News, 13.10.2008

Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari wins Nobel Peace Prize

Over the years Martti Ahtisaari has brought peace to conflicts in Africa, Asia and Europe. Now, the former Finnish president's virtue and toil are to be rewarded with the world's most celebrated prize. In early October he was also awarded the UNESCO Peace Prize.

Martti Ahtisaari, the first Finnish Nobel Peace Prize laureate

Martti Ahtisaari. Photo: CMI/Janne Mikkilä. Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari has without doubt received the most publicity in international affairs of all Finns in recent years. Mr Ahtisaari was elected President of the Republic of Finland in February 1994. He held office from the 1st of March 1994 to the 29th of February 2000.

Upon leaving office, he founded Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), where he is Chairman of the Board. In this capacity he facilitated the peace process between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement in 2005. This process lead to the signing of a peace treaty which ended the three decade-long war in Aceh.

His post-presidential activities have also included inspection of the IRA's arms' dumps with fellow inspector Cyril Ramaphosa (2000), the drafting of a report on the human rights and political situation in Austria as a member of a group of "three wise men" (2000), chairing an independent panel on the security and safety of UN personnel in Iraq (2003), appointments as Personal Envoy of the OSCE CiO for Central Asia (2003-2004) and UN Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa (2003-2005).

Mr. Ahtisaari is a member of Independent Commission on Turkey that examines the challenges and opportunities presented by Turkey's possible membership in the European Union (2004 - ). In 2007 President Ahtisaari became a member of an independent Consultative Group on the Past seeking a consensus in Northern Ireland on how to best deal with the legacy of the past.

Between 14 November 2005 and 29 February 2008, President Ahtisaari acted as the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the future status process for Kosovo.

President Ahtisaari is active in numerous non-governmental and non-profit organisations. He was born on 23 June 1937, is married and has a son.

Ahtisaari is the fourth Finn to win a Nobel Prize. F.E. Sillanpää received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1939, A.I. Virtanen won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1945 and Ragnar Granit received the Nobel Prize in physiology in 1967.