UPEACE/Geneva
eNews
- August 2006

University for Peace

   
   

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UPEACE/Geneva eNews,
August 2006, Issue 2006-04

Thanks for reading this issue of UPEACE/Geneva eNews. This newsletter is aimed at providing updates and news from UPEACE and its regional programmes with special focus on the Africa and Central Asia programmes, which are coordinated through the Geneva office. In addition it will provide information on UPEACE publications and new developments, new documents available on the Africa programme, and Workshops/Seminars / Conferences being offered through the Africa and Central Asia programmes.
An online version of all newsletters is available at the UPEACE Africa Programme web site. If you do not wish to receive the newsletter, please send an email to enews@upeace.ch using “unsubscribe” as the subject.

Issued by UPEACE Geneva.
Editor: Ameena Payne, Executive Director University for Peace Geneva Office. For further queries please contact enews@upeace.ch

     

2nd Annual Short Course on Human Rights, Justice and Peace
Addis Ababa, 25 – 30 September 2006

The Africa Programme of UPEACE will be hosting the 2nd annual short course on human rights, justice and peace. Universities in Africa are invited to nominate candidates who lecture in undergraduate or graduate programmes which either already deal generally with issues of human rights, justice and peace in Africa, or have the potential to do so (e.g. political science, sociology, law, history, media etc). NGOs involved in training and capacity building may also submit nominations.

The training will cover the following topics:

  • Introduction to the concept of human rights
  • Human rights in Africa
  • Relationship between human rights and conflict
  • Concepts related to human rights (human security, democracy, good governance)
  • Implementation of human rights norms nationally, regionally and internationally
  • Approaches to peace in Africa – traditional, regional, international
  • Transitional justice

If you are interested in this opportunity, please ensure that your institutional head submits your nomination with a letter of recommendation karen.stefiszyn@up.ac.za along with the following information on the nominee:

  • CV
  • letter from the nominee on how he or she would incorporate the material from the course into their courses. (Participants from the first short course on justice, human rights and peace, who are applying to attend must describe in detail how the materials and information from the last course have been utilised).
  • full contact details (email and physical addresses)

The deadline for nominations and applications (CV and letter of motivation) is 10 August 2006. Please note: Applications not accompanied by a nomination will not be considered.

”Strategies for Peace with Development in Africa: The Role of Education, Training and Research”

Held at the African Union Headquarters,
12-14 June 2006, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The University for Peace, in conjunction with the African Union Commission held a Conference on the theme Strategies for Peace with Development: the Role of Education, Training and Research from Monday 12 June to Wednesday 14 June 2006 at the Headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Conference focused attention on the need to integrate the challenges of achieving peace in Africa with those of securing sustainable development. Expected outputs included the identification of specific lines of action to strengthen and mobilize education, training and research, to build the foundations of peace and development in Africa.

The Conference sought to achieve two broad objectives, namely:

a. To focus policy attention on strategies to integrate peace with development: to ensure that measures to reduce poverty, to generate employment and to promote economic and social progress are mutually reinforcing policies to reduce violence and conflict and to build peace and good governance;

b. To identify specific needs and targeted follow-up activities where education, training, research and the dissemination of knowledge can be focused to advance peace and development.

All Member States of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union were invited, along with the regional economic communities, academics from partner universities, members of civil society and non governmental organisations, development agencies, women’s groups, youth representatives, etc. Of these, 92 persons from 26 African countries from all the sub-regions, the sponsoring organizations (UPEACE and the AU), European academics and a representative of the UK Department for International Development attended the Conference.

The conference was sponsored by the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

Click here for the full report of the conference.

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Peacebuilders’ Series

The Peacebuilders' series, published in the Daily Nation in Nairobi, Kenya in collaboration with UPEACE, goes from strength to strength. The series focuses on Africa's unsung heroes - those who have helped to promote and sustain peace in post-conflict situations. The Daily Nation is East Africa's biggest selling newspaper with a readership of around one million. The series also appears in the Daily Monitor in Kampala, Uganda and the Citizen Daily in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Individual articles as well as a compilation of the newspaper clippings are available on our web site. Please click here to visit.

The UPEACE Africa Programme invites you to suggest names of people working at the grassroots level in Africa whose work is cultivating a climate of peace in society. Kindly send your suggestions/recommendations to info@upeace.ch.

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Call for Papers: African Conflict and
Peace Review

The Africa Programme of the University for Peace is launching during this year a new academic journal dealing with conflict and peace issues from a multi-disciplinary, and distinctly African perspective. The African Conflict and Peace Review will provide a vehicle for African scholars, and those focussing on Africa, to publish their views on issues of conflict and peace affecting the continent.

Researchers from any discipline – political science, media studies, law, sociology, etc – are invited to submit articles for publication. The Review will endeavour to publish articles reflecting a diversity of topics and a diversity of approaches. The ideal article should be between 5 000 and 7 500 words and, at least during the initial years, there will be a preference for introductory and general articles, although some outstanding articles dealing with issues in more depth will also be considered. It is hoped that a significant number of articles published in the Review will be of such a nature that they can be prescribed in undergraduate as well as postgraduate courses in African universities.

The aim of the Review is to make Africa’s voice on the pivotal issue of peace and conflict on the continent heard, and to help ensure that the scholarly community in Africa engage with one another on issues relating to continental peace and security.

The Review will appear once a year in 2006, and twice a year thereafter. Articles can be submitted on a continuous basis, and will be peer reviewed. The focus will be on quality, originality and relevance, and engagement with the scholarly literature on the topic addressed. All sources should be recognised and references provided in footnotes. Book reviews are also welcome.

Articles must conform to the Guide for Contributors, annexed to this document, and may be submitted to karen.stefiszyn@up.ac.za.

To subscribe, please contact:

African Conflict and Peace Review
UPEACE Africa Programme
C/O Centre for Human Rights
Faculty of Law
University of Pretoria
South Africa
0002
Tel: +27 12 420 4948
Fax: +27 12 362 5125
pulp@up.ac.za

click here for PDF version

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Recent Publications

  • Final Report of the Youth Leaders Training Workshop on Nonviolent Transformation of Conflict, 13-17 November 2005, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. More..
  • Final Report and Profile Booklet of the Short Course on Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution (CPMR), 3-7 April 2006, Pretoria, South Africa. More..
  • Final Report of the International Conference on "Strategies for Peace with Development in Africa: The Role of Education, Training and Research", 12-14 June 2006, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. More..

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UN INSTRAW Research Mapping on Gender, Peace and Security

UN INSTRAW, in collaboration with other organizations, promotes and produces knowledge and information on gender equality and the empowerment of women. The Institute encourages people and organizations to carry out action-oriented research on gender-related issues, particularly in developing countries, that will have a concrete impact on policies and programmes. Currently, INSTRAW is working in three areas: Gender and Security Sector Reform, Financing for Development and Gender, Migration and Remittances.

The UN INSTRAW directory focuses on research institutions from around the world including universities and colleges, research institutions, NGOs, and UN institutions. The areas of specialization include women/gender combined with various peace and security issues: armed conflict, conflict resolution, international security, public security, political participation, refugees and internal displaced persons, peace keeping, peace building, human rights, international humanitarian law, security forces (military, police, etc), peace processes, disarmament (nbc and small arms), justice and penal system, reconstruction and reconciliation, and violence against women.

UN INSTRAW would like to encourage organizations, universities and centers that produce relevant research in this field to forward information about their research work and other significant institutions especially in Africa.

Please send your information to:

Kristin Valasek at kvalasek@un-instraw.org
Nicola Popovic at npopovic@un-instraw.org

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