CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation is an independent

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

non-governmental organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

that works to prevent and resolve conflict through informal

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...

and

mediation Mediation is a structured, interactive process where an impartial third party neutral assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of specialized communication and negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are ...

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolo ...

laureate and former

President of Finland The president of the Republic of Finland ( fi, Suomen tasavallan presidentti; sv, Republiken Finlands president) is the head of state of Finland. Under the Constitution of Finland, executive power is vested in the Finnish Government and the p ...

Martti Ahtisaari Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (; born 23 June 1937) is a Finnish politician, the tenth president of Finland (1994–2000), a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediator noted for his international peace work. Ahti ...

founded CMI in 2000. CMI has offices in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

as well as a presence in selected countries. CMI transformed from an association to a foundation on 1 May 2021. The organisation is officially registered as CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation sr.

Function

CMI states it is focused on contributing to peace processes in four regions: the Middle East and North Africa,

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. CMI states that it facilitates dialogue, mediates between conflicting sides, provides capacity-building and mediation support at all stages of conflict management and peace processes, and supports the broader peace building community. CMI is often approached in conflicts related to which it has regional expertise and contacts. The choice of mediation also depends on the political will of its financial backers to solve a particular conflict. CMI works either directly with the parties of the conflict, or assists another organization like the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

or the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...

in their mediating efforts. CMI conducts its mediating work behind the scenes and does not comment on ongoing negotiations. Sometimes even successful negotiations are kept secret. CMI head offices are in

. The organization employs 80 staff. , the annual budget of CMI was 7,3 million euros. It receives most of its funding, 55%, from the

state. The

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

and other European countries are significant funders as well. In 2017, it campaigned to raise more than 600,000 euros from about 9,000 private donors as a surprise "birthday present" to Ahtisaari to fund more than 15 extra rounds of mediation talks.

History

Nobel Peace laureate and former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari founded CMI on 24 August 2000, the same year he became chairman of the

International Crisis Group The International Crisis Group (ICG; also known as the Crisis Group) is a transnational non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1995. It is a think tank, used by policymakers and academics, performing research and analysis on global ...

. After stepping down as the President of Finland that year, Ahtisaari declined the post of

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

because he wanted to focus instead on addressing the root causes of conflicts. President Ahtisaari's long-term vision with CMI was to contribute as effectively as possible to solving violent conflict throughout the world. The main tasks of the organisation in its early years were to assist Martti Ahtisaari in his numerous international assignments, to participate in policy discussions, and to advocate capacity-building in civilian crisis management. This led to CMI taking on its own projects, at first concerning crisis management and later on expanding to peace building and conflict resolution. One of CMI's most visible assignments, the Aceh peace process began in late 2004. CMI and its chairman president Ahtisaari were asked to facilitate talks between the government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). In 2008, President Ahtisaari was awarded the

"for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts". In its announcement, the

Norwegian Nobel Committee The Norwegian Nobel Committee ( no, Den norske Nobelkomité) selects the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize each year on behalf of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's estate, based on instructions of Nobel's will. Five members are appointed by ...

also recognized Ahtisaari and CMI's central role in the Aceh process as well as their work in mediating peace in Iraq in 2008. CMI has mediated in

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of th ...

. In 2014, CMI organized unofficial talks between conflict parties in Ukraine. It also worked for peace in

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

. In 2017, CMI mediated between the government and opposition parties of the Burundian unrest. CMI also facilitated negotiations between

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni- Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qas ...

Fatah Fatah ( ar, فتح '), formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist social democratic political party and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and s ...

and other Palestinian groups. Because Hamas is classified as a terrorist group by many countries, CMI has been criticized for including them in talks. Because of the number of parties involved, it is difficult to assess the individual impact of CMI. More lately, CMI has worked to increase the role of women in mediation, and been involved in mediation in the Yemeni Civil War. In 2019, CMI removed all references to its employee and recently elected Member of Parliament of Finland, Hussein al-Taee, following his comparison of the Israel to the Islamic State and representatives of the Simon Wiesenthal Center saying al-Taee's writings were "clearly antisemitic."

References

External links

* {{Authority control Peace organisations based in Finland Think tanks based in Finland Think tanks established in 2000 Research institutes in Finland Research institutes of international relations 2000 establishments in Finland Martti Ahtisaari