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The pursuit of peace, equity, and justice is a universal purpose. A society united around that goal will be better equipped to achieve it. To get there, we must recognize violence and injustice as defining factors in the planning of any meaningful action — grounded in concrete facts relevant to building a fair, fulfilling, and nature-respecting society.
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Rationale
The foundational instrument for envisioning a society built around peace has been the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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General Objective
To promote dialogue, research, and action for peace — free from political, religious, or ideological interests.
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Specific Objectives
To establish an Advanced Center for Peace Studies in Latin America in partnership with higher education institutions.
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Join the Movement to Build a Culture of Peace.
The pursuit of peace, equity, and justice is a universal purpose. A society united around that goal will be better equipped to achieve it. To get there, we must recognize violence and injustice as defining factors in the planning of any meaningful action — grounded in concrete facts relevant to building a fair, fulfilling, and nature-respecting society.
Society has always called for collective action, and with each passing century, those demands grow more complex. The work for peace must therefore be increasingly deliberate and well-organized — guided by clear criteria and concrete actions that reinforce and spread a truly positive culture of peace in its broadest sense.
In this context, higher education institutions are being called upon to play a pivotal role — as spaces of knowledge creation, community engagement, and the protection of human rights.
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Rationale
For decades, society has been calling for coordinated efforts in peace education and culture — as well as action grounded in real-world challenges, guided by systematic and objective criteria, aimed at implementing concrete programs with a genuine contribution to strengthening and spreading a culture of peace in its fullest sense. Not merely within the peace-versus-violence binary, but across our many relationships — with the planet, with peoples, with animals, and with the natural world.
Furthermore, the circumstances and conditions in which society lives — and the challenges it faces — point unmistakably toward contexts of growing complexity. These realities call ever more urgently for the involvement of higher education institutions which, at their core, are spaces for generating knowledge, strengthening communities, and upholding human rights. They are uniquely positioned to lead movements that value dialogue and social diversity, contributing meaningful action across multiple fields of knowledge and spheres of human life — working alongside government initiatives in a spirit of synergy toward the expression of a culture of peace and the development of a just and sustainable society.
It is believed that through the networked commitment and established expertise of higher education institutions — at the regional, state, national, and international levels — it will be possible to build and strengthen the Forum of Universities for Peace (FOUP) as an effective mechanism for systematic dialogue, strategic action, and the advancement of knowledge on the theme of Peace. This work will draw on sociological, anthropological, historical, psychological, linguistic, cultural, behavioral, and legal perspectives. Over time, FOUP's actions — carried out through its signatory institutions — will resonate in the production of knowledge and in the implementation of peace-promotion programs led by higher education institutions, in partnership with other organizations and government actors.
General Objective
To promote dialogue, research, and action for peace — free from political, religious, or ideological interests. The Forum of Universities for Peace (FOUP) is a space dedicated to fostering — through the expertise and experience of higher education institutions, in partnership with governments and other organizations — systemic discussions on social realities relevant to peace, as well as the production of knowledge on this theme across its many dimensions.
Specific Objectives
- To coordinate the activities and initiatives of the Ibero-American Center for Advanced Peace and Innovation Studies, in partnership with higher education institutions, government bodies, and civil society organizations, with the aim of promoting a culture of peace and sustainable development.
- To organize and keep updated the Peace Best Practices Repository, as a tool for sharing experiences and knowledge.
- To engage academics in the Youth for Peace Program, fostering awareness and commitment among young people in building a culture of peace.
- To organize and manage FOUP's thematic pillars — aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — promoting integration and synergy across all actions.
- To engage municipalities in the Peace-Friendly Cities Program, supporting the implementation of public policies and local actions for peace and sustainable development.
- To coordinate the training of Peace Agents — empowering leaders and multipliers to promote a culture of peace in their communities.
- To promote events, seminars, and workshops that share and multiply knowledge produced on the theme of Peace — disseminating insights and best practices.
- To mobilize government bodies and civil society organizations around a shared commitment to peace-oriented action, fostering coordination and cooperation among all stakeholders.
- To connect higher education institutions with government agencies and funding bodies to secure financial resources for projects, research, networks, events, and outreach and innovation initiatives aimed at a Culture of Peace.
- To generate new connections and spread the knowledge produced on the theme of Peace — drawing from research labs, centers, and groups at signatory institutions — promoting innovation and knowledge transfer.
- To create a repository of theses, dissertations, articles, and other scientific works that deepen our collective understanding of Peace — promoting broad access to and dissemination of knowledge.