Berlin Peace Dialogue 2026

Dr. Johann Wadephul ist seit dem 06.05.2025 Bundesminister des Auswärtigen. Er ist zudem seit 2009 Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages und war von 2018 bis 2025 Stellvertretender Vorsitzender der CDU/ CSU-Bundestagsfraktion für den Bereich Auswärtiges, Verteidigung, Inter­parlamentarische Konferenz für die Gemeinsame Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik (GASP) und die Gemeinsame Sicherheits- und Verteidigungspolitik (GSVP), Europarat.

Juan Manuel Santos was the President of Colombia, from 2010 to 2018, and the sole recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016 for “his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end”. Before being President, he was Minister of Foreign Trade, Minister of Finance and Minister of Defense.

He holds a Business and Economics degree from the University of Kansas and did post-graduate studies in the London School of Economics, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and in Harvard University, where he obtained a Master’s in Public Administration.

He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Compaz Foundation, which he created to contribute to peacebuilding in Colombia. He is also a member of the board of the International Crisis Group, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Wildlife Conservation Society, and is also a member of the Planetary Guardians and the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Santos has been Angelopoulos fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, visiting professor of development at Oxford University, George Ball visiting professor at Columbia University, special professor at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and senior policy fellow and distinguished visiting professor at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.

In November 2024, he was appointed Chair of The Elders, the organization founded by Nelson Mandela, made up of an independent group of global leaders working for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet.

Levinia Addae-Mensah is a seasoned peace and security practitioner with over 30 years of experience in conflict prevention, conflict management, and peace support operations across Africa and Europe. Her deep commitment to peacebuilding has taken her into some of the most complex and volatile contexts in the region, including Rwanda, Burundi, Liberia, and Côte d’Ivoire.

She brings extensive expertise in regional peacebuilding strategies, particularly regarding electoral processes, shrinking civic space, conflict-prevention, mediation and small arms and has worked extensively with the African Union (AU) and ECOWAS on civil society engagement in early warning, mediation, and governance initiatives.

Before assuming the role of Executive Director at WANEP in August 2024, she served for nine years as WANEP’s Deputy Executive Director and Programme Director. Prior to that, she was Director of Programme Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), where she contributed to the development of regional training strategies on peace and security.

Her experience spans a wide geographical area, having worked on projects and initiatives in Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, The Gambia, Senegal, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Denmark.

In December 2024, Mrs. Addae-Mensah briefed the United Nations Security Council on the peace and security landscape in West Africa, highlighting civil society perspectives on regional threats including disinformation and hybrid security risks, as well as the importance of protecting civic space and electoral integrity

Mr. Haavisto brings over forty years of experience in politics and international affairs, having held several ministerial positions in the Government of Finland and senior roles with the European Union and the United Nations. He is currently a member of the Parliament of Finland.

From 2019 until 2023, Mr. Haavisto served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Government of Finland. Prior to this, from 2016 to 2019, he served as President of the European Institute of Peace.  He has also held the ministerial positions of Development Cooperation, State Ownership and the Environment.  Mr. Haavisto was first elected as a Member of the Finnish Parliament in 1987.

The new Personal Envoy has broad experience in mediation and negotiation processes in the Horn of Africa region and in the Middle East.  He also has experience with the United Nations.  From 2009 to 2017, he served as Special Representative to the Finnish Foreign Minister for mediation and crisis management in Africa.  From 2005 to 2007, Mr. Haavisto served as the European Union’s Special Representative for the Sudan, taking part in the Darfur peace negotiations.  During this time, he also served as a United Nations Senior Advisor to the Darfur peace process.  Mr. Haavisto worked for the United Nations Environment Programme from 1999 to 2005, including in Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Liberia and Sudan.  In addition to his native Finnish, he is fluent in Swedish and English.

Marta Lucía Ramírez is a Colombian lawyer with postgraduate studies in Commercial and Financial Law, Senior Management, and is a Fellow of the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. She served as the first female Vice President of Colombia, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defense, where she designed and implemented the Democratic Security Policy, and Minister of Foreign Trade. Throughout her career, she has promoted merit-based public administration, transparency, institutional strengthening, and the prevention of corruption. As Vice President, she also led Colombia’s gender equality policy to expand opportunities for women in the public and private sectors. Her contributions have been recognized by Forbes, the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and other national and international institutions.

Abir began her career in the oil and gas sector while volunteering in community initiatives. In 2010, she co-founded Mobaderoon and later left the private sector to dedicate herself fully to peacebuilding. During the Syrian conflict, she developed extensive practical experience in mediation, dialogue, conflict transformation, reconciliation, and Dealing with the Past (DWP), creating safe spaces and approaches that connected diverse communities across social, cultural, ethnic, and religious divides.

Following the liberation of Syria, Abir’s role has increasingly focused on shaping peacebuilding approaches for the country’s transition and translating more than fifteen years of grassroots experience into locally led programmes and mechanisms. She leads Mobaderoon’s Linking Tracks Approach to Peacebuilding, connecting Dealing with the Past and Transitional Justice, mediation and dialogue, citizenship and civic engagement, socio-economic recovery, and locally led development rather than addressing them as separate interventions.

Her current impact lies particularly in connecting levels and actors: bringing community grievances and priorities into wider peace and Transitional Justice discussions; strengthening local mediators and peace actors; supporting communities to move from addressing the legacies of conflict toward collective action and recovery; and building bridges between communities, civil society, local authorities, national institutions, and international partners.

Abir has also connected grassroots Syrian peacebuilding with international policy spaces, including the Syrian Civil Society Support Room in Geneva. She served for six years on the Board of Trustees of International Alert and is an active member of WASL. In 2024, she briefed the United Nations Security Council on Syria, bringing locally grounded Syrian civil society perspectives to the international level.

Her work has received international recognition, including the Livia Foundation Award (2014), the Luxembourg Peace Prize (2023), recognition as a finalist for the USIP Women Building Peace Award (2023), and recognition from the International Association of Facilitators (IAF).

Patricio Carrillo served for 38 years in the Ecuadorian National Police, culminating as Commander General (2020-2021), and later as Minister of the Interior of Ecuador (2022). Throughout his career, he led major operations against organized crime, strengthened community policing and investigative capacities, coordinated security during national crises – including the 2016 earthquake, Pope Francis‘ visit, and the COVID-19 pandemic – and supported high-profile anti-corruption investigations. He holds a PhD in Educational Sciences, has completed advanced security training in several countries, and is the author of numerous publications on public security, democracy, and policing. He currently works as an international security consultant.

Chris Coulter is the Executive Director of the Berghof Foundation. With over two decades of experience in conflict resolution across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and South America, she has extensive expertise in inclusive leadership, mediation, peace processes, and security policy.

Prior to joining Berghof, Chris served as Chief Operating Officer and Director of Programs at the Negotiation Strategies Institute (NSI) in the Middle East. She previously led the Peace Process Support Unit at the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA), Sweden’s government agency for peace, security, and development. As a Swedish diplomat, she was a Special Advisor on peace and security to the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, where she played a key role in supporting multiple Track 1 and Track 2 peace negotiations.

Chris holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Uppsala University (2006) and has an extensive academic background as a university lecturer, senior researcher, and lead consultant on gender, peace, and security. She is the author of Bush Wives and Girl Soldiers (Cornell University Press, 2009) and previously directed the International Training Program on UN Security Council Resolution 1325: Women, Peace, and Security, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Chris is also a member of the Swedish Women’s Mediation Network.

Lieutenant General Muhammad Avais Dastgir is a highly accomplished military professional with a distinguished career spanning over 35 years. He has held diverse command, staff and instructional appointments in various ranks and has also served as part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Sierra Leone.

A graduate of premier military institutions, including Command & Staff College Quetta and National Defence University Islamabad, the General has maintained a keen intellectual interest in contemporary strategic affairs, complementing his extensive professional experience. His career encompasses operational command, strategic planning, military diplomacy and defence policy, ranging from significant contribution across national security domains to substantive strategic discourse at global and regional forums.

In recognition of his exceptionally meritorious service, the General has been honoured with the conferment of Hilal-e-Imtiaz Military and Sitara-e-Imtiaz by Government of Pakistan.

Volker Oel is the Director-General for Reconstruction and Stability; MENA, Sahel, Horn of Africa, Eastern Europe in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) since May 2026.

Prior to his current position he served as Executive Director for Germany at the Wold Bank Group in Washington, D.C. and held several management positions in BMZ since joining the Ministry in 1997. Mr. Oel served as Deputy-Director General/Commissioner for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), South Eastern and Eastern Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean, as head of division responsible for steering and supervising the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Legal Affairs division as well as deputy head of division on Organizational Affairs. He also worked on Sub Sahara Africa/Southern Africa and European Union Affairs.

Overseas assignments as Head of Cooperation took him to South Africa, Afghanistan and Namibia.

Dr. Martin Wählisch researches and teaches International Relations at the University of Birmingham. Previously, he worked for the United Nations for more than a decade, supported peace processes in different regions of the world, and most recently led the Innovation and Technology Team in the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs.

Paulina Rubio holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Sciences from ITESO and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Government, complemented by postgraduate studies in Constitutional Law, Strategic Management, and Public Administration. Since entering public service in 2007, she has held senior communications, policy, legislative, and party leadership positions at the municipal, state, and federal levels, including service as Technical Secretary to key legislative committees, member of PAN’s National Political Commission, Federal Deputy from 2021 to 2024, and Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies. Reelected in 2024, she currently serves on the Constitutional Affairs, Justice, and Labor Committees.

Ambassador Tim Enderlin took office as head of the Peace and Human Rights Division (PHRD) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) on 19 August 2024. He studied law in Zurich. Since he joined the diplomatic service in 1997, his positions have included Deputy Head of Human Resources of the FDFA, Diplomatic Advisor to the President of the Swiss Confederation, Regional Director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in Laos, and Ambassador of Switzerland to Myanmar.

Hae-Won JUN is a Professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA), a research and training organisation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea. She has worked at the IFANS since 2010.  Her main areas of research are the European Union, European politics, NATO, the EU-Asia relations including the EU-Korea security cooperation, and Korean politics. From 15 October 2025 through 30 April 2026, she was a visiting research fellow at Graduate School of Public Policy of the University of Tokyo. She received an MSc EU Policy-making from LSE and a DPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford.

Before assuming her current tasks, Ambassador Bräutigam was Special Envoy for Feminist Foreign Policy and Director for Human Rights (2023-2025) and served as Permanent Representative of Germany to the OSCE in Vienna (2019-2023).

During her career at the German Foreign Ministry, Ms. Bräutigam served in various capacites, among others as Head of EU-Coordinaton (2014-2019), Minister Counsellor at the Political Department of the German Embassy in Washington DC (2011-2014), member of cabinet of the German Foreign Ministers Westerwelle and Steinmeier (2007-2011), Political Counsellor at the German Permanent Delegation to NATO in Brussels (2005-2007), and member of the Parliament and Cabinet Unit of the Federal Foreign Ministry (2002-2005).

Ms. Bräutigam holds degrees in History and English from the University of Tübingen.

Alexandra Vacroux is vice president for strategic engagement at the Kyiv School of Economics. She develops partnerships with top faculty, schools, and programs around the world to help Ukraine train the human capital that it will need to survive and thrive after the war. She has been instrumental in standing up a new bachelor’s in engineering with Olin College and is currently focused on building national security studies. Alexandra lived in Moscow from 1992 to 2004 and worked as a consultant for the Russian Privatization Agency, partner and head of sales at the Brunswick Warburg investment bank and was an active member of the board of United Way Moscow. She holds a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University and wrote her dissertation on corruption in Russian pharmaceutical markets. She was the Executive Director at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard from 2010 to 2025.

Dr. Henrik Maihack ist Leiter des Sekretariats der entwicklungspolitischen Nord-Süd-Kommission im Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ). Zuvor leitete er das Afrika-Referat der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) und war für die FES als Büroleiter in Kenia, Südsudan, Ruanda und Bangladesch tätig. Er studierte Politikwissenschaft an der Freien Universität Berlin, absolvierte anschließend das Postgraduiertenprogramm des Deutschen Instituts für Entwicklungspolitik (heute IDOS) und wurde an der Universität Duisburg-Essen promoviert. Gemeinsam mit Johannes Plagemann (GIGA) veröffentlichte er 2023 das Buch „Wir sind nicht alle: Der Globale Süden und die Ignoranz des Westens“ im Verlag C.H. Beck.

Patrick Khamadi is a Policy Advisor in International Development and Humanitarian Assistance at humedica e.V. Germany.  Specializing in organizational effectiveness and change management in fragile settings, he provides cross-sectoral policy advice to the Executive Team.

With 29 years of frontline experience across the Sahel, Horn of Africa, Southern Africa, Central America, Middle East, South & East Asia (including North Korea), Mr. Khamadi bridges high-level international policy with practical, context-relevant humanitarian action.  He has facilitated strategic processes that enabled partners to navigate often intractable settings with progressive health and health allied results. Previously, he partnered as an advisor with organizations that include the UNDP, UNICEF, USAID, Oxfam, and the World Bank.

He represents humedica e.V’s advocacy work within international settings including VENRO.    In 2023, he led and participated at the session on Forgotten Crises at the Tokyo C7 Lobby Summit, held shortly before the main Tokyo G7 meeting.

Committed to peace and development, he is part of the external course facilitation team for the UNSOC Peacekeeping Course at the German Military Leadership Academy in Hamburg, where he has led the Humanitarian & Early Recovery module.

Mr. Khamadi holds an M.Sc. from Jawaharlal Nehru University and a credential in Policy Analysis from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Ana María Rodríguez is the Director of the Colombian Commission of Jurists, a national NGO that has been promoting and defending human rights in Colombia for 38 years through research, advocacy and the judicial representation of victims of grave rights violations, including indigenous, afro-descendant and peasant communities, as well as victims of land grabbing. She is one of the two civil society representatives in the National Commission of Security Guarantees created by the 2016 Peace Agreement, as well as a member of the Consultative Council of the National System to Search for Missing Persons. Ana María is a lawyer from Los Andes University in Bogotá, with a master’s degree in International Law from the same university and studies in Gender and Transitional Justice.

Dr. Andrés Jouannet is a Chilean political scientist with a PhD from Heidelberg University and a former Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung scholar. He has combined an extensive academic career with senior public service, serving as adviser to former President Patricio Aylwin, Governor of Cautín Province, Regional Governor of La Araucanía, Member of Congress, President of Amarillos por Chile, Undersecretary for Public Security, and Presidential Adviser. He has also worked as an international consultant for the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and as a member of the National Justice and Peace Commission of the Chilean Episcopal Conference.

Katharina Ahrendts holds the position of Director-General for Global Order, United Nations and Humanitarian Assistance at the Federal Foreign Office. Before taking up this role in 2025, she served as Chief of Staff to the Foreign Minister from 2021 to 2025. Her previous positions include Director for the United Nations and Counterterrorism and Head of the Division for International Order, UN Security Council, General Assembly, Peacekeeping and Sanctions. She has also served as Deputy Representative of Germany to the Political and Security Committee in Brussels and spent four years at Germany’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.

Andrew Wiguna Mantong is a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Indonesia whose work focuses on Indonesian foreign policy, ASEAN regionalism, and the evolving interplay between security and economic statecraft. Since joining CSIS in 2015, he has produced extensive analysis on ASEAN’s institutional development, Indonesia’s strategic posture, great-power rivalry, middle-power collaboration, and the nexus between non-traditional security and domestic politics. He has served as national and regional consultant for ASEAN, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other agencies of Indo-Pacific and European countries, contributing to work on conflict prevention, regional security architecture, critical minerals supply chains, diplomatic posture strengthening, and economic security.

Maximilian Hedrich is the director of the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation (KAS) in Brazil since December 2023. Previously, he was the Desk Officer for the Southern Cone and the Regional Program Political Parties and Democracy in Latin America, in the international cooperation department of KAS, in Berlin. He had also been the KAS director in Venezuela and Bolivia. During the time he lived in La Paz, he was director of the Regional Program Indigenous Political Participation and responsible for the “Participa” project, a partnership between KAS and the European Union, to promote the political participation of the indigenous population in Latin America. Maximilian joined KAS as a consultant for Western Europe and the USA in 2012. He graduated in Spanish philology with Latin American and Portuguese-Brazilian studies in Berlin, as well as international relations with a focus on Africa, in Madrid.

Annette Chammas currently holds the position of Head of the Division “Middle East II“ (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Turkiye) at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Since joining the BMZ in 2002, she has worked in a variety of positions. Among others, she was posted to the German Permanent Mission in Geneva as a Counsellor for Development Cooperation from 2010 until 2014. She also led the Division “Forced Displacement and Migration” from 2016 until 2018.

Ms. Chammas holds an M.A. in International Affairs from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs in Ottawa, Canada. She is fluent in German and English and speaks some Spanish, French and Arabic.

Clemens Hach is the Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the German Federal Foreign Office.

He was Chargé d’Affaires of Germany in the Syrian Arab Republic from June 2025 to April 2026, prior to which he was Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain since August 2022.

From 2018 to 2022 he was Head of division S03 in the German Foreign Office, responsible for Crisis Prevention, Stabilisation and Peacebuilding, and the German co-chair of the Working Group on Stabilization of the Global Counter-ISIS Coalition. From 2016 to 2018 he was the Deputy Head of Mission at the German Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia. Until 2016 he was Head of the Iraq Team and of the Post-ISIL Task Force in the German Foreign Office. He concurrently served as the deputy Head of Division for Syria and Lebanon since July 2012. Prior assignments included a two year secondment (2010 to 2012) to the US Department of State as a Senior Advisor on International Partnership to the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP). From 2005 to 2008 he was Desk Officer in charge of international policy coordination on the Afghanistan Task Force of the German Federal Office.

Clemens Hach was also Deputy Head of Mission in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, from 2008 to 2010 and San José, Costa Rica from 2002 to 2005 as well as political officer in Caracas, Venezuela from 2000 to 2002, after a short assignment at the German Embassy in Rabat, Morocco.

Dr. Friederike Stolleis is Syria Desk Officer at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s Near/Middle East and North Africa Department in Berlin. She holds a PhD in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Bamberg and has an MA in Social Anthropology from the University of Cologne. She lived in Damascus between 1997 and 2012 where she worked in several programmes in the framework of the German and European Development Cooperation. From 2012-2015 Friederike Stolleis was Head of the FES Syria Office in Beirut and from 2018-2023 directed the FES Algeria Office while being based in Tunisia.

Annette Margarete Walter, ist eine erfahrene deutsche Diplomatin mit über 25 Jahren im Auswärtigen Dienst und einem Schwerpunkt auf Lateinamerika. Seit Juni 2026 ist sie Stellvertretende Leiterin der Abteilung „Amerikas“ im Auswärtigen Amt. Zuvor war sie von 2022 bis 2026 Beauftragte für Lateinamerika und die Karibik im Auswärtigen Amt.

Ihre Laufbahn umfasst Stationen im Ausland sowie in Berlin und Brüssel. Von 2018 bis 2022 leitete sie die Kulturabteilung der Deutschen Botschaft in Rom, von 2015 bis 2018 das Grundsatzreferat Lateinamerika im Auswärtigen Amt. Zwischen 2011 und 2015 war sie Stellvertretende Leiterin des Referats für die bilateralen Beziehungen zu den Staaten des Nahen und Mittleren Ostens, Asiens und Lateinamerikas im Bundeskanzleramt. Frühere Stationen waren die Ständige Vertretung Deutschlands bei der Europäischen Union in Brüssel, wo sie als Politische Referentin tätig war (2009–2011), das Büro von Staatsminister Gernot Erler, dessen stellvertretende Leitung sie innehatte (2006–2008), sowie der Arbeitsstab Umwelt des Auswärtigen Amts, ebenfalls als stellvertretende Leiterin (2004–2006). Ihr erster Auslandsposten führte sie an die Deutsche Botschaft in Quito, Ecuador (2000–2004), wo sie die Referate Kultur/Presse sowie Rechts- und Konsularwesen leitete.

Den Vorbereitungsdienst für den höheren Auswärtigen Dienst absolvierte sie von 1998 bis 2000 in Bonn. Vor ihrem Eintritt in den diplomatischen Dienst war sie bei der Deutschen Bank AG in Frankfurt im Investment Banking und bei Deutsche Bank Research tätig. Sie hat Diplome in Regionalwissenschaften Lateinamerika und in Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität zu Köln erworben und darüber hinaus an der Escola de Administração de Empresas der Fundação Getúlio Vargas in São Paulo, Brasilien, studiert.

Paulo Esteves is an Associate Professor at the International Relations Institute of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, senior researcher at the BRICS Policy Center, and senior advisor at Think Equal. Dr. Esteves holds a PhD in Political Science and has published a series of articles and book chapters on international development, the humanitarian protection and development nexus, emerging powers, the G20 and BRICS. Currently, Dr. Esteves’ research focuses on the transformation of Development Cooperation, Sustainable Finance, Green Industrialisation and Green Technology, Global Public Goods, G20 and BRICS. Since 2021 he has collaborated with the Center of International Relations and Health (FIOCRUZ), monitoring the global health agenda at the G7, G20 and OECD. He also served as a consultant for the UNDP, ECOSOC, UNDESA, and GPEDC, DFID and Global Affairs Canada. Dr. Esteves is a founding member of the Brazilian Association of International Relations (ABRI) of which he was president from 2011 to 2014.