Geneva, 1 November 2021 (GNP/ TDI): The Geneva Peace Week started today, and will end on 5 November. The GPW will inaugurate this initiative with a ceremony, in the auditorium Ivan Pictet; and then a Reception will follow.
The focus for the opening ceremony is: From seeds to systems of peace: Weathering today’s challenges. It states that the GPW21 aims to galvanize leadership, build trust, and contribute to transforming international cooperation. It will count on different speakers, like Tatiana Valovaya, the Director-General of UN Geneva’s office.
SPEAKERS AND SESSIONS
Other speakers are Lindsey Fielder Cook, a representative for climate change; Ignazio Cassis, a Swiss foreign affairs counselor. Marie-Laure Salles, director of the Geneva Graduate Institute, Thomas Guerber, the director of the Security Sector Governance center. Finally, the last speakers are Oya Dursun-Özkanca, professor at Elizabethtown College, and Marc Batac, GPPAC-SEA regional liaison officer.
On Wednesday, the first session has the title of Building the Ecosystem: consultation on the white paper project for environmental peacebuilding. This is alongside PeaceNexus Foundation, the Environmental Peacebuilding Association. The International Union for the Conservation of nature, and 150 authors of 80 organizations, were also part.
The next session is Creating a climate for collaboration: ways forward for the environment, climate change, and peace. This session is with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The last session is on Effective Learning and Assessment Tools for Environmental Peacebuilding. On Thursday, there will be four sessions. The first one is Climate Change and Security in Somalia.
Then the next one is Accelerating Climate Finance for Sustaining Peace in Africa. The third one is Building Peace through better governance in West Africa. The last one is navigating the waters of environmental peace
PRESENT ORGANIZATIONS
The GPW21 will also count with Adelphi, the Berghof Foundation, UNEP, IOM, and also the Cairo International Center for Conflict Resolution. Other organizations like the African Development Bank, the Geneva Water Hub, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, will be present.
The Closing Ceremony will be in person, as well, and will then conclude GPW21 by drawing out key insights from the workshops. The ceremony will also include speeches from high-level speakers, videos, and discussions.
OBJECTIVE OF THE GPW
Peace Week is an initiative of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform. It aims to foster exchange between the actors that work in peace from all sectors. The environment is part of GPW21 agenda’s. This is due to the 2nd International Conference on Environmental Peacebuilding, in Geneva in 2022.
The Platform is the opportunity to build bridges, and enable creative responses to violence, insecurity, and also exclusion. GPW started thanks to the collaboration with the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. GPW21 is also organized with the platform’s partners.
PARTNERS OF THE GPW
The first one is the Graduate Institute’s Centre on Conflict, Development, and Peacebuilding. Then is the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance. The next one is the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, and Interpeace then. Then is the Quaker United Nations Office. Switzerland also supports the Geneva Peace Week.