Remarks by Ambassador Elina Kalkku, Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations, at the Ahtisaari Legacy Event on Peace Mediation

Remarks by Ambassador Elina Kalkku, Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations, at the Ahtisaari Legacy Event on Peace Mediation on April 3, 2025.

Dear participants, colleagues, friends,

time has come to close today’s Legacy event. Warm thank you to keynote speakers, panelists and commentators, for a forward-looking and deeply thought-provoking discussion.

Many of today’s speakers have reminded us about President Ahtisaari’s mottos: Peace is a matter of will. All conflicts can be solved.

Today, Martti Ahtisaari’s legacy is more important than ever. We are at a crossroads in many ways. One can ask: has the modern world developed far enough, and have our Charter based principles and objectives for peace, development and human rights become deep-rooted enough, for modernization and the path to the better to be irreversible. Or are we turning backwards, big time.

Martti Ahtisaari was my boss for the first time decades ago. He did not spend much time with theories. He wanted to know exactly how things were, and to look for real, practical solutions. He talked to people constantly, in order to understand situations thoroughly and have a vision that shows, which way to take.

Old diplomats tend to go back in their memories - however I wanted to share with you some brief observations – what to highlight in particular.

• First of all - leadership: The former president of Colombia explained how a party, in this case the Government of Colombia, showed leadership. Martti Ahtisaari definitely showed leadership in his work. He radiated authority towards parties that is hard to describe. He was like a respected teacher among his students. In today’s world, wise leadership is needed more than ever.
• Second: fair-mindedness. An honest broker, with high respect for human dignity and for the parties and the task ahead, can achieve more.
• Third: being realistic and knowing the parties behind their public statements. Martti Ahtisaari worked hard to identify the real concerns and interests of the parties. What was really at stake. The rest was less relevant. He didn’t want to waste his time with parties just playing for time or dragging their feet.
• Fourth: responsible risk taking. Being too risk-averse cuts opportunities for peace. Martti Ahtisaari recognized the moments when you need to push for change, and not to focus on possible failures.
• Fifth: how to build a peaceful solution that is seen more beneficial than war. Peace is only possible if the parties share the goal of peace.
• Sixth: creative thinking. Path towards a solution is never simple. Sometimes you have to look for unusually creative ways towards solutions. And you’d better have a good team.
• And this is the seventh point: inclusion and team-work.
• Finally: optimism is a good driver for peace efforts. Problems can be solved. Martti Ahtisaari was on a good humor almost always. He was a positive personality. He loved to relax in a public sauna in New York City, and he appreciated joys of normal life.

Optimism was also shared by many of his friends, including the UN icon and former Secretary General Kofi Annan. He attended Martti’s 80-year anniversary dinner in Helsinki. I can still hear his voice when he said: the pendulum can go to a wrong direction, but in the end, it always turns back, towards the better.

In today’s world, more leaders have taken the liberty to resort to military means, in order to promote their own, sometimes even personal desires. Conflicts are initiated with total lack of respect for human life, and even against the basic interests of own people – not to speak of international law. I would argue we are witnessing multipolarism gone out of control. Services for peace are often not welcome, in today’s world, even if they are much needed. But might should never be right. This is about all of us.

The times we are living through are all about weakening the fabric of multilateralism, the UN Charter and international law – and about lack of fair-minded international leadership, if you will. Things in our world village are somewhat upside down, right now. But as Martin Kimani said, it is not enough to just admire the problems.

President Ahtisaari was a multilateralist, who served the United Nations across decades. I believe this is an important part of his legacy – the spirit of multilateralism, diplomacy, cooperation and equality of human beings. In his Nobel Peace Prize lecture, he said: “It is important that the UN Members States work resolutely to strengthen the world organization. We cannot afford to lose the United Nations.”

Dear colleagues, no one else will strengthen and make the UN fit for purpose for us, or strengthen rules-based multilateralism for us, if we don’t do it together. This - is a responsibility for all of us.

I thank you all. Before our event is over and you leave, please let’s watch a short video together. I thank you.