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F.R. Aravena: Address to Summit 2022, Session IXa
Written by Dr. Francisco Rojas Aravena, Rector, University for Peace, Costa Rica
Saturday, August 13, 2022
Address to Summit 2022 and Leadership Conference,
Seoul, Korea, August 11-15, 2022
The international system is in a complex situation, which creates great uncertainties. Power relations are mutating. A new international system is emerging. It shows some global strategic trends, which are fraught with uncertainties. New and great conflicts are emerging. Cooperation is declining. Without global cooperation, there will be no peace; without peace, there is no development; without peace and development there will be no respect for human rights, starting with violations of international humanitarian law.
Conflict is strongly expressed today mainly through the war in Europe. It is also expressed in a series of regional conflicts, in which various international actors are involved and which reflect “mini” world wars. The cases of Syria, Congo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen illustrate this, as do tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the recurrent crises on the Korean peninsula, with nuclear components. Additionally, there exist many highly polarized civil conflicts and hybrid wars.
The war in Europe is particularly serious because it puts the nuclear issue back at the top of the international agenda after 60 years. Any miscalculation could produce a nuclear cataclysm. As United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pointed out, “The war in Ukraine has brought the previously ‘unthinkable’ nuclear war back into the realm of the ‘possible.’” Just a few days ago, he noted: “We are one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation.”
The denuclearization agenda continues to be a central issue for all of humanity, one that requires responses in and from the various regions of the world—including the Korean peninsula.
Peace as a global public good has been lost. The UN General Assembly twice condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The International Court of Justice demanded an end to military operations. This has not happened. The war continues. War produces more war. War violates basic human rights. Thus, war is a threat to all humanity.
As a global community, as global citizens, we must point out and act on the grave dangers facing the world because of increasing conflict. We are approaching the threshold of the disappearance of life.
The environmental emergency pushes us further and further into the danger of the Anthropocene. Climate change, and its simultaneous planetary and local effects, represents the greatest threat to humanity. It is we humans who are endangering biodiversity and life on the planet.
Through human action, we have now linked the two greatest threats to humanity: the atomic threat and the environmental emergency. They represent unprecedented dangers for each and every one of us.
We need new responses. We need more and better multilateralism. We need global cooperation. We need greater harmony, stability and solidarity.
Cold War paradigms, models and concepts are not adequate for understanding today’s reality. We have an obligation to develop new ways of thinking. We need to design new conceptual maps, capable of grasping the major global changes and their impact on humanity and the region.
Old ways of thinking fail to grasp the consequences of a conflict-ridden world, with global crises such as the financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, from global political tensions to trade and technological competition between powers, and even less so, the consequences of the war in Europe and its planetary projection.
This global conflict produces a new arms race; it creates more hunger, more poverty, more malnutrition and greater inequalities; it produces global inflation, a worldwide rise in energy and food prices, social tensions, and protests. It increases global and national de-institutionalization, all of which spill over into more violence. Violence begets more violence.
The Culture of Peace and Nonviolence must prevail. This requires an essential effort from democratic systems and civil society organizations.
If we want peace, let us work for peace.
The Role of the University for Peace: Its Mission
To move towards stability and peace, it is necessary to put peace in the minds of humanity. It is from the minds of people that violence and war must be eradicated. Building a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence is the way forward. The instrument of this great change is education.
At a time of great military, political, economic and social crises in Central America, former Costa Rican President Rodrigo Carazo emphasized the need to train leaders for peace. In a fratricidal war, with the intervention of the superpowers, it was necessary to generate change through negotiation, mediation and good offices. That change needed to be developed within an institutional framework. This was the seed that gave way to the University for Peace. In 1980, the United Nations General Assembly, through Resolution 35/55, officially established the University for Peace.
To this end, the University for Peace was created as an international organization. The Charter of the University has been signed by more than four dozen States; Korea is one of them.
The mission of the University for Peace is “to provide humanity with an international institution of higher learning for peace and with the aim of promoting the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence among human beings, to stimulate cooperation among peoples and to help overcome obstacles and threats to world peace and progress, in accordance with the noble aspirations proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations.”
The University for Peace carries out this mission by contributing to the great task of education as the principal positive instrument of change. It does this through postgraduate teaching and research, through its professional and technical courses, and through the dissemination of interdisciplinary knowledge on all peace-related issues.
In a global system full of conflicts, understanding the deep roots of conflict, the needs for cooperation, the demands for environmental action, and the role of international law, is fundamental. This is what UPEACE does. The power of words and not of violence is one of the keys. From these actions arises the importance of new mechanisms of dialogue and new forms of democracy.
To educate is to make change possible. We educate in prevention. We educate for mutual understanding. We educate for a sustainable peace.
If we want peace, let us develop a Culture of Peace.
Lessons from Latin America for Achieving Peace and Democratic Coexistence
Latin America and the Caribbean is a zone of peace among its nations, a region without inter-state military conflicts. It is a nuclear-free zone. The last inter-state military incident was between Ecuador and Peru, in January 1995, in the so-called “Cenepa War.” The institutional mechanisms foreseen in the region made it possible to resolve it.
However, the Latin American and Caribbean region has high rates of violence. With 9% of the world’s population, the region accounts for 30% of the world’s intentional homicides. Of the 50 most violent cities in the world, 44 are in this region. The rates of violence are linked to high rates of inequality. It is also linked to the growing impact of transnational organized crime. This erodes the democratic social fabric through corruption and facilitates impunity. This situation generates de-institutionalization, disaffection, and anger within societies.
An essential aspect of understanding the democratic weakness and fragmentation of Latin American societies is the high rates of inequality. Inequality prevails in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Inequality opens spaces for messianic populist projects, in contexts of weakened states and fragile governments. The lack of governance promotes polarization and de-democratization. The State does not exert control over its entire territory and “other” actors appear, disputing legitimacy and the monopoly of violence. The rule of law is weakened.
Fragmentation inhibits a greater presence in the international system. The current absence of a shared regional project limits the possibility of having a single shared voice in the face of the major challenges on the global agenda.
Nevertheless, the Latin America and Caribbean region has been able to stop and resolve its major conflicts, both international and domestic, over the last four decades.
- Faced with the crisis and war in Central America in the 1980s, a regional peace proposal emerged in 1983: the Contadora Group. The Contadora Support Group (Grupo de Apoyo a Contadora) emerged in 1985. This succeeded in creating a space for multilateral dialogue between the armed actors in the conflict, but the domestic nature of the conflicts made it difficult to advance towards a final resolution.
- The 1986 Esquipulas Accords, signed by the Central American governments, focused on the civil wars. A major peace agreement was reached on August 7, 1987. The central theme was National Reconciliation, and the basis for free elections. A very significant issue was the non-use of any country’s territory to support insurgent forces. The agreements established internationally supervised verification procedures.
- Based on these agreements, it was possible to move forward in the search for peace agreements and national reconciliation: first in Nicaragua, in 1990; then in El Salvador in 1992, with the Chapultepec agreement; and then in Guatemala, on December 29, 1996.
- Important lessons have been learned from these processes and they constitute an integral part of studies conducted on the resolution of complex conflicts.
- The creation of Truth Commissions has made it possible to establish the truth about human rights violations and to seek reparation measures in various countries in the region, due to the new democratic systems that put an end to military dictatorships.
- Colombia’s 2016 Peace Agreement is making progress, despite several difficulties. It succeeded in silencing (most of) the weapons in Colombia, after more than five decades of internal war. The Agreement generated new negotiation methodologies and included the very important aspect of restorative justice.
If we want peace, let us generate mediation.
The University for Peace as a Global Entity
The University for Peace has been involved in and contributed to these processes through ideas, suggestions and track two diplomacy actions.
The University for Peace, as a global entity, is active in different regions of the world. It is active both at the United Nations General Assembly in New York and at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, where it has permanent representatives. Activities in Europe take place in Belgrade, The Hague and Geneva. In Africa, academic campuses exist in Addis Ababa and Mogadishu, with key actions taking place in Rwanda, as well. In Asia, UPEACE is in Manila and Beijing. In the Americas, UPEACE is active in New York, Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela. It also carries out other, specific activities in other parts of the world. It has amassed more than 4,500 graduates. The main campus and headquarters are located in San Jose, Costa Rica.
From each of these places we participate, propose and manage activities through education to build a future filled with hope for peace.
If we want peace, let us educate for peace.
Why Costa Rica Proposed a University for Peace
Amid the Central American crisis in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Costa Rica was under attack by the dictatorship of its northern neighbor. There were bombings near schools on the border. Faced with this situation, President Rodrigo Carazo travelled to New York. He did not go to ask for blue helmets. He went to ask for an institution capable of educating for peace. That is how the University for Peace was established, with headquarters in the city of San Jose, Costa Rica.
This small country, with only five million inhabitants, has a long-standing tradition of pacifism, democracy and environmental protection:
- In 1825 Costa Rica established compulsory national public education in its constitution.
- In 1877, the death penalty was abolished in Costa Rica under the administration of President Tomas Guardia. It was established that human life is inviolable. Costa Rica is a strong promoter of the abolition of the death penalty in the world.
- Since 1889, Costa Rican society has defended democracy. Electoral processes have been perfected. The revolution of 1948, like the action of 1889, was aimed at securing the popular electoral will in the face of fraud.
- On December 1, 1948, President Jose Figueres Ferrer abolished the army. Since that date, Costa Rica has been a demilitarized country.
- President Rodrigo Carazo invited the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to establish its headquarters in Costa Rica. On July 1, 1978, the OAS General Assembly accepted this offer. The IACHR was established in San Jose on September 3, 1979.
- On November 17, 1983, during the administration of President Luis Alberto Monge, Costa Rica proclaimed the perpetual, active and unarmed neutrality of Costa Rica, meaning the country is neutral in all international armed conflicts and in all armed conflicts within other states.
- Environmental protection is one of Costa Rica’s values. In 1996, “Peace with the Environment” was declared, and a policy established that made reforestation possible. In 2021, the country set the goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, and in 2019, it received the Champions of the Earth Award from the United Nations.
- Currently more than 98% of Costa Rica’s energy is produced from renewable sources, and forest cover reaches more than 53% of the territory. The Royal Foundation, through Prince William of England, awarded Costa Rica the Earthshot Prize in 2022.
If we want peace, let us work for the protection of the planet.
Education is the Most Powerful Instrument for Change
Conflicts, wars and crises are becoming increasingly complex. They require better analysis, building shared visions, developing anticipatory actions, and advanced prevention. In the current international context, visualizing mutually reinforcing links between peace and security, development, and human rights is essential to de-escalating conflicts. Education creates opportunities. Politics design new worlds.
In his report to the General Assembly on November 15, 2021, on the work of the University for Peace, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlighted how “education facilitates dialogue and the exchange of ideas. It creates opportunities for tolerance, civic and harmonious coexistence, and the building of peaceful societies. Education has the capacity to transform conflict and to understand the importance of cooperation.”
Education builds informed societies with more opportunities for all. Education breaks down inequalities and facilitates the closing of gaps. It creates opportunities for sustainable development and innovation. Education breaks down myths and fears; it grants freedom. Education empowers human beings. Without education, there is no peace. Education enables global, tolerant and interconnected citizenship.
To face uncertainties and conflicts, it is essential to rebuild multilateralism. Global problems require global solutions. Rebuilding multilateral governance demands cooperation.
We need a new beginning, one that transmits, intergenerationally, a culture that puts human beings at the center. We need a culture of freedom that promotes more dialogues, more solidarity, and compassion. We need to create a future of hope for a world of stability, harmony and peace.
If we want peace, let us work for peace.
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