YEREVAN, JUNE 18, ARMENPRESS. Between May 23 and 24, 2022, the Diplomatic School of Armenia in cooperation with the Permanent Mission of Armenia and the Delegation of the University for Peace (UPEACE) organized for the first ever a “Training on Human Rights in a multilateral world” at the United Nations in Geneva. This was part of a long and enriching educational travel which was initiated at the European institutions in Brussels and Strasburg. Held in different workshops and breakout sessions, high personalities and experts of the UN system shared with the future diplomats some good practices developed by the UN human rights machinery in the past years.  

The President of the Human Rights Council, the Director of the UN Library and relevant chiefs of Branch at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights introduced to the students of the Armenian Diplomatic School on the different standard setting legal instruments. They received a deep knowledge and practical experience about the system of treaty bodies, the Universal Periodical Review, Special Procedures and the Development & Economic, Social Issues, which will be very useful in their successful and brilliant diplomatic careers. 

This initiative led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia in cooperation with UPEACE in Geneva is a good practice in the field of education and diplomacy, which goes in line of the UPEACE’s mandate in its “… determination to provide humanity with an international institution of higher education for peace and with the aim of promoting among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence…” (Charter of UPEACE, Resolution 35/55 of the United Nations General Assembly, 5 December 1980).

It should be underlined the UPEACE’s compromise in the use of multilateral decision-making and diplomacy in achieving peaceful resolutions to conflicts among nations. In line of the “Yerevan Declaration on Living together in solidarity with shared humanistic values and respect for diversity” of 2018, UPEACE highlights that preserving the values of multilateralism and international cooperation, which underpin the UN Charter and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is fundamental to promote and support the three pillars of the UN - peace and security, development and human rights.  

Dr. David Fernandez Puyana
Ambassador and Permanent Observer of the University for Peace to the United Nations and UNESCO