The Paris Peace Forum: An Innovative Platform for Pragmatic Solutions

14 Nov 18
About

On 13 November 2018, the Brussels International Center participated in the Paris Peace Forum, a new annual initiative promoted by the Government of France and partners for global governance and sustainable peace. Through original formats of debates and presentation of solutions, the Forum brought together a variety of actors of global governance, including states, international organizations, local governments, experts, journalists, NGOs and citizens.

 

Over the course of three days, 120 governance projects and initiatives around the globe were presented in five interconnected platforms, namely, peace and security, environment, development, new technologies and inclusive economy. In this way, the Forum presented a comprehensive and all-inclusive view of the current challenges we face today –terrorism, climate change, tax evasion, migration, cyberattacks and the like. Altogether, the main goal of the Paris Peace Forum first edition was to produce two primary outputs and reach several secondary objectives. For instance, the first expected output was to strengthen multilateralism, re-focusing the attention of world leaders around multilateral issues. Secondly, it strives to promote good governance by supporting a number of projects and initiatives, both at the local and international level.

 

During two days, the BIC-RHR had the opportunity to connect, interact and present its views and objectives, as well as different initiatives it is currently undertaking for a more inclusive society. The Phoebus project and MEGHow App, which is in its initial stages, were presented in two important events on migration, which brought policy-makers and representatives from the EU. Mr. Fernando Aguiar, BIC’s Research and Policy Officer, presented his series on gender and Counter-Violent Extremism in two panels, and discussed one of the most neglected and undermined issues in conflict prevention, which is the role of women in violent extremism.

 

Overall, the first session of the Paris Peace Forum proved that only diversity, inclusivity, multilateralism and good governance can drive prosperous society forward. The BIC-RHR was honored to be selected among the organizations participating in the Forum and will look forward to next year.

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