Paris Peace Forum

The Paris Peace Forum was born out of the principle that “a badly governed world would quickly become a world at war”,[3] 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 crisis and the Ukrainian crisis as examples.[4] In light of such developments, he called for the need to take concrete steps to strengthen multilateralism and preserve peace.[5] President Macron then announced the creation of the Paris Peace Forum on 4 January 2018.[6]

The purpose of the Forum would be to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, as well as to “reflect together, propose concrete initiatives, reinvent multilateralism and all forms of contemporary cooperation”.[7] 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 100+ projects from around the world. Each of these projects proposes an innovative solution to a specific issue. The projects present in 6 of the following categories:[8]

• Peace & Security
• Development
• Inclusive economy
• New technologies
• Environment
• Culture & Education

By the third day of the Forum, 10 projects are selected as Scale-Up projects to receive mentorship and support from the Paris Peace Forum for a one-year period.[9]

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.

The Paris Peace Forum is made up of 3 distinct governance bodies:

• The Executive Committee oversees and decides on the overall activities of the Forum. It is made up of representatives of the Forum’s eight Founding Members which are: the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri), the Institut Montaigne, the Körber Foundation, México Evalúa, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), and Sciences Po.[10] Pascal Lamy, Board member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, leads the Executive Committee as president of the Paris Peace Forum.
• The Steering Committee determines the strategy of the Forum, and is made of up sixteen international experts of global governance. The President of the Steering Committee is Trisha Shetty,and the Vice President is Igor Yurgens.[11] The other members of the Steering Committee are:
  • Fauziya Abdi AIi, Founder and President of Women in International Security
  • Haifa Dia Al-Attia, Vice President for Growth and Regional Expansion of Luminus Education and CEO Luminus Plus
  • Zhimin Chen, Vice President and Professor at Fudan University
  • Renato Flores, Member of the Board of Getulio Vargas Foundation
  • Patrick Gaspard, President of the Open Society Foundaiton
  • Kristalina Georgieva, Chief Executive Offiver of the World Bank
  • Vasu Gounden, Founder and Executive Director of the African Center for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes
  • Rouba Mhaissen, Founder and Director of Sawa Foundation
  • Stewart Patrick, Director of the International Institutions and Global Governance Program Council on Foreign Relations
  • Gabriela Ramos, Chief of Staff and Sherpa of OECD
  • Kenichiro Sasae, President of the Japan Institute of International Affairs
  • Martin Tsiné, Managing Director of Luminate
  • Yenny Wahid, Director of the Wahid Institute
  • Huiyao (Henry) WANG, Founder and President of Center for China and Globalization
• The Circle of Partners which is made up of private actors who support the Forum. These are the benefactors, the institutional partners and the media partners.

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, and Marc Reverdin as Secretary-General.[12]
• The Selection Committee is responsible for selecting the 100+ projects that are to present at the Forum in November. They select the projects based on their relevance to the issue they are aiming to resolve, how innovative they are, the potential to scale up etc.
• The Scale-up Committee is responsible for accompanying the selected Scale-Up projects for the full year until the next Forum. Each member of the Scale-Up Committee is an expert in a particular field of global governance and thus serves as a point of reference for one of the ten projects.

The first edition of the Paris Peace Forum took place on 11–13 November 2018, and was attended by 65 Heads of States and Governments.[13] It showcased 120 global governance projects and was attended by 6000 unique visitors over the 3 days. Among the attendees were Russian President Vladimir Putin, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UN Secretary-General António Guterres, joined President Emmanuel Macron in each making an opening remark at the beginning of the Forum. Guterres drew parallels between the political atmosphere then and the pre- World War I period and the ‘30s Interwar period.[14] Merkel made similar remarks, noting that nationalism and populism were threatening European peace.[15] What was noted was also US President’s Donald Trump’s absence at the Forum,[16] despite having been in Paris in the morning of 11 November for the commemoration ceremony on the Champs-Elysées.[17]

The second edition of the Paris Peace Forum took place on 11–13 November at la Grande Halle de la Villette, under the presidency of Pascal Lamy, who was previously President of the Steering Committee, and with Justin Vaïsse as the Forum's Director General. The Paris Peace Forum 2019 was attended by 7,000 participants, representing 164 nationalities. 33 Heads of State and Government were present, with official delegations from 140 countries. 318 project leaders representing 114 governance solutions from around the world gathered in the Forum's Space for Solutions.

Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, and President of the Paris Peace Forum, Pascal Lamy, spoke during the event's soft opening on 11 November. Guterres evoked the main global challenges of our times, by distinguishing five global risks: an economic and geostrategic polarization, a crack of the social contract caused by rising inequalities and protests, the loss of solidarity between communities and the rise of hate as a political tool, environmental degradation and the climate crisis, and finally, the risk of unchecked technology.

The official opening ceremony took place on 12 November. Opening remarks were made by President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, the President-Elect of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Félix Tshisekedi and the Vice-President of the People's Republic of China, Wang Qishan[34].

The Paris Peace Forum faced criticism for having extended an invitation to Saudi Arabia, in light of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder and the continuing war in Yemen.[41] Due to similar such contradictions, such as France’s involvement in weapons sales, and nuclear armament, questions were raised as to the extent to which the peace summit was truly substantial or just an instrument of communication.[42][43]

Criticism was also drawn to the event’s funding, with contributions made, among others, by tech giants such as Google and Microsoft.[44]

Some also argued that the Forum was homogenous in its discussion, reserved for the elites who agreed with each other rather than including those who disagreed with multilateralism.[45]

• Official website