The 3rd Annual Harri Holkeri Lecture - 'Reflections on Brokering Peace in Divided Societies'
The third annual Harri Holkeri Lecture, co-sponsored by the Finnish Government and the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice, took place on 22nd of April at the Queens University in Belfast. Lecture series is organised to mark the contribution to building peace in Ireland of the late Finnish Prime Minister, Harri Holkeri.
Finnish Prime Minister Harri Holkeri played an important role as a member of the Mitchell Committee from 1995 onwards, co-chairing the peace talks along with former US Senator George Mitchell and retired Canadian General. These talks eventually led to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, and Holkeri received an honorary knighthood from the Queen for his work. Harri Holkeri died 11 August 2011 at the age of 74.
In the memory of Holkeri and Finland’s role in the peace process, Queen's University in Belfast, together with the Embassy of Finland in London, present an annual lecture on building and maintaining peace, with changing speakers every year.
This year the keynote speaker George J. Mitchell, a former United States Senator and Majority House Leader, delivered a lecture entitled 'Reflections on Brokering Peace in Divided Societies' to a packed Great Hall. After the lecture there was a short Q&A with Dr. William Crawley, BBC broadcaster and journalist. Also Ambassador Pekka Huhtaniemi was in attendance and introduced the lecture series. Chargé d'Affaires Kaisa Leidy represented the Embassy of Finland from Dublin.
A podcast of the introductions, lecture and the question and answer session can be found online.
More information:
Podcasts
Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice