Important visit
Leonardo Boff in Costa Rica
On Tuesday, 13 March, the well-known Brazilian theologian and Earth Charter Commissioner, Dr. Leonardo Boff, offered an inspiring conference at the University for Peace, called “Is peace possible in a world of chaos?” He spoke about the conditions and challenges of our society, and how it would be possible to rescue the path of peace and pacific coexistence between countries, communities and individuals. He reflected on the ethical crisis we live in and the lack of sensibility demonstrated by the modern society. He also addressed the urgent need to understand the notion of Community of Life and Shared Responsibility and made inspiring reflections about the Earth Charter.
As a world renowned philosopher, theologian and educator, Boff is actively promoting the Earth Charter throughout his work with local communities, academics and presentations. The event was recorded and will soon be available in the Earth Charter website.
Representatives from the Diplomatic community accredited in Costa Rica and special invitees including Costa Rican politicians, UPEACE staff, students and professors attended the event, co-organized by UPEACE and the Earth Charter Center of Education for Sustainable Development.
Boff is doctor in theology and philosophy, former Franciscan priest and professor of systematic and ecumenical theology in Pretropolis, Rio de Janeiro, for more than 20 years. He is also one of the initiators of the “Theology of Liberation”, which deals with the need to address poverty conditions in which many live in and ecological degradation. Boff is working on a systematic effort to link the spirit of the Theology of Liberation with the urgent ecological challenge. He is presently professor of ecological ethics and philosophical principles at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. He is the author of several books, among them, Trinity and Society, Eclesiogénesis, The Scream of the Earth, The Scream of the Poor, Global Ethics: a Consensus between Human Beings and the classical Jesus Christ as Liberator.
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Calling for submissions: Journal of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies.
UPEACE is proud to announce the launch of the Journal of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies. Please see http://www.humiliationstudies.upeace.org/.
This journal, anchored at the UN-mandated University for Peace, in Costa Rica, will appear monthly and is now calling for submissions.
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Peace and Conflict Review
Please note the March issue of the Peace and Conflict Review, the refereed companion journal to the Peace and Conflict Monitor, is now online. Submissions welcome.
Peace & Conflict Review
March 2007
Methodological Foundations of Ethnopolitical Conflict Studies
by Maxim U. Barbashin, PhD.
A number of methodological problems in relation to the study of the causes and progress of Ethnopolitical Conflict are identified. One major problem lies in the difference between information and knowledge. “Trying to attain knowledge under the incessant stream of publications” leads to confusion over trifles and the loss of main points. The author demonstrates the problems associated with the lack of a methodological foundation; a proper identification of a paradigm in which knowledge and theory is understood; the extent to which there is a shared conceptual language with other social sciences and the extent to which research into Ethnopolitical conflict produces its own conceptual devices. The author ends on a pessimistic note, arguing that researchers in this field may be doomed to stay within the limits of a restricted paradigm.
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News from our alumni
Maria Aranzazu Villanueva Hermida
Spain
International Law and Human Rights, 2006
My time at UPEACE was followed by an internship in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. One great experience followed by another fascinating one! I left the international community of the UPEACE to be part of an amazing group of people, who work hard every day to solve human rights violations. Hard work, but enriching!!
After my internship I was offered to do a project to be published by the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights and in the following weeks I will continue my professional career as a lawyer in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which is a real honour for me. As a law student with specialisations in international studies, international law and human rights, I couldn’t ask for anything better than the opportunity to be part of the legal team of an International Human Rights Tribunal.
I believe that the successes in life are never achieved by individuals alone. There are always people who help us achieve our goals, even if it is just by offering words of support or even criticisms. I would like therefore to thank the UPEACE community for the incredible personal and academic experience that it gave me. I would also like to extend a special thanks to Gudmundur and Juan for their constant support, and to my bosses and colleagues at the Court, who have trusted and believed in my work. I will continue to do little things to improve small big things in our world and I encourage all my former classmates and ‘upeacers’ to keep working hard because there are opportunities for all of us. Don’t give up!!
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Students’ life
UPEACE celebrates International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day was celebrated in style this year at UPEACE with an energetic and sexually liberating presentation of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues.
The evening started with a cocktail hour where audience members enjoyed punch (otherwise labeled “Vagina Juice”), fruit and pumpkin soup.
The performance itself was a rousing success and brought in over 160 audience members from inside and outside the UPEACE community. The performers consisted of a talented group of female UPEACE students from various ethnic and national backgrounds. As composed by Eve Ensler, the monologues presented were based on interviews with women from all over the world about their vaginas. The topics included relationships, rape, international women’s rights, masturbation and much more. The evening concluded with a monologue discussing the Vagina Monologues theme of the year – the impact of war on women.
Most of the proceeds from the performance and cocktail hour (over $550) are being donated to Casa AMES, a women’s health organization in San Jose that offers reproductive health services and provides health care to women in a holistic manner. A portion will also go to the V-Day Campaign – a global movement to stop violence against women.
Thank you to all the members of the set, hospitality and publicity committees that donated so much time and effort to make the evening a success. A special thanks also to the performers, organizers and UPEACE community for their support of such a worthy cause.
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Visiting professors
Nadine Puechguirbal
(France)
GPB 6022 Gender mainstreaming in peacekeeping operations and in humanitarian assistance
Professor Puechguirbal has been working as the Senior Gender Advisor for the UN Mission of Stabilisation in Haiti (MINUSTAH) since June 2004.
She has acquired extended field experience over the years, first with the International Movement of the Red Cross (in Somalia, Former Yugoslavia, Kenya, Malaysia, Rwanda), later with the United Nations (in Haiti, Laos and the Democratic Republic of Congo).
From 2000 to 2003, she worked for UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) at the headquarters in New York. In 2003, she was seconded as the Deputy Gender Advisor to the UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC).
In October 2006, Ms. Puechguirbal received her PhD on the subject “Gender perspectives in post conflict: comparative study between Somalia, Rwanda and Eritrea” at the Department of Political Sciences, University La Sorbonne, Paris, France.
Dr. Liana Babbar 
(Costa Rica)
NRD 6040 Ecological Foundations for Sustainable Land Use
Ph.D. in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan, and M.S. in Natural Resources from CATIE, Costa Rica. She has conducted research in agroforestry, soils, watersheds, protected areas, land-use planning, and sustainable development. Taught, and coordinated courses and educational events, for over 20 years at graduate and undergraduate level in different universities of Costa Rica and the USA, including the University of Michigan, and Boston University. Directed international programs on sustainable resource management, and sustainable development at The School for Field Studies, and the Institute for Central American Development Studies (ICADS). Worked as an independent consultant for different institutions including CATIE, and Fundación Neotrópica. Founding President of Organix S.A., providing products and technologies for sustainable agriculture. Currently works as Education Director of the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS).
Alicia Cabezudo
(Argentina)
Educational Systems and Change 2
Associate professor at the UNESCO Chair for Human Rights and Culture for Peace, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associate professor at the School of Philosophy , Education Department at the University of Rosario, Argentina.
She has published articles on several Peace Education subjects in many Latin-American magazines, newspapers and newsletters. She is a member of the Editors Board of the IPRA new Journal of Peace Education, member of the PE Commission and IPRA Board Foundation. Co- author with Professor Betty Reardon of “Learning to Abolish War Teaching Toward a Culture of Peace”, she is the author of several books in Spanish and a recent one in Portuguese developed for the World Educational Forum in Porto Alegre (July 2004): Cidade Educadora: principios e experiencias.
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