Nobel Peace Prize Laureates and Gen Z Leaders Gather in Oslo

Filipino journalist Maria Ressa (2021), former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (2016), and Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski (2022) will all travel to Oslo to take part in this year’s Nobel Peace Conference, titled “Democracy on the Brink”. Last year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Maria Corina Machado and Narges Mohammadi, who received the Prize in 2023, will participate via video.

They will be joined by 15 young activists who have played leading roles in Generation Z-led protest movements in Nepal, Kenya, Serbia, Brazil and the United States. Together, they will discuss how the international community can best support and strengthen the global democracy movement.

“Over the past few years, we have seen how Generation Z has led the fight for democracy and justice in many countries. We hope this conference can help strengthen and grow that movement. The struggle for democracy is also a struggle for peace,” says Kjersti Fløgstad, Executive Director of the Nobel Peace Center.

A full week of conversations

The young leaders will spend an entire week in Oslo, meeting to discuss shared challenges and potential solutions. They will also engage with Nobel Peace Prize laureates, donors and representatives from civil society organisations, with the aim of building a stronger international network for democracy at a time when authoritarian forces are on the rise.

“Our ambition is for the conference to be more than simply a meeting place and to contribute to lasting, positive change,” says Fløgstad.

Among this year’s speakers is also Gina Romero, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. She will present her new report on Gen Z activism, which will be submitted to the UN later this autumn.

Conference Indoors – Festival Outdoors

For the sixth consecutive year, the Nobel Peace Center will mark the Nobel Peace Prize year with both a conference and a public festival. Each year, the conference theme is linked to the previous year’s Nobel Peace Prize and aims to support the peace work represented by the laureate.

This year’s theme is democracy, inspired by the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

The festival takes place before, during and after the conference and brings together civil society organisations working for democracy and human rights. Visitors can build traditional Venezuelan kites, take part in the Red Cross “escape room” experience, and write postcards to prisoners of conscience with Norwegian PEN.

Following the conference, Nobel Peace Prize laureates will meet the public outside the Nobel Peace Center and take part in launching the Peace Dove with a message of hope.