The Paris Peace Forum (French: Forum de Paris sur la Paix) is a French non-profit organisation created in March 2018. The organisation hosts an annual gathering of world leaders and heads of international organisations, as well as leaders from civil society and private sectors and thousands of individuals from around the globe, on creating forms of collective action. The Paris Peace Forum completes the existing world agenda of multilateral gatherings by creating a specific event for global governance issues, as economic and financial issues are dealt at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and security issues at the Munich Security Conference.
The forum's purpose is to be inclusive and solution-oriented. With this in mind, the forum showcases projects each year, coming from all around the world, which display concrete and efficient solutions to governance challenges. Focused on concrete initiatives, the annual event has been used as a platform for the launch of important, multi-actor initiatives, such as the B4IG coalition or the Paris Call for Trust and Security in the Cyberspace.
In a world requiring more collective action, the Paris Peace Forum is a platform open to all seeking to develop coordination, rules, and capacities that answer global problems. Its three primary pillars of activity include year-round policy initiatives and project support activities coupled by an annual event in November: Convening the world: Every year, the Paris Peace Forum convenes heads of state, leaders of international organizations and companies, and civil society organizations from around the world at its annual event to improve global governance. Boosting projects: At its annual event and throughout the year, the Paris Peace Forum showcases and accelerates emerging solutions through customized support by connecting project leaders with decision-makers, practitioners, and funders. Since 2018, over 400 projects have been featured, of which 10 annually receive one year of customized support via the forum's Scale-up program. Incubating initiatives: The Paris Peace Forum leverages its community of members and partners, as well as its privileged access to expertise and diplomatic networks, to launch and accelerate multi-actor initiatives providing responses to global challenges.
The Paris Peace Forum was founded in 2018 by Justin Vaïsse, as he was director for Policy Planning at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, to tackle global problems and strengthen multilateral cooperation. Soon after the first edition, Pascal Lamy was appointed President of the Paris Peace Forum, and Justin Vaïsse became its director general. The first edition was hosted in November 2018 at the Grande halle de la Villette.
The eighth and most recent edition of the Paris Peace Forum was held on 29-30 October at the Palais de Chaillot.
History The Paris Peace Forum was born out of the principle that "a badly governed world would quickly become a world at war", as explained by Justin Vaïsse, then president of the forum. At the Meeting of Ambassadors on 29 August 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke of the fact that peace is not something to be taken for granted, mentioning the Syrian Civil War and the Russo-Ukrainian War as examples. In light of such developments, he called for the need to take concrete steps to strengthen multilateralism and preserve peace. Macron then announced the creation of the Paris Peace Forum on 4 January 2018.
Philosophy The purpose of the forum is to commemorate Armistice Day, as well as to "reflect together, propose concrete initiatives, reinvent multilateralism and all forms of contemporary cooperation". President Macron and then-president Justin Vaïsse aimed at bringing together global governance actors, in an international and open space, in order to interact, discuss and generate concrete solutions. An important aspect of the forum is the showcasing of projects from around the world. Each of these projects proposes an innovative solution to a specific issue.
During the forum, ten projects are selected as Scale-up projects to receive mentorship and support from the Paris Peace Forum for a one-year period.
Although initiated by the French President, the forum remains independent in its scope and funding. The event is financed by non-governmental partners, each of which cannot cover more than 10% of the costs.
Organisation The Paris Peace Forum is made up of three distinct governance bodies:
The Executive Committee oversees and decides on the overall activities of the forum. The Executive Committee is composed of representatives from members, as well as persons elected by the General Assembly among the members of the Association: the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the European Commission, México Evalúa, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), Microsoft, the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI), Open Society Foundations (OSF), and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). José Ángel Gurría, former Secretary-General of the OECD, leads the executive committee as president of the Paris Peace Forum.
The General Assembly is composed of representatives from: the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, México Evalúa, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), Sciences Po, Microsoft, the Embassy of Kenya in France, the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI), Open Society Foundations (OSF), Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). The Steering Committee determines the strategy of the forum, and is made up of international experts with specialization in various aspects of global governance, with balanced gender and geographical representation.
The activities of the forum are also carried out by the Permanent Secretariat, based in Paris, carries out all operations related to the execution of the event. It is led by Justin Vaïsse as Director-General, Fabienne Hara as Deputy Director-General and Karine Roche as Secretary-General.
Editions
First edition (2018)
The first edition of the Paris Peace Forum took place from 11 to 13 November 2018 as part of the Armistice Day centenary commemorations. It showcased 120 global governance projects and welcomed around 6,000 individuals over the 3-day period. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and President Emmanuel Macron gave speeches at the opening of the forum. UN Secretary-General Guterres drew parallels between the political atmosphere then and the pre-World War I period and the ‘30s Interwar period. Merkel made similar remarks, noting that nationalism and populism were threatening European peace.
Agenda
The commemoration of the 1918 Armistice was a recurring theme throughout the forum. President Macron aimed for the forum to bring about concrete proposals for multilateralism so that an outcome akin to WWI would not reoccur again. It was noted multiple times that the importance of remembering the Armistice stood in the comparisons that could be drawn between the 1930s and today. Similarly to statements made by UN Secretary General Guterres, Justin Vaïsse also highlighted the similarities, including: an economic crisis, closing of borders, commercial wars, migration and refugees, and a resurgence of populist and nationalist movements.
Themes and format The three day event presented a variety of formats, including debates, panels, round tables, masterclasses, workshops, project pitches, as well as a hackathon during which developers worked on financial data transparency programs. Braindates by e180 was also present at the forum to provide peer-to-peer learning sessions and small discussion groups for the attendees and the project leaders. At the center of the Grande Halle de la Villette was the Peace Library, a tree-shaped shelf structure on which heads of state and government each placed a book from their country that for them symbolized peace and international cooperation.
The overarching theme of the event was multilateralism: its importance as well as its shortcomings. The President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, denounced the double standards of multilateralism, pointing out that African leaders do not have as strong a voice in the international scene despite multilateral decisions concerning Africa occupying a significant space in the agendas of international institutions. Among the other themes that were tackled were social inequality, with speakers such as Guy Rider, Lise Kingo and Jeffrey Sachs; the role of cities in the fight against climate change, with experts like Laurence Tubiana and Ariel Toh Shu Xian, who mentioned the critical role of science education, and Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim who spoke of its effects in the Sahel and more. The forum also hosted the Declaration on Information and Democracy by Reporters Without Borders, with the presence of the representatives of Burkina Faso, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Norway, Senegal, Switzerland and Tunisia.
The Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace 51 countries, 130 companies and 90 universities and non-governmental groups signed the "Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace", a non-binding declaration initiated by President Macron, calling for protection from cyberattacks. It aims to protect civilians, to keep external actors from interfering with elections, and to preserve intellectual property, and has been likened to a digital version of the Geneva Convention. Brad Smith, president of Microsoft noted for the New York Times, "Most of the world's democracies are rallying around the need to protect all democracies from cyberattacks." The United States was one of the few Western nations that refused to sign the declaration.
Selected projects 120 projects advancing concrete solutions were presented during the three-day event in one of the following categories: environment, peace and security, development, new technologies and inclusive economy. Out of them, ten were selected by the jury to receive support for a one-year period.
Attendees
117 foreign guests attended the forum, including 54 heads of state and government, 16 diplomats accredited to France, and 15 representatives of international and supranational organisations. What was also noted was US President Donald Trump's absence at the forum, despite having attended a commemoration ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe on the morning of 11 November. Other attendants included French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, Nobel Peace Prize laureates Nadia Murad and Shirin Ebadi, and Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire.
Africa
Ahmed Ouyahia, Prime Minister of Algeria Aurélien Agbénonci, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Benin Alpha Barry, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso Faustin-Archange Touadéra, President of the Central African Republic Idriss Déby, President of Chad , Ambassador of Chad to France Denis Sassou-Nguesso, President of the Republic of the Congo Alassane Ouattara, President of Côte d'Ivoire Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, President of Djibouti Sherif Ismail, advisor to the President of Egypt Mohamed Ali Suleiman, Ambassador of Ethiopia to France Régis Immongault Tatangani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Gabon Alpha Condé, President of Guinea Mamadi Touré, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guinea Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya George Weah, President of Liberia Fayez al-Sarraj, Chairman of the Presidential Council of Libya Eloi Alphonse Maxime Dovo, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Madagascar Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, President of Mali Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, President of Mauritania Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Morocco Mahamadou Issoufou, President of Niger