We start the year with a great line-up for the Stockholm Peace Talks, to be held at Stockholm City Hall, on March 21^st. Organized under the theme “Better Together”, a diverse group of speakers, including diplomats, athletes, activists and journalists, will share their personal stories and ideas on how to foster greater cohesion and inclusion in Sweden and abroad.

The speakers include:

• Staffan de Mistura, Special Envoy for Syria of the United Nations Secretary-General. Staffan has over 42 years of humanitarian work, serving in numerous conflict zones, directing complex relief operations, food distributions and vaccination campaigns.

• Selma Tengeborg, municipal Police Officer working in Skåne, in the south of Sweden. Selma joined the Stockholm Police Academy at the age of 24 and regularly engages with young people in special initiatives of crime prevention.

• Jeffrey Ige, Swedish Paralympic Champion. Jeffrey is a talented shot put athlete, who won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, and has become a model of integration through sports.

• Emilia Bjuggren, Vice Mayor of Stockholm. Emilia’s current areas of responsibility are labour market and sports policy, where she works to influence and change the society she lives in through equality and inclusion.

• Siavosh Derakhti, Swedish Social Activist, founder of Young People Against Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia. Siavosh has spread his message of equality and dignity to schools, businesses and civil society organizations throughout Sweden.

• Olof Skoog, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sweden to the United Nations in New York. Olof has extensive experience of multilateral and bilateral negotiations focusing on peace and security.

• Hédi Fried, Swedish author and psychologist dedicated to spreading the message of democracy to combat xenophobia, using her own experiences as a Holocaust survivor.

• Anton Abele, Activist, debater and politician, who became the youngest-ever Member of Swedish Parliament at only 18 years old. Anton founded the Stop Street Violence non-profit organization in 2008, which focuses on preventing youth violence.

The Stockholm Peace Talks will also feature two musical performances:

• Lilla Akademien, a Stockholm-based music school funded in 1994 to give pupils a solid musical foundation on which to build their lives. Lilla Akademien has become one of the most significant institutions for the education of young musicians in Scandinavia.

• Elin Rombo, Swedish opera soprano. Eli has performed at the: Frankfurt Opera, the Salzburg Festival and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, amongst others. In November 2013, she was named Court Singer and in 2016 she was awarded the medal Litteris et Artibus by the Swedish King.

And the event will be co-hosted by:

• Alexandra Pascalidou, Award-winning writer, journalist, TV-and radio hostess, producer and a human rights advocate. She is a lecturer on democracy and diversity, pluralism and equality around Europe.

• Tomas Amanuel, Interpeace’s Local Facilitator in Sweden. Tomas grew up in Tensta, Stockholm, with an Eritrean background. He is an activist, social entrepreneur and role model for many youth in his community.

For full biographies of the speakers, click here.

The Stockholm Peace Talks is organised by Interpeace in collaboration with the City of Stockholm.

In the presence of Her Majesty Queen Silvia.

This event is made possible with the support of Ben & Jerry’s, the Swedish Post Lottery Foundation, the Embassy of Switzerland to Sweden and with the support of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform.

Previous Peace Talks have been held at the United Nations offices in Geneva and Nairobi as well as at the Swedish Parliament, the Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa, and at City Hall in London. The Peace Talks were co-founded by the United Nations Office at Geneva, Interpeace and the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform with the support of the Swiss Government.

You can follow the Stockholm Peace Talks at #StockholmPeaceTalks and at the following link.

A webcast will be available to watch the Stockholm Peace Talks live. Stay tuned for more details.