Juha Christensen | |
---|---|
Nationality | Finnish |
Occupation(s) | Peace activist, negotiator |
Known for | 2005 Aceh peace process |
Juha Christensen is a Finnish businessman, philanthropist [1] and negotiator who played an instrumental role in the 2005 Aceh peace process. [2] [3] [4]
Christensen is a former pharmaceutical executive. [3] Before becoming involved in the Aceh peace process, he had lived for several decades in Indonesia, [5] [6] [7] and spoke Indonesian fluently. [8]
In June 2003 and acting on his own initiative, Christensen went to Stockholm where he initiated discussions with leaders of the Free Aceh Movement. [9] [7] In February 2004 Christensen contacted Martti Ahtisaari, the former President of Finland, who he knew personally, [10] to become involved in peace negotiations. [9] Christensen was also able to connect another old friend, Farid Husain, [11] then the Indonesian Minister of Health, with Ahtisaari and the Finnish CMI ( Crisis Management Initiative). Christensen was an active participant in the peace negotiations. [5] [8] As a result of the negotiations that followed, a peace agreement between the parties in conflict was signed in Helsinki on 15 August 2005. [12] [13]
Following the peace agreement, Christensen was a special adviser to the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) until 2006. [14]
In 2015, Christensen negotiated the surrender and disarming of Din Minimi, [15] [16] a former GAM militant, and 30 of his followers east of Banda Aceh. [17] [18] [19] [20]
As of 2017, Christensen is the general manager of Pacta (Architecture Peace and Conflict Transformation Alliance), a Finnish peace organization that he co-founded. [21] [14]
Christensen was invited to join the Asian Peace and Reconciliation Council as a founding member. [22] [23]
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link)