IPDAL and Mafra City Council, with the support of the Swiss Embassy in Portugal, organize the 1st «Mafra Dialogues: Strategic Dialogues and Peace Diplomacy».
This initiative, which will take place on the 18th and 19th of May 2021, will feature the participation of His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See (through a video message), President Xanana Gusmão and the Assistant-Secretary -General of the United Nations for Political Affairs, Peacebuilding and Peace Operations.
Some of the most relevant international institutions dedicated to preventive diplomacy and conflict mediation will also be present, such as the Institute for Economics and Peace, the Toledo International Center for Peace, the Geneva Center for Security Policy and the Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance , between others.
Motivated by the urgent need to generate collective responses to the uncertainties of the present and the future, and inspired by the symbolic 75th anniversary of the UN, IPDAL assumed the duty of contributing to a reflection that allows reaffirming the centrality of diplomacy and multilateral organizations in the current context of geopolitical reconfiguration.
OI Mafra Dialogues is a public diplomacy initiative, which will bring together Portuguese experts with influential global institutions in the field of International Humanitarian Law, Conflict Prevention and Mediation, Peacemaking, building and keeping, to develop a roadmap of solutions and proposals that maintain humanity on the path of shared search for peaceful solutions to their challenges.
I Mafra Dialogues’ main objectives are:
• Present a set of proposals from Portuguese and international experts to reaffirm the unavoidable role of multilateralism in preventing conflicts.
• Support mediation efforts undertaken by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
• Create credibility and strengthen the goodwill around the action of foundations, think tanks and bodies dedicated to promoting and building peace in conflict scenarios.
• Place on the agenda of Portuguese leaders, public and private, the need for multilateral dialogues, as well as the political and economic advantages of Peace Diplomacy.
It is IPDAL’s conviction that, faced with the emergence of a multipolar order and a set of new challenges, in the health, economic, technological and strategic fields, the main international actors are faced with a framework of internal demands and external threats that call into question their vital interests, their diplomatic alliances and the very nature of their regimes.
Pandemics, climate change, global economic recession, internationalized and interconnected conflicts, mass migrations and continental refugee movements require collective responses. The world needs, more than ever, multilateralism. Mediation and conflict prevention. Of Strategic Dialogues and Peace Diplomacy.
Photography source: https://www.cm-mafra.pt/