Qualla: University for Peace

University for Peace: Introduction

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0. Most universities are founded by governments or churches. This one was founded by the United Nations General Assembly. In 1980, Resolution 35/55 established the University for Peace - UPEACE - as a treaty organization with a singular mandate: teach humanity how to resolve its conflicts without destroying itself. The campus sits on a mountainside 30 kilometers southwest of San Jose, Costa Rica, near the town of Ciudad Colon, surrounded by 303 hectares that include the last remnant of primary forest in the entire Central Valley. Students from dozens of countries arrive here to study international law, peace and conflict resolution, and sustainable development, then scatter back across the globe. The sitting president of Somalia earned his Ph.D. here. So did journalists, activists, and diplomats whose names rarely make headlines but whose work shapes how nations talk to each other.

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Image: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada | CC BY-SA 2.0

University for Peace: A Treaty Written into Forest

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ncmartin at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. The idea took shape in 1979, when the General Assembly passed Resolution 34/111 calling for an international commission to design the institution. Costa Rica, a country that abolished its military in 1948, was the natural host. By December 1980 the charter was adopted, granting U...

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Image: Ncmartin at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

University for Peace: The Peace Park

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wendy Noely López Ramírez, CC BY-SA 4.0. What makes UPEACE physically remarkable isn't the lecture halls - it's what surrounds them. The campus sits within a natural reserve called Peace Park, where 200 hectares of primary forest have survived the agricultural conversion that consumed the rest of the Central Valley. Mon...

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Image: Wendy Noely López Ramírez | CC BY-SA 4.0

University for Peace: Classrooms Without Borders

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User18765 (talk contribs), Public domain. Four academic departments organize the curriculum: international law, peace and conflict studies, environment and development, and regional studies. Programs range from a Master of Arts in Gender and Peacebuilding to a triple degree in Water Cooperation and Diplomacy shared with ...

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Image: User18765 (talk contribs) | Public domain

University for Peace: Graduates Who Shaped Nations

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Original uploader was Ncmartin at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud defended his doctoral thesis at UPEACE before becoming president of Somalia. Billene Seyoum, an Ethiopian politician and poet, studied here. So did Rosebell Kagumire, the Ugandan journalist, and Kirthi Jayakumar, the Indian peace educator and activist. The a...

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Image: Original uploader was Ncmartin at en.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0