The first national Ahtisaari Day will be celebrated and organized in Oulu on Wednesday 16 November 2011

How to resolve conflicts; big and small, home and abroad? How to build peace and tolerance? How to understand and respect difference and different opinions?

The first national Ahtisaari Day will be celebrated and organized in Oulu on Wednesday 16 November 2011. At Oulu President Martti Ahtisaari will visit Kastellin koulu and Oulun lyseo and award the mediators chosen by the schools. In the afternoon President Ahtisaari will attend an event at Oulu University where he will discuss current national and international issues, his work as a peace mediator and conflict resolution. The day culminates in a concert at Oulu-halli where, Paleface, Jätkäjätkät and Satellite Stories will be performing.

This year, Oulu will be the location for the main celebration, but events are held nationally and globally. In Joensuu, Finland, ENO Programme will hold a Skype session between ENO schools around the world to discuss various aspects of reconciliation and peace. Other events are to be held in Helsinki, Kokkola and Turku as well.

The Ahtisaari Day concept was launched in spring 2011 when luminaries such as Kofi Annan and former child soldier turned Hip Hop artist and advocate Emmanuel Jal gathered at the Finnish National Theatre in Helsinki for a seminar that also marked the tenth anniversary of CMI.

The goal of Ahtisaari Day is to increase awareness of peace mediation at all levels of society and bring mediation close to the citizens and their everyday life.

Ahtisaari Day is organized by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Finnish National Board of Education.

Please find the official press release here (in Finnish)

You can also follow the days events via web through these links:

http://twitter.com/#!/Ulkoministerio and through the hashtag #ap1611

http://www.facebook.com/ulkoministerio

http://fi-fi.facebook.com/ahtisaaripaiva