A an open NGO discussion on carrying on the traditions of the Helsinki Accords on the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Conference with invited keynote speakers animating an exchange of views. The event will be opened by an address from Mr. Bruce Knotts from New York, chairperson of the UN NGO Committee for Disarmament, Peace and Security.
Also speaking will be Kati Juva, co-chair of Phsicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and Representative Al Mytty of World Beyond War.
A theme of the day is the impact of miliary expansion on the environment.
The Finnish Foreign Ministry announced 14.05.2025 an invitation for individual civil society members to register for a high level event in Helsinki beginning at 7 pm 30.7.2025 and continuing the next day:
https://um.fi/osce25fi/helsinki-50#Helsinki%20Principles
Following this event plans are in process for a follow-up dialogue in Saint Petersburg August 3-4, 2025. Email
cHJvdmlkZSB8IGVtYWlsICEgY29t for updates.
Also, ngo's may submit applications for side events at Helsinki's Finlandia Hall during the High Level Helsinki plus 50 event 31.7..2025.
We are working with fellow ngos on a joint side event proposal.
The event at 1 pm 30.07 is inspired by the Helsinki Accords 1975 and the World Peace Day Conference of September 2024. The participating groups mentioned are invited to send speakers and attendees. (see below)
To: - - - - - - - - -
The governments and members of parliaments in the Baltic and Arctic regions
The United Nations (UN)
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
The Arctic Council
The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC)
Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission
(also known as the Helsinki Commission HELCOM)
The Legislative Assemblies of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
PEACE, NATURE, COOPERATION IN THE BALTIC AND ARCTIC REGIONS
DECLARATION from the International Conference in St. Petersburg, Russia September 21– 22, 2024
To mark the United Nations International Day of Peace, approximately 100 participants from Russia, European
countries, the United States and Canada met in Saint Petersburg off- and online to discuss the current situation of the
militarization of the Baltic and Arctic regions, the increasing risks of global military confrontation and the links to the
worsening climate and other environmental crises.
The participants called for an immediate halt to the escalation of the war in Ukraine and urge the Western Powers to
stop weapons deliveries to Ukraine as well as all parties sincerely to work for a permanent peaceful solution of the conflict.
Furthermore, the participants call for the following: - Instead of the militarized concept of security, put
emphasis on human and common security, prioritize
peace, climate cooperation, environmental sustainability,
equitable resource distribution as well as social, health
and education security. Also prioritize United Nations
initiatives, resolutions and treaties. - Move the money from the military to urgent human and
environmental needs. - Russia must be included in all future Helsinki
Commission (HELCOM) meetings to address the gravity
of the environmental situation in the Baltic Sea. We call
for joint large scale clean-up operations. - The work of the Arctic Council must be restored and
include Russia’s full participation. Furthermore,
cooperation between Indigenous people across the Arctic
borders should be encouraged. - The elimination of the nuclear threat and that the Arctic
and Baltic states sign and ratify the Treaty on the
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW); as a first step
removal of nuclear weapons from high-alert status, -
extension of warning times and adoption of a policy of
no first use of nuclear weapons; enhanced preparedness
for potential radioactive emissions from nuclear-powered
vessels in Arctic and Baltic waters and the exclusion of
all military activities around civil nuclear facilities as well
as establishing safety zones around them. - The Arctic and Baltic regions should be made into
nuclear-weapons-free and demilitarized zones of peace. - Open borders, facilitation of interstate exchanges and
restoring people-to people programs. - Cultivation of a culture of peace. Implementing the
UNESCO mandate to build peace through international
cooperation within the fields of education, science,
culture and communication which is vital to counter the
present world tension and militarization. It is necessary to
encourage renewed contact and cooperation with
UNESCO and see the vision and program of a culture of
peace as an important, comprehensive, humanistic
framework for our common efforts to learn to live
together peacefully.
Finally, the participants call for the restitution of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE)’s inclusive mandate as a necessary framework for peace in Europe and the world.
We call for an OSCE Summit in 2025 to mark its 50th anniversary - in the spirit of the Helsinki Summit in 1975 – to
include Russia and a broad spectrum of civil society.
We believe in the indivisibility of security, which means that no one is secure until everyone is secure. Peace is achieved
by diplomacy, cooperation and open borders.
Signed by over 100 individual participants in the conference, members of Peace- and Evironmental Organisations and
other persons supporting the statement
Also check out other Business events in Helsinki, Conferences in Helsinki, Health & Wellness events in Helsinki.
