STOCKHOLM - SIPRI’s 2021 Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development will be held on the theme ‘Promoting Peace in the Age of Compound Risk’.

It will take place from 4-7 may 2021.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has reinforced or compounded conflict, human rights violations, disinformation efforts, gender inequality and societal fractures. The emerging post-pandemic world risks being more violent and less democratic. Geopolitical tensions and unilateral action have increased, while the need for collective action has become clearer than ever. Multilateral solutions are key, as highlighted through the United Nations’ 75th anniversary and in the pandemic response, but so too are locally grounded solutions and interconnections between the two.

The 2021 Stockholm Forum will explore novel approaches and solutions to promoting peace in the age of compound political, social, economic and environmental risks reinforced by COVID-19. Participants will share lessons learned from across organizations, sectors, countries and from history with a particular focus on the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe as a regional platform for conflict resolution and on the challenges and opportunities that new technologies present for peacebuilding. The discussion will bring together the political, security, technology, health and peacebuilding communities, and place the issue of improved collective action at its centre.

For each of the days of the 2021 Forum, the format will combine open high-level policy debates with invitation-only sessions on key thematic and country issues. The Forum will use digital technology and partners to foster open exchange with the wider peacebuilding community through hybrid and online sessions.

The Stockholm Forum is co-hosted by SIPRI and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.