Last week's main event
De-briefing session UPMUNC 2006
On 21 March, professors Juan Amaya Castro and Gudmundur Eiriksson of the Department of International Law and Human Rights, in collaboration with Dean Edith Natukunda, Dean of African Studies and Head of the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, organized a de-briefing session on the recent UPMUNC 2006 that took place from 16-18 March at the UPEACE campus. During the session, Professor Amaya Castro discussed his own reactions to the UPMUNC activities and the reflection papers prepared by students in the Department of International Law and Human Rights, specifically identifying the various types of frustration experienced by participants and their assessment of what constituted "success" in such a simulation. Professor Eiriksson, drawing on his decades-long experience at the United Nations and other negotiating venues, pointed out certain "lessons learned" which should be of use to students in their later careers. Dean Edith concluded the session by recalling her experience of UPMUNC, indicating that for her, too, it had been a valuable learning experience.
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Professor from Portland University addressed the UPEACE community
On 23 March, Dr. Barbara Tint, from Portland State University, offered a presentation to UPEACE students and staff, entitled “Collective Memory and Conflict Resolution”. The activity took place at Council Room at 1:00pm.
Many conflict resolution processes today attempt to address conflicts between ethnic groups whose history of long standing animosity and strife create entrenchment and the perpetuation of destructive dynamics. While most would agree that history and the memories that people and societies hold play an important role in these dynamics, there is little in the actual conflict resolution literature that addresses these memories and their utilization directly. Particular to this idea is the concept of collective memory, which is the constructed process that a society forms around its own history. Collective memory processes are found to be subjective, fluid and strongly connected to issues of identity and emotions. Furthermore, collective memory is often manipulated and enhanced through various social institutions to serve the political aims of the society. In the research being presented, qualitative research interviews were conducted with both Israelis and Palestinians to further explore this issue of collective memory and its impact on perceptions of their conflict and potential receptivity to conflict resolution processes. Through this research it can be suggested that greater attention to the memories that people hold can be a useful tool in addressing conflict. Furthermore, the particular difference between history as an objective body of knowledge, and memory as a subjective process is explored. A framework for integrating these ideas more directly into the conflict resolution discourse is considered.
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Visiting Professors
Nadine Puechguirbal
Professor Naide Puechguirbal arrived at UPEACE on 15 March to teach the course “Gender mainstreaming in peacekeeping operations and in humanitarian assistance”. She will be teaching until 4 March. This course belongs to the MA in Gender and Peace building.
The three-week course is designed to provide theoretical as well as field-based knowledge on the gender dimension of peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance. Throughout the three weeks, the students were exposed to the major trends that have been used for the incorporation of a gender perspective in peacekeeping and humanitarian fields. Policies, programmes and practical case studies were shared with the students with the aim of getting a thorough understanding of the positive and negative aspects of peacekeeping operations and humanitarian activities in different environments worldwide. At the end of the three-week course, students better understood the cost of ignoring gender in peacekeeping mission and the delivery of humanitarian assistance and its consequences, as well as how to analyze current situations with a gender perspective.
This course provided the students with the skills to serve as gender trainers, officers, and practitioners, to participate in peace negotiations, to solve conflicts through the gender perspective, and to work in international organizations, non-governmental, humanitarian aid agencies, and governmental institutions. Students acquired advanced skills in research, data collection, and critical analysis in relation to gender and peacekeeping and humanitarian issues also. They are now also able to successfully evaluate a variety of programmes and projects, based upon a their knowledge on how to link gender, peacekeeping and humanitarian processes.
Nadine 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 the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) at its 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). Ms. Puechguirbal is a PhD candidate 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.
Isabel Jaramillo 
On 20 March 2006, Professor Isabel Jaramillo arrived at the UPEACE campus to teach the course “Human Rights and Gender”. She taught until 24 March 2006. This course belongs to the MA in International Law and Human Rights.
She got her title as lawyer, with honours, at Universidad de Los Andes University in Bogotá, Colombia. She is a Doctoral (SJD) candidate at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, MA. Currently, she is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law in Universidad de Los Andes. She is co-author of the book “La Jurisdicción Especial Indígena”. Additionally, her more recent publications are: “Reforma, patriarcado y legalismo en Colombia: El caso de las cuotas para altos cargos en la Rama Ejecutiva”, “Instrucciones para salir del debate de los derechos” and “La Crítica Feminista al Derecho”.
In this course students traced the arguments used by feminists within the international women’s movement to claim women’s rights as human rights, and the debates that such strategy has prompted both in relation to the universal/particular dichotomy and in relation to the efficacy of rights for the transformation of subordination
Helena Alviar
Also on 20 March, Professor Helena Alviar arrived at UPEACE to teach the course “International Law Trade and Development”. She will be teaching until 7 April. This course belongs to the MA in International Law and the Settlement of Disputes.
Helena Alviar holds a Doctorate (SJD) in Economic Law and Gender, and an LL.M., both from Harvard University. She is a lawyer from the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, and currently director of the Master’s programme in law at the Faculty of Law of this university. Additionally she teaches “Theory of Private Law”, “Theory of Public Law”, “Legal Theory”, “Law and Development”, and "Administrative Law ". She frequently teaches at other universities such as “Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá)”, the University of Puerto Rico and Harvard University, teaching the mentioned courses. Selected and forthcoming publications are: “Aproximaciones feministas al Derecho Comercial” (Revista de Derecho Privado, No. 27, Uniandes Ed., Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, diciembre de 2001); "The relationship between modernization and law in Colombia during the first half of the twentieth century", and "The Influence of Leon Duguit in the Colombian Constitutional Reform of 1936".
The main objective of this course is to understand the international evolution of ideas about development as well as the relationship between law and development. Specifically, they will analyze in detail three broad issues: One, how the definition of development has shifted through time, how this definition has influenced national and transnational debates, and what role have domestic and international law played; and two, the general structure of the WTO system and its main elements, as well as the basic debates that characterize the field
Student Life
Bibian Isoto
Current Student
International Law and the Human Rights
I vividly remember travelling to Costa Rica from Uganda, shortly after the last exam from the Post Graduate Bar Course. Thank God I was in time for my flight to Costa Rica!
Life at UPEACE has been a challenging but wonderful experience. There have been many interesting experiences including the social and cultural events and an assistantship with the Rector on career issues. Thank God for my professor Gudmundur Eriksson who has not only been an academic mentor but a source of inspiration. In addition, my classmates have all contributed interesting ideas on a variety of issues, enriching the program and motivating my life.
My most memorable experience so far at UPEACE was submitting in the Case Concerning the Elysian Fields before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Phillip C JESSUP Moot Court Competition. The Moot exposed me to in-depth knowledge of the responsibility of transnational corporations and states in the protection of human rights, particularly the rights of indigenous communities in relation to development. Above all, the moot gave me a deeper experience of working as part of a team. Competing against the University of Costa Rica proved challenging and marked the climax of all the sleepless nights and hard work towards preparing for the competition.
My social life has been very interesting as well. My best times have been at church (First Baptist Church in Ciudad Colon) where I get to socialise with the brethren and share a deep fellowship.
Finally, I must say that in Costa Rica, I have been given the greatest gift I will ever receive: the gift of deep experience. UPEACE in particular has taught me about loyalty, love, hard work and strength. But most importantly, the experience has given me the opportunity to see the world through other people’s eyes, triggering compassion in me and a sense of responsibility to those I love and the world around me that I might not have otherwise discovered. With this compassion and experience comes an even greater responsibility. Luke 12:48 tells us "To whom much is given, of him will much be required." As I move forward in my life, it is my hope that I can begin to see other people from two vantage points: theirs and mine. By doing this, I will begin to understand that with my every position or emotion there may be someone else standing at an equally valid, yet possibly opposite point. And that life, for them, has a different hue.
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Last week’s brown bag session
On 23 March 2006, Professor Barbara Tint gave a brown bag session on the topic: “Peace, Power and Pedagogy”. The activity took place in Council Room at 1:00pm.
Prof. Barbara Tint is Director of International and Intercultural Conflict Resolution for the Conflict Resolution Graduate Program at Portland State University. Peace Research, Peace Studies and Peace Education are academic disciplines that have evolved within the last 30 years to a place of great significance within many educational institutions. Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution programs are offered at a variety of colleges and universities providing a wide range of degrees and certificates.
Dr. Barbara Tint received her Ph.D in International Conflict Resolution from the University of Melbourne in Australia, where her research focused on collective memory and conflict resolution. Her work in peace and conflict resolution stems from her background in Political Psychology where she has focused largely on the psychological dynamics of international conflict. In addition to various domestic projects and collaborations, she has participated in conflict resolution activities and research in Australia, Israel/Palestine and in India. She has served as the Chair of the Feminism, Gender and Peace Committee for the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence and is currently the Co-Chair of the Conflict Resolution Action Committee for the same Society and for Psychologists for Social Responsibility.
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System-Wide Activities
UPEACE holds curriculum harmonization meeting with the Pan-African Centre for Peace and Development in Dakar, Senegal
From 10-11 March 2006, a curriculum harmonization meeting took place in Dakar Senegal at the Novoted Hotel. The meeting brought together representatives of a partner organization, Femmes Afrique Solidarité, and the Department of Gender and Peace Studies and the UPEACE Africa Office.
The main objective of the meeting was to discuss the implementation of training in gender and peace building at the Dakar location. The preliminaries of starting with some short courses as a prelude to a fully-fledged MA in gender and Peace Studies were discussed.
Dr. Jean-Bosco Butera, Director of the Africa Programme commented on the meeting as having presented one step towards bringing more services to the people. He noted that the partnership with leading organizations like Femmes Afrique Solidarité enables UPEACE to diversify its entry points in imparting education for peace.
This particular joint venture programme in gender and peace building will provide an opportunity to work with non-governmental organizations. The colourful opening ceremony of the curriculum harmonization meeting was attended by Honorable Aida Mbodj, Minister of Women and Family Affairs and the Minister of State from the Ministry of Education.
By the end, the meeting and timeline for the short courses and projections for the MA in Gender and Peace Studies had been worked out in accordance to the memorandum of understanding between UPEACE and Femmes Afrique Solidarité.
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Official Newspaper
Sao Paulo City
Major: José Serra
Sao Paulo, 7 March 2006
A cycle of seminars starts a partnership between UMAPAZ and UN
As a follow up to the implementation project of the Universidade Aberta do Meio Ambiente e Cultura de Paz – UMAPaz (Open University for Environment and a Culture of Peace), the Secretaria do Verde e Meio Ambiente (Ministry of Environment) held from 6-10 March, a workshop involving UMAPAZ personnel, local government representatives, and civil society organizations that work with environmental education and a culture for peace. Three professionals from the University for Peace in Costa Rica went to Sao Paulo to develop the workshop: Tatiana Benavides (Department of Peace and Conflict Studies), Carlos García (Department of Environment, Peace and Security) and Betty McDermott (Earth Charter Educational Programmes). Participants of the workshop worked together on a plan to develop and consolidate UMAPaz.
UMAPaz, from the City Hall of Sao Paulo, is a physical and virtual space for studying, research, and generation and distribution of knowledge regarding the environment, life conditions and coexistence in Sao Paulo. It offers seminars, courses and information related to the socio-environmental and coexistence conditions in the city.
UMAPaz is aware that socio-environmental and culture of peace issues are different faces of the same phenomenon, due to the fact that environmental degradation, human conflict with other species and violence between humans are all the products of the same coexistence model, often causing natural destruction, irresponsible consumption of natural resources, and non-compromise with other people’s suffering.
The workshop was by invitation only. Themes approached were: UPEACE in Brazil and introduction to UMAPaz’s present state and perspectives; environmental problems as a source of conflict; conflict and violence within human societies; human rights as cornerstone of public policies; the educational reform necessary for an education for coexistence; social investment for a peaceful city; and public policies in education for peace and coexistence. The result of the workshop will be a report that will serve as subsidy for the elaboration of the 2006-2010 UMAPaz Strategic Plan.