Peace conference launched in Berlin in response to escalating conflicts

Fatou Baldeh (Women in Liberation and Leadership, Gambia) highlights how transitional justice mechanisms can help to amplify the voices of women. Photo © Konstantin Börner

Hosted by the Berghof Foundation, the conference will offer an opportunity for global experts and mediators to pioneer new approaches to peacemaking.

“The Berlin Moot: Reshaping Peace” will take place for the first time on 17-18 April 2024 at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. Hosted by the Berghof Foundation, it will offer an opportunity for global experts and mediators to pioneer new approaches to peacemaking.

The events unfolding in Gaza, the failed international intervention in Afghanistan, the war in Ukraine, and the devastating conflict in Sudan exemplify the current crisis in peacemaking. Launched in response, The Berlin Moot will provide an interdisciplinary space to develop urgently needed methods that address the current complexity of war and conflict.

Hosted by the Berghof Foundation and supported by the German Federal Foreign Office as well as several foundations, the conference will feature high-level international policymakers and peace practitioners, and voices from academia, civil society, and the private sector.

The Berlin Moot provides a significant step forward in addressing the types of atrocities being carried out in numerous conflicts today.Andrew Gilmour, Executive Director of the Berghof Foundation

Andrew Gilmour, Executive Director of the Berghof Foundation, said: "We find ourselves, at the start of 2024, facing the highest number of violent conflicts globally since the Second World War. And many of those are escalating in alarming ways. Intended to devise improved peacemaking strategies, The Berlin Moot provides a significant step forward in addressing the types of atrocities being carried out in numerous conflicts today."

Dr Tobias Lindner, Minister of State at the German Federal Foreign Office, added: "We believe in the power of dialogue, cooperation and mediation as essential tools to build a more peaceful world. Supporting the conference, we look forward to constructive discussions between actors with broad and diverse expertise, providing new impulse and advance sustainable peacemaking."

We believe in the power of dialogue, cooperation and mediation as essential tools to build a more peaceful world.Dr Tobias Lindner, Minister of State at the German Federal Foreign Office

Around 200 exclusive high-level guests are expected. Speakers at the conference include:

• Espen Barth Eide, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway;
• Dr Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar;
• Miriam Coronel Ferrer, former Senior Mediation Advisor at the UN and the first woman to ever sign a peace agreement;
• Vasu Gounden, Executive Director of the African Center for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD);
• Christoph Heusgen, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference;
• Neha Sanghrajka, Senior Advisor on Mediation at the UN and Co-founder Women Mediators Across the Commonwealth; and
• Jeffrey Feltman, Senior Fellow at the UN Foundation and former UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs.

At the conference, participants will develop specific and actionable recommendations for both policy and practice and foster new alliances for action. Innovative sessions, or ‘PeaceLabs’, will challenge existing approaches by intersecting peacemaking tools with insights from neuroscience, human rights, transitional justice, and the business sector, among other fields. One session, for example, will address the escalating role of climate change in exacerbating conflict and the importance of environmental action to ensure lasting peace.

The Berlin Moot is supported by the German Federal Foreign Office as well as Robert Bosch Stiftung, Stiftung Mercator, LOTTO-Stiftung Berlin and Gerda Henkel Stiftung. The programme is developed with contributions from ACCORD, BMW Foundation, Beyond Conflict, Fraunhofer Institute IML, University of Oslo, and Principles for Peace.

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