UPEACE/Geneva
eNews
- December 2006

University for Peace

   
   

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UPEACE/Geneva eNews,
December 2006, Issue 2006-05

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. In addition it will provide information on UPEACE publications, new developments and newly released documents.
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

     

Happy Holidays

The UPEACE/Geneva eNews team thanks you for your contributions and encouragement during 2006. We wish you a happy and peaceful holiday season and look forward to our continued collaboration in 2007.

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Admission to University for Peace 2006/2007

UPEACE invites applications from women and men who have the equivalent of a four-year undergraduate degree (BA, BS) or similar from an accredited college or university. Students admitted in the past have done their undergraduate work in a variety of disciplines, including the social and natural sciences, humanities and legal fields. Some have an MA in related areas and are seeking supplemental training in peace studies. Students admitted to any UPEACE MA programme must exhibit an outstanding academic record.

Students should also demonstrate commitment to working for a positive social change; a year or more of work experience in a related field is a plus. Some background in international studies or cross-cultural experience is also desirable.

Candidates must be fluent in English, both spoken and written. Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores or International English Language Test (IELTS) are required for candidates whose native language is not English.

Each year, UPEACE accepts 25 students to each MA programme from more than 150 applicants. There is no “formula” for success as a candidate. Each applicant must complete, among other requirements, a statement of purpose or personal essay, which is of great importance in helping the admissions committee get to know the candidates. The University seeks a diverse and committed student body whose talents, skills, and aims complement each other well.

Classes start in the third week of August. The deadline for receipt of applications is 31 March 2007.

For full details,please visit www.upeace.org/admissions.


Mano River Youth Initiative: Youth Leaders Training Workshop on the Nonviolent Transformation of Conflict.

20 - 23 January 2007, Freetown, Sierra Leone

The UPEACE Africa Programme based in Addis Ababa, and Fourah Bay College, the first college in West Africa and now part of the University of Sierra Leone, are jointly organising a training workshop on the nonviolent transformation of conflict for youth leaders in the Mano River region, to be held at Fourah Bay College, Freetown, Sierra Leone, from 20 to 23 January 2007.

The four-day workshop will cover the basic theories and methods of nonviolent struggle. Held for youth leaders, directors of youth programmes, NGO leaders, student activists, women leaders, youthful parliamentarians, and other civil society leadership from the Mano River area of West Africa, specifically Liberia and Sierra Leone. The workshop will provide a vehicle through which participants can gain full awareness of how it is possible to pursue social and political goals without inflicting violence, bloodshed, injury, or loss of life to the target group—and why this can affect the durability of the results.

A question will be posed: If you want justice, transformation, and reconciliation, can you achieve them through violence? Emphasis will be placed on the role of youth as agents of change in particular struggles, shared through documentary films and UPEACE Africa Programme publications such as ‘Bite Not One Another’. Attention will be given to how nonviolent struggles have resulted in outcomes of positive, lasting, and mutually acceptable benefits for all parties.

For further information please contact africaprogramme@upeace.org.

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UPEACE Africa Programme Final Reports Web Page

A new section has been added to the UPEACE Africa Programme web site listing all final reports form various activities over the past years. Reports from 2005 and 2006 are already available online and further reports will be loaded soon. Click here to visit.

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Recent Publications

UPEACE 2007: Creating opportunities to change the world

UPEACE is glad to announce the release of it's yearly magazine. This year's edition describes UPEACE's activities, MA Programmes, Admissions, Alumni Network, Faculty, Sharing Knowledge for Peace, Our Presence Around the World, among other topics.

28 pp. Click here to download the pdf file.

Compendium of Key Documents relating to Peace and Security in Africa
Editor: Monica Juma
Assistant editors: Rafael Velásquez García & Brittany Kesselman

This Compendium contains key official documents on peace and security in Africa covering the period between 1963 and the end of 2005. The Compendium is part of an evolving Series on Peace and Conflict in Africa published by the United Nations-affiliated University for Peace (UPEACE). The main objective of the Series is to make material which can be used by African universities in courses dealing with issues of peace readily accessible to lecturers, students and researchers.

This Compendium is a joint publication of the Africa Programme of UPEACE and SaferAfrica. It shall be used in conjunction with other publications in the Series, particularly the collection of extracts from seminal texts contained in Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution in Africa: A Reader. Click here to download

Human Rights, Peace and Justice in Africa: A Reader
Editor: Christof Heyns and Karen Stefiszyn

This Reader contains materials on human rights, peace and justice relevant to Africa, extracted from academic writings, reports from the United Nations and non-governmental organisations, speeches, official documents, national constitutions and human right cases. Where possible, material from Africa has been selected.

The Reader is part of an evolving Series on Peace and Conflict in Africa published by the United Nations-affiliated University for Peace (UPEACE). The main objective of the Series is to make material which can be used by African universities in courses dealing with issues of peace and conflict readily accessible to lecturers, students and researchers. In this particular Reader material of relevance to the relationship between human rights and peace and security is included.

This Reader is a joint publication of the Africa Programme of the United Nations-affiliated University for Peace and the Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria. It can be used in conjunction with other publications in the Series, particularly the Compendium of Key Human Rights Documents of the African Union and the Compendium of Key Documents relating to Peace and Security in Africa. Click here to download

Sélection de Documents-Clé de l’Union Africaine relatifs aux Droits de l’Homme

Ce Sélection contient des documents-clé relatifs aux droits de l’homme, adoptés sous les auspices de l’Union Africaine (y compris le NOPADA) et son prédécesseur l’Organisation de l’Unité Africaine. Il contient également une sélection de décisions et résolutions de la Commission Africaine des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples.

Cette œuvre de collaboration entre le Programme Afrique de l’Université de la Paix et le Centre for Human Rights de l’Université de Prétoria en Afrique du Sud, a pour objectif de rendre plus accessible les documents de l’Union Africaine. Click here to download

Nonviolent Transformation of Conflict—Africa
Mary E. King, series editor

In meetings by faculty and staff of the University for Peace at more than fifty universities and five hundred non-governmental organizations in Africa during 2002 and 2003, educators across the continent lamented the dearth of materials on the subject of nonviolent struggle in Africa. An historian at the University of Natal at Durban, however, spoke with pride of ‘South Africa’s strong indigenous tradition of nonviolent struggle—the tradition of Gandhi, Lithuli, and Biko’, referring to Mohandas K. Gandhi, who developed his formative principles during twenty-one years spent in South Africa, the Zulu chief and Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Luthuli, and the anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko. In 2004, Nigerian youth leaders attending a forum in Abuja, Nigeria, fervently requested books to help them learn how to fight for justice without violence: ‘All we ever hear is violence’, said one, ‘some teachers even tell us that what Nigeria needs is more violence’. In response, and as a direct outgrowth of a 2005 workshop in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, on nonviolent transformation of conflict, the Africa Programme of the University for Peace is pleased to offer four publications on nonviolent struggle.

Bite Not One Another’: Selected Accounts of Nonviolent Struggle in Africa
By Desmond George-Williams

‘Bi Nka Bi’ (bite not one another), the adinkra symbol for harmony and an emblem of peace, is signified by an image of two fish biting each other’s tails. ‘Bite Not One Another’: Selected Accounts of Nonviolent Struggle in Africa chronicles events and activities from sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting colonial era nonviolent struggles that resulted in independence and contemporary collective action to secure human rights and social justice. Written by a young lecturer from Sierra Leone, it also features examples of African women’s ongoing nonviolent activism.
123 pp. ISBN 9977-925-47-X.
Click here to download

Only Young Once: An Introduction to Nonviolent Struggle for Youths
By Christopher A. Miller

Youths have played crucial roles in numerous nonviolent struggles, which require, among other things, well-formed strategies. Only Young Once: An Introduction to Nonviolent Struggle for Youths is a practical guide geared alike towards university or secondary school students, young soldiers, young professionals, civil society leaders, and youthful parliamentarians. It challenges the blind faith in violence so often found where there is conflict while also explaining the basic ideas and principles of nonviolent action. In the classroom, it can be used to supplement Teaching Model: Nonviolent Transformation of Conflict. It also complements ‘Bite Not One Another’: Selected Accounts of Nonviolent Struggle in Africa.
88 pp. ISBN 9977-925-46-1.
Click here to download

Strategic Nonviolent Struggle: A Training Manual
By Christopher A. Miller

Reaching the stage of negotiations or other steps in conflict resolution sometimes first requires cooperative action. Strategic Nonviolent Struggle: A Training Manual is a tool for civil society leaders—in youth movements and programmes, churches, athletics, and other areas—who are interested in creating workshops or training programmes on realistic alternatives to armed struggle. It presents an overview of the effectiveness of nonviolent struggle and can complement the more theoretical Teaching Model: Nonviolent Transformation of Conflict.
141 pp. ISBN 9977-925-49-6.
Click here to download

Teaching Model: Nonviolent Transformation of Conflict
By Mary E. King and Christopher A. Miller

Nonviolent action can be effective even in acute conflicts. Teaching Model: Nonviolent Transformation of Conflict presents a framework for use by instructors in teaching students the basic theoretical and historical background of nonviolent action and successful practice of it. The model assumes a twelve-week term for teaching one topic, or module, per week for final-year undergraduates, but it can also be adapted for graduate work. Each module contains a note to lecturers discussing crucial background needed to lead a class on the topic, expected outcomes in student learning, concepts relevant to that particular module, suggested class activities and exercises, and recommended readings on each topic. The framework allows instructors to add resources from their own country and to encourage students to write case studies about local nonviolent campaigns and document breakthroughs by area non-governmental organisations.
139 pp. ISBN 9977-925-45-3.
Click here to download


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