Welcome to the University for Peace (UPEACE) Human Rights Centre

25 and 26 April 2008

HRC Student Executive Committee Organizes Conference on Human Rights and the Global Economy

CIUDAD COLON, Costa Rica — Students and community members gathered for the university’s first annual Human Rights and the Global Economy conference April 25 and 26 on the University for Peace campus.

The event featured such guest speakers as Antonia Juhasz, author of The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time, and Daniel Redondo, who works for migrants’ rights at the Organización Internacional para las Migraciones (OIM), or International Organization for Migration. Juhasz gave one of the keynote speeches on “The Tyranny of Oil,” where she talked about how the world needs to remove the power of oil and reduce its dependency on oil.

A number of other speakers gave workshops on health and human rights of banana and sugarcane workers, CAFTA and intellectual property rights, documenting human rights violations, Central American gang warfare, and the global food crisis.

Conference participants were welcomed with a reception Friday evening and an “Africa Night,” hosted by the African UPEACE students. On Saturday, participants enjoyed a picnic in the beautiful Peace Park, and they closed out the conference with a dinner and party Saturday night.

The Human Rights Centre, located at the United Nations–mandated University for Peace, works to promote human rights adherence through education, training, research, and awareness-raising activities.

12 December 2007

University Celebrates Human Rights Week
Students, faculty and staff celebrated the end of Human Rights Week with food, friends and fire Monday.

The university kicked off Human Rights Day with a panel of experts on Costa Rican human rights issues. The guest speakers included Daniel Camacho, Director of FUNDEHUCA; Luis Salas Sarkis, General Secretary of the INS (Instituto Nacional Seguros) Workers’ Union; and Jason Glaser, Director of the documentary “The Affected.” The panelists addressed labor rights issues that plague many Costa Ricans, from the health of banana workers to discrimination in the workplace.

After the panel, the university community gathered together for a potluck dinner, sharing foods from our many countries of origin. The potluck was followed by a bonfire in Peace Park, accompanied by the rhythmic beats of a local 13-member drum band. The evening marked a lively and reflective end to a week packed with human rights–related activities.

Human Rights week began Monday, Dec. 3, with a brownbag talk on indigenous women and social neglect in Canada. Brownbag sessions throughout the week included talks on the media’s role in the Rwanda genocide, a personal reflection on violence in Sierra Leone, extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, gender and human rights, and migration in South America.

Also on Wednesday, Dec. 5, students gathered with community members in nearby Ciudad Colon for a presentation by a local 10th-grader and a talk by Gail Nystrom, founder of the Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation. The evening began with a photo gallery displaying students’ personal photographs reflecting human rights and ended with a candlelight vigil.

The Human Rights Centre, located at the United Nations–mandated University for Peace, works to promote human rights adherence through education, training, research and awareness-raising activities.