On 7 January the University for Peace welcomed the Natural Resources and Sustainable Development Class of 2008 to its Costa Rica campus, for the first of three days of Orientation.

Rector John Maresca welcomed the new students and made some introductory remarks. Dr. Amr Abdalla, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs, spoke about the UPEACE mission and the reach of the entire UPEACE system. Finally, Dr. Rolain Borel, Head of the Department of Environment, Peace and Security, introduced the main features of the natural resources and environmental security programmes.

The first day of Orientation was closed with a walk through the UPEACE park to "El Mirador", where everyone enjoyed the beautiful view.

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Hankuk University representatives visit UPEACE.

On Thursday, 17 January, the President of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) in Seoul, Korea, Dr. Chul Park visited UPEACE, accompanied by Dean Jeon-Woon Park of External Affairs and Professor Hyeon Yeo from the Asian Leaders Forum for Science (ALFS).

The purpose of the visit was to discuss the implementation of the Dual DegreeMA programmes between UPEACE and HUFS. These programmes will be in International Law and Human Rights and in Media, Peace and Conflict Studies. Students will begin in April 2008 at HUFS, they will then start in late August the regular UPEACE MA courses during academic year 2008-2009, finally go back to Seoul for the second semester of the HUFS portion of the programme. The students will have a degree from each one of the Universities. Already there are 5 selected candidates for the MA in International Law and Human Rights and 14 for the MA in Media, Peace and Conflict Studies.

ALFS is also a partner in Korea that has been looking into the establishment of a UPEACE Centre in that country. Mr. Yeo visited UPEACE to further discuss the partnership between the two institutions.

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Father Cruz visits UPEACE

Father Jose M. Cruz, Dean of the School of Social Sciences at Ateneo de Manila University in The Philippines visited UPEACE on 18-19 January 2008. Father Cruz is the main contact at Ateneo de Manila for the implementation of the Dual Campus MA Programme in International Peace Studies. During his visit, Father Cruz met with the Rector, the Executive Vice Rector as well as the Head and faculty members of the Department for Peace and Conflict Studies. Father Cruz also met with the students of the Dual Campus Programme.

As a result of these meetings, UPEACE and Ateneo de Manila committed to strengthen their partnership within the framework of the Dual Programme, as well as to explore the possibilities for expanding their collaboration.

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News from our Alumni.

Gudrun D. Gudmundusdottir, 2003 Graduate of the Master´s Degree Programme in Human Rights, has been nominated by the Icelandic national group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for appointment to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The Committee is a monitoring body set up by virtue of the 1987 European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. It is mandated to make periodic and ad hoc visits to all places of detention within the territory of contracting parties and thus makes an important practical contribution to the eradication of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment in all member states of the Council of Europe.

Members are appointed by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe following a proposal by the Bureau of the Assembly which, in turn, delegates the examination of the shortlist of the three candidatures submitted by national delegations to the Sub-Committee on Human Rights of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.

Gudrun has been the Director of the Icelandic Human Rights Centre since 2004.

No Peace without Patience – working in a field of what you have studied at UPEACE –
By Koe Yoshino,
M.A. in Peace Education, Class of 2006

Nothing is easy in making peace, especially to find a job for peace. As many of you would pass through, I had to spend a patient period to have this job in peace education.  Now I am expanding what I learned at UPEACE as a program officer of a graduate program of Peace and Conflict studies (PCS) at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS).
Web Site Here >>

This program has some similarities to those of UPEACE.  All courses speak in English. Thus, I can work with a very diverse group of students from the world.  I talked to some students over lunch, who are from regions in conflict at present or past.  They are from Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, South Korea, Lebanon, and Afghanistan.  Peace education needs such a diverse community for mutual learning to achieve a goal of peace education. That is to foster global citizens who are strong and capable enough to overcome distrust to find a value in dereferences and deal with intricate issues with multi perspectives.

This program carries out a very unique approach of peace education, which is an online lecture connecting with 3 universities oversea, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. Actually, this is exactly what I proposed in my final chapter of thesis as a practical module of global education to foster global citizens. You can see this video at the Global Campus Program website. http://www.tufs.ac.jp/common/pg/pcs/globalcampus/

My current major work is to prepare for an international conference on peace and conflict studies in January, which is a main event of our program. We invited 17 speakers from 8 countries including one from UPEACE.  I am determined in this project to bring victory for peace to all with full of my passion and proud as a graduate from the Peace Education Programme. I believe all of my colleagues of UPEACE have the same mind in this sense.

I will continue to do my best in this job to promote peace through education. That’s my mission of life. Peace means to change the world, and changing the world begins with our own change.  Let’s start with our own revolution now for peace!

If you are interested in this program please contact me at koepeace@gmail.com

Welcome UPEACE Institute participants.

The UPEACE Institute is taking place at the Costa Rica campus from 10 through 30 January 2008. This year the Institute offers a total of 13 courses (7-three credit courses, and 6-one credit courses). The UPEACE Institute is organized during the elective period that UPEACE’s regular students have. Courses are open to external participants.

On Friday, 12 January, the UPEACE Institute organized a small cocktail reception for the external participants and visiting professors at the cafeteria.

Dr. Amr Abdalla talked about previous experiences of the Institute. Ms. Carla Ortiz, Head the Department of Academic Administration, introduced the staff members of the Department and each external participant and visiting professors introduced themselves and talked about their studies and professional experience.

Thirteen external participants from Canada, The Netherlands, Indonesia, Argentina, France, United States and Brazil, will enrich the courses with their experience and knowledge.

The Institute also welcomes the following visiting professors: Barbara Tint, Reg Noble, Matthijs Bogaards, Reza Eslami, David Korish, Dave Davis, Max Castro, Mersie Ejigu and Jeffrey Stark.

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Cora Weiss visits UPEACE.

On Monday, 21 January the UPEACE community welcomed Ms. Cora Weiss, President of the Hague Appeal for Peace.

The Hague Appeal for Peace is an international network of organizations and individuals dedicated to the abolition of war and making peace a human right.

Cora Weiss is well known as a peace activist, co-founder of Women Strike for Peace which played a major role in bringing about the end of nuclear testing in the atmosphere. She was a leader in the anti-Vietnam war movement, organized demonstrations, including the largest one on 15 November 1969 in Washington, DC. For ten years Ms. Weiss was a volunteer teacher in the New York City public school system.

She has a long record of support for the United Nations, starting in the 1950’s when she hosted colonized Africans who were petitioning for the independence of their countries. She has devoted most of her life to the peace movement, the movement for the advancement of women, and the civil rights movement.

Among Ms. Weiss’ many awards are the Peace Studies Medal of Manhattan College and the George F. Kennan Award of the New Jersey Peace Action. In 1999 she was honored by the Phelps Stokes Fund for her work in the ‘50s and ‘60’s on Africa.

She is President of the International Peace Bureau (Nobel Laureate 1910). Ms. Weiss participated in the Nobel Centennial Symposium held in Oslo, Norway in December 2001. She is also Joint-Principal of the Peace Boat’s Global University, an Advisory Board Member of Peace Child International’s Millennium Action Fund. As President of the Hague Appeal for Peace, she is leading a campaign dedicated to the abolition of war. It seeks to re-focus our minds on the vision of a world in which violent conflict is publicly acknowledged as illegitimate, illegal, and fundamentally unjust. To implement that vision, the Hague Appeal for Peace has launched a Global Peace Education Campaign.

Ms. Weiss made a presentation about her institution, she explained about the context in which it was founded, its objectives and the many activities they have organized.
She also discussed the case of Kenya and was interested in organizing some peace education activities to make a contribution in the reconciliation process

Her presentation was attended by Ms. Karen Olsen de Figueres, Former member of the Costa Rican parliament and Prof. David Dwyer, founder of the peace and justice studies at East Lansing, Michigan State University.

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Kirsty Bonner at UPEACE.

Kirsty Bonner, member of the UPEACE/US Advisory Board, visited the UPEACE campus on 18 January 2008. She has been collaborating with UPEACE/US and UPEACE in several fundraising efforts. During her visit, she met with the Rector and the Executive Vice Rector, as well as many members of faculty and students. Ms. Bonner has generously pledged funding for UPEACE student initiatives and supported the scholarship fund.  Ms. Bonner is the Manager for the Latin America Derivatives and Exotic Products at ICAP North America. 

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New Staff

Upeace Welcomes two new staff members

Rocío Fernández Quesada

Academic Background:

• Master Degree in Business Administration with emphasis in Finance, Universidad FUNDEPOS ITCR, Costa Rica,
• Master (pending) Public Accountant, Universidad Fidélitas, Costa Rica
• Private Accountant Degree

Position:

• Chief Finance

Department:

• Department of Finance and Personnel

Milagros Feliciano

Academic Background:

• Bachelor of Arts, Assumption College, Manila, Philippines.
• One year of Masters in Social and Behavioural Science, Hunter College, New York.

Position:

• Administrative and Programme Assistant

Department:

• New York Office