Absolutely the most important and most universal institution serving the international community is the United Nations. Today it is more important than ever to support and strengthen the UN. However, peace must also be built regionally and locally. The most serious challenges facing us today are in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

Europe and the Europeans can offer their own experience. Two world wars began in Europe, but today the Europeans have been able to heal their wounds and also break down the Cold War barriers that once blocked the road to cooperation and unification. The CSCE and its successor the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the European Union along with numerous other cooperation forums provide a model demonstrating how it is possible to move on from centuries of hostilities to everyday cooperation.

Excellent examples of conflict-resolution models can be found elsewhere as well. Just as it is important to help and to document successes and mistakes in the Balkans, the same processes elsewhere in the world must also be seen. Latin America has undergone a profound social transformation in recent decades. Now in many countries the people are able to build their society democratically after decades of violence. Likewise, South Africa’s historic and peaceful transition from racial oppression to democracy and the respect for human rights gives hope and sets a vivid example for conflict-torn Africa.

Sustaining and strengthening this hope is the peace movement’s main task.