COURSE DESCRIPTION

It is designed to engage students in an examination of the major contemporary challenges to peace, sources of conflict and violence, and several key nonviolent mechanisms for conflict transformation and prevention. The course provides a common foundation for UPEACE students from all of the different M.A. programs (as its name suggests). During the course, an understanding of the complex and interconnected challenges to peace will be developed, as will an understanding of the need for multi-faceted approaches to meeting these challenges. Students will also engage critically with theories of conflict, and will develop their understanding of the theoretical resources available in the area of conflict studies. During the course of their studies at UPEACE students will engage in increasingly specialized inquiry into various dimensions and issues in their specific MA areas. The foundation course provides an opportunity to explore connections, sympathies, and synergies between the challenges and approaches identified in all of these areas from a “wide-angle” perspective that will encourage students to continue making such interdisciplinary connections and analyses throughout their tenure at UPEACE and after. An important aspect of the course will also be the introduction to skills integral to the field of peace and conflict studies and to the UPEACE pedagogy at large. These include non-violent communication, appreciative enquiry and dialogue.

The Seminar can be developing in two different paths:

Option 1
Research seminars
Binder with annotated reading list (three academic articles on relevant subject for preparation of lecture), a minimum of two reflection questions on the basis of preparatory research (potentially to be asked during lecture) as well as short reflection on content and quality as well as formulation of a minimum of one relevant future research questions following up on each of the 5 lectures afterwards. The total length of the binder should be about 10 A4 pages. Under the direct supervision of the supervisor professor.

Option 2
Departmental Internship
The students that would want to work on the Human Right Council Project HRCP. They must develop the project with the different components, from institutional, fund raising and legal research, maintain and up-to-date online repository of case law as well as nice site that bundles relevant actors and also to develop a strategy for the Project.
 

This course offers a general overview of the topic of public international law. It provides students with a general introduction that will focus on laying a firm foundation of knowledge of the most important doctrines and topics. In 15 classes it will provide students with a solid grasp of the vocabulary of international law, with a sense of the context in which international law originates and operates, with an understanding of the legal and political institutions that play a role in international law, and finally, with the broad range of issues that are dealt with using international legal tools. The course will run concurrently with the course on Research Methods and Writing in Law. In this way, students from diverse background can familiarize themselves with the skills that are required in the context of international legal activities.

This course is designed to build a foundation in research and writing in law. The course will develop the students’ necessary competencies for the required course: Independent Studies Paper (DIL-7100). The course will give the students an introduction to legal research methods and writing. Methods of research, source location and referencing techniques will be examined in relation to students selected research topics. Approaches to case reading and briefing will also be presented in addition to developing students’ legal research skills. Developing writing skills will be a major aspect of the course, which will culminate in writing a short research proposal.

This course will focus on the role of the United Nations and other international organizations in contemporary world politics. We will examine both the institutional and political issues that have arisen within these organizations from theoretical and practical perspectives. Classes will operate through a combination of lecture and discussion. Each class will begin with a one and a half hour presentation by the instructor, followed by a half-hour break and a two-hour class discussion. The lectures will offer basic information and analysis of the day’s topic and the discussions will explore the debates, controversies, and areas of consensus that have been raised in both the academic literature and diplomatic and public policy communities. Each day’s discussion will be guided by a set of questions posed by the instructors, as well as the arguments raised in the assigned readings and lectures.

As a general introduction to human rights, this course seeks to define the achievements, limits and possibilities of human rights. The course starts from the position that to understand contemporary human rights practices and discourses, one has to have a good grounding in the philosophical, political and legal concepts of the nature of international human rights. This grounding includes a comprehension of the relationship between human rights and justice at both national and international levels. From these considerations, we turn to the issue of the relationship between human rights and international law, and the central role that rights play in the UN system. Our focus then takes in economic, social and cultural rights against the background of the ‘generations’ of human rights- and the need for a holistic approach to the various forms that human rights take.

This course provides an overview of the field of the law of armed conflict and laws of war, using the traditional division between Ius in bello and ius ad bellum. It deals inter alia with its origins, purpose, sources and principles, development and its application and effects on armed conflicts. The course reviews the prohibition of the use of force and the exception on the international contemporary law.  It also looks into the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and its mandate in the Geneva Conventions and discusses the challenges in applying and enforcing international humanitarian law to contemporary conflicts.

In addition participants can choose an elective course (3 credits) offered by the UPEACE Institute or other UPEACE programmes.

For UPEACE students, the Institute offers the elective courses that have to take as part of their corresponding plan of studies at UPEACE. During these courses, UPEACE students can share learning experiences with students of all UPEACE MA programmes and non-UPEACE students as well.

Establishing limits between sovereignty states and its management between neighboring countries, constitutes today an unlimited source of tensions and conflicts around the world. The course provides an historical overview of the legal methods of establishing limits and the way international community deals with these situations around the globe, including law of the sea, international rivers, lakes and the International Court of Justice and International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea jurisprudence on the area.

Experiential learning helps students develop creative strategies for the practical application of their education. It provides students with the opportunity to bring focus and meaning to their experience. Academic internships provide unparalleled experiences for students to take the knowledge and critical thinking skills they are learning in the classroom and apply them in a professional setting. In addition, it provides an excellent opportunity for the student to create a social network with eventual colleagues in their respective areas of interest or profession.

The course will contain references to examples of, and concentrate on practical diplomacy. It will attempt to focus on the practices’ correspondence to international law. At the same time it will high-light that the primary day-to-day means of contacts between states, between international organizations and states, and between international organizations, i.e. contacts in international politics/relations is through practical diplomacy, sometimes called the institution of diplomacy.

The main objective of this course is to explore the current system of international trade in the world. Particular attention will be paid to the legal rules established by international organizations, particularly the World Trade Organization. The course contextualizes the discussion of international trade law by considering the competing theories and views on trade and economic development. As such, several sessions of the course are devoted to the different economic and political approaches to the subject. Economic development of lesser developed countries is a theme that runs throughout the course. Students will have the opportunity to consider and approach these questions from the perspective of national and international policy makers.

The law of the sea is a discipline within the field of public international law which regulates the activities of States and persons at sea. Its rules are to a large extent laid down in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Convention, which has properly been called the “Constitution for the Oceans”, can be regarded as one of the major accomplishments of the United Nations, in that it deals in a comprehensive manner with all aspects of the uses of the seas which cover over 70% of the world’s surface. The course traces the provisions of the Convention and thus provides an overview of the prevailing legal regime.

This course offers a general overview of the international legal system of courts and tribunals. It will provide students with a thorough understanding of the role as well as the limitations and potentials for international adjudicatory bodies in international law and relations. The course will look at the historical and political contexts in which international adjudication was first developed and later expanded in the settlement of disputes. This course will analyze the specific position and place that international adjudicatory bodies hold in the global governance system. In this quest for understanding we will consecutively deal with the International Court of Justice as the prime example of a ‘world court’ and with some of its most salient features and characteristics. We will then turn to regional courts and how these are playing and have played a role in the establishment of solid regional political identities. After this we will look at courts that are meant to protect the dignity and fundamental rights of individuals and we will consider the characteristics of human rights courts as well as international criminal courts.

This course is an introductory skill-building course in negotiation, conflict management and resolution. First, participants will learn to improve their own negotiation skills, helping them to act consciously and skillfully in tough situations. We will learn and practice techniques designed to help us negotiate successfully despite the other party’s lack of skill, trust or good intentions, and to help ourselves manage situations in which we ourselves are parties to conflict in a beneficial manner. This introduction will also help us understand how negotiations fall apart, and how conflict forms. Next, we will explore the spectrum of third-party intervention methods, showing how these processes are implemented and institutionalized on the inter-personal level as well as in the international sphere. We will dedicate time to understanding and experimenting with the process of mediation, in which a third-party, lacking decision-imposing power, uses his / her negotiation expertise, his / her creativity and his / her relationship with the parties, in order to aid them in reaching agreement and transforming their relationship. By understanding the design and management methods of the mediation process, participants will be able to bring their improved negotiation skills to bear in assisting others to negotiate and resolve conflicts peacefully.

The Independent Studies Paper (ISP) is pursued with concentration in the second semester, under the supervision of an advisor either in residence at the University or as otherwise determined by the Department. The Department Faculty will coordinate the process of mentoring the students’ research and writing, to assist students in producing a work of quality and insight. Although Faculty will be involved at each stage of preparation of the paper, it is stressed that students are expected to work on their own.

The objective of this course is to critically analyze and discuss contemporary issues in international law, including the challenges thereto. The course will take place entirely online and involves a strong online research component. The focus is intended to be on learning and exchange of information and ideas pertaining to international law through online discussions with other students and the instructor.

Dr. Abdalla is Professor and Vice Rector at the United Nations-mandated University for Peace (UPEACE).  Before arriving at UPEACE, he was a Senior Fellow with the Peace Operations Policy Program, School of Public Policy, at George Mason University, in Virginian, USA.   He was also a Professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences in Leesburg, Virginia.
 
Both his academic and professional careers are multi-disciplinary.  He obtained a law degree in Egypt in 1977 where He practiced law as a prosecuting attorney from 1978 to 1987.  He then emigrated to the U.S. where He obtained a Master's degree in Sociology and a Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University.
 
He has been teaching graduate classes in conflict analysis and resolution, and has conducted training, research and evaluation of conflict resolution and peacebuilding programs in several countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.  He also authored, and co-authored, several research and evaluation teaching manuals including: Doing What You Want With Your Data, A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning and Implementing Evaluation Strategies, and Qualitative Evaluation: The What and Why.

He has been an active figure in promoting effective cross-cultural messages within the Islamic and Arabic-speaking communities in America through workshops, T.V. and radio presentations.  He has also been actively involved in inter-faith dialogues in the United States.  He pioneered the development of the first conflict resolution training manual for the Muslim communities in the United States titled (“…Say Peace”).  He also founded Project LIGHT (Learning Islamic Guidance for Human Tolerance), a community peer-based anti-discrimination project funded by the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ).
 

After graduating from the University of Lund, Sweden, Law School (with honors) he worked as a District Judges Assessor at a civil and criminal regional court in Sweden before joining the Swedish Foreign Ministry. With the Ministry he has held various positions at the home-office and abroad, among those as Director for American Affairs, as Director for Asian Affairs, and for Eastern European Affairs. Postings abroad include several in Central America, North and South America, including as Head of Mission in Montevideo, Uruguay and in Managua, Nicaragua. Furthermore Christer has served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Swedish Embassies in Rome, Italy and Vienna, Austria. During 4,5 years Christer served as Senior Advisor at the European Union Council Secretariat, Directorate General for International Relations. More recently Christer served as Ambassador for multilateral co-operation in the Baltic Sea Area, holding in 2006-2007 the presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, Committee of Senior Officials, and thereafter served as the Representative of the local EU-presidency in Nicaragua.
Since April 2009 Christer holds the position of Head of the Department of International Law and Human Rights  at the UN-mandated University for Peace, in San José, Costa Rica. He speaks, in addition to his native Swedish, English and Spanish. 

Gudmundur Eiriksson (LL.B King’s College, University of London; LL.M Columbia University)  is currently Ambassador of Iceland to India. Ambassador Eiriksson served as a Law of the Sea Officer in the Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the Law of the Sea from 1974 to 1976 and as a Special Consultant at the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea in 1977.  He joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iceland in 1977, with the rank of Ambassador since 1988, and served as Assistant Legal Adviser (1977-1980), Legal Adviser (1980-1996), Ambassador to Canada, Nicaragua, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela and Peru (2003-2005) and Ambassador to South Africa (2008-2009).  He was appointed as the first Chairman of the Icelandic National Committee on International Humanitarian Law (2008). He was Director of International Law and Human Rights Studies and Dean for Cooperative Programmes at the University for Peace in Costa Rica from 2001 to 2003 and Professor and Head of the Department of International Law and Human Rights from 2005 to 2008. He served as Legal Adviser to the University’s Council from 2004-2008. He has served as a Judge on the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (1996-2002) and President of the Chamber for Fisheries Disputes (1999-2002). He is also a former member of the International Law Commission (1987-1996). He is a member of the Panel of Conciliators and Arbitrators, Center for Arbitrations, Mediation and Conciliation, Dakar, the Panel of Conciliators and Panel of Arbitrators, International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, Washington, and the International Council of Environmental Law, Bonn. He is a Member of the Editorial Board of the Inter-American & European Human Rights Journal/ Revista Interamericana & Europea de Derechos Humanos and of the Advisory Board of the Nordic Journal of International Law.

Harout Akdedian is an instructor and doctoral candidate at the Department of International Law and Human Rights at UPEACE. He is also a Research Fellow at the UPEACE Human Rights Center. Harout has a BA in Political Science and a Master’s degree in International Law. He has worked as a journalist in the Middle East covering the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon. He is the author of many articles related to the geopolitical situation in the Caucasus, and the 'Arab spring' from grassroots perspective, and has recently published his book; 'The Armenian-Turkish Protocols'. His present research interests are borders and territory in international law; and the political history of the Middle East.

Dr. Juan M. Amaya-Castro (The Netherlands/Colombia)
(Doctorandus Leiden University & Ph.D. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam). Since April 2009, he is a Senior Research Fellow at the Faculty of Law of the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Between 2004 and 2009 he was Acting and Deputy Head of the International Law and Human Rights Program and Assistant Professor at the University for Peace. He has lectured on various international law and human rights topics. Between 2003 and 2004 he was Visiting Researcher with the European Law Research Center at Harvard Law School. He has been a member of several editorial boards, including the Leiden Journal of International Law. He is currently on the Advisory Board of Sur: The International Journal on Human Rights, and that of the Inter-American and European Human Rights Journal.
 

Juan Carlos Sainz-Borgo is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of International Law and Human Rights at UPEACE. He is also Associate Professor of International Law at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas since 1998. Professor of Humanitarian International Law at the Universidad Sergio Arboleda in Bogota since 2009; he was Fulbright Visiting Professor at the Washington College of Law at the American University in 2008-2009. He served as Jurist to the Regional Delegation of Venezuela and the Caribbean of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Juan Carlos Sainz-Borgo has a Law Degree, Master in International Law and Doctorate (Cum Laude) from the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas and a Master Degree from Oxford University, UK. He has published four books on international law and international relations and a numerous articles in different publications in the field.

Assistant Professor, in Human Rights, Media, and Peace; Vice Rector Office
Ph.D., University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2009. LL.M. in International Public Law at Amsterdam Law School, 2007, and M.Sc. in International Relations and Communication Science, University of Amsterdam, 2005.

Before obtaining her first Master’s Degree, Julia Hoffmann studied Media Management at the Institute for Journalism and Communication Science in Hanover, Germany, and Political Philosophy at Hong Kong University.

She has been working as an academic lecturer since 2006 and as a free-lance consultant, speaker and trainer for a number of NGOs in the field of media, human rights, peace and conflict.
 

Member of the Office of the Legal Counsel, Office of Legal Affairs, Secretariat of the United Nations. Previously a member of the Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs. Formerly a legal adviser and a delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Territories, the Philippines, and Rwanda. LLM, London School of Economics and Political Science; PhD, University of Cambridge. Areas of expertise are the law of international organisations, international humanitarian law, international law regulating the use of force, and the law of treaties.

Mihir Kanade is the Director of the UPEACE Human Rights Centre and is an Academic Consultant to the Department of International Law and Human Rights at UPEACE. Prior to the present position, Mihir practiced for 6 years as a lawyer in the Supreme Court of India and the Bombay High Court, focusing on issues of fundamental human rights violations. He holds a LL.B. from Nagpur University and a Master’s degree in International Law and the Settlement of Disputes from UPEACE. He has served as a legal advisor to many human rights organizations in India and has represented them before different courts and tribunals in criminal, constitutional and labour cases. His principal area of academic research and study is Human Rights and International Trade Linkages, on which he has also worked as a consultant with the United Nations University, Tokyo.

Docteur en droit, University of Strasbourg, France. Specialized studies (political sciences and constitutional law) in the Center for Constitutional Studies, Madrid. Former Alternate Representative to the United Nations (Geneva). Former Legal Director, Ministry for Foreign Affairs (San Jose, C. Rica). Professor at the University of Costa Rica since 1984. Publications in the field of international and constitutional law. Former Viceminister of Interior, Costa Rica.

Doctorate in Public International Law and Political Science, Senior Manager of ICRC Operational and diplomatic delegations, senior manager of Operations at HQ, confirmed expert in Public International Law, IHL, Legal Adviser, Diplomatic Adviser, Political and Policy Adviser. Have taught PIL and IHL at the invitation of many major universities in all continents of the world over the past 30 years, including Latin America and the Caribbean and the U. Peace, guest professor in various universities of South Africa and Russia. Have developped programes of cooperation with many universities in the world in support of teaching and research in IHL with ICRC support.

Instructor of the Responsible Management and Sustainable Economic Development (RMSED) program. From 2006-2008 she served in India as Director of the Valencian Government Foreign Trade Office and from 2004-2006 she was International Trade Advisor at the Commercial Office of the Embassy of Spain in New Delhi (India) gaining broad experience in international commerce and cooperation.  

She holds an MA in International Peace Studies from the University for Peace (Costa Rica), a postgraduate degree in Design of Sustainability from the Open University of Catalonia (Spain), she is an Expert in Mediation from the University of Alicante (Spain) and a BA in Business Administration from the University Cardenal-Herrera CEU (Spain).