Toda Peace Institute was honoured to be represented at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum this year. The forum, which was sponsored by SGI, took place on 11 December in Oslo, hosted by the Norwegian Nobel Institute.

This year's theme was “Ballots not Bullets: The Democratic Pathway to Peace”. Amid concerns about democratic backsliding worldwide, discussions focused on the challenges facing democracy.

A discussion titled “Democracy’s Role in the Pursuit of Peace” featured Olivia Stokes Drier (pictured), TPI’s Senior Research Fellow for the Global Challenges to Democracy theme. She stated that the recent retreat of democracy is not a problem confined to specific countries but an internationally interconnected phenomenon, driven by the combined effects of fragmentation in the information space, growing political distrust, and economic instability. She also noted that authoritarian regimes are collaborating across borders and therefore democratic nations should also unite. She introduced the “Democracy Lighthouse” website, a new Toda Peace Institute initiative, which aggregates and provides information on democracy research worldwide.

The forum featured a keynote address by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of the Republic of Liberia in West Africa and recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, who emphasised that sustainable peace can only be built through an inclusive and sincere democracy where the people hold power and political leaders serve as public servants.

Speeches were also given by Yolanda Renee King, granddaughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Mungi Ngomane, granddaughter of former Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Both women affirmed that to resist the spread of violence and hatred, we must not lose hope, and that the very act of voicing one's opinion is an act of peace.

 

Images: © Nobel Prize Outreach - Helene Mariussen