Making peace in practice

When: Monday 13 June, at 15:00
Where: Litteraturhuset, Oslo
Who: open to all

Violent conflicts are increasing in number and complexity. We often hear that these conflicts can only be resolved through political solutions, but how do the UN and the international community go about facilitating such solutions?

One innovative and effective mechanism is the United Nations' Standby Team on Mediation. The Standby Team is a group of full-time mediation experts who can be rapidly deployed to some of the most difficult contexts. They provide expertise in confidence-building, design of mediation and dialogue processes, and thematic issues such as ceasefire and security arrangements, power sharing, constitution making, gender equality and inclusion, and natural resources.

Standby Team experts operate at the cutting edge of peacemaking efforts – including in Syria, Yemen, Libya, Burundi and Afghanistan. The Standby Team was administrated by the Norwegian Refugee Council since it was established in 2008 until this responsibility was transferred to the UN Office for Project Services earlier this year.

Speakers:

• Børge Brende, Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General, UN Department of Political Affairs
• Jan Egeland, Secretary General, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
• Grete Faremo, Under-Secretary-General, UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS)

Panellists:

• Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General, UN Department of Political Affairs
• Nicholas Haysom, United Nations Secretary-General's Special Representative and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
• Mark Muller, member of the UN Stand by Team on Mediation
• Jeffrey Mapendere, former long term member of the UN Stand by Team on Mediation
• Marie-Joëlle Zahar, former long term member of the UN Stand by Team on Mediation

The event is organised by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UN together with NRC and UNOPS.