For

Individuals

Online Diploma in Human Rights and Forced Displacement

Diploma in Human Rights and
Forced Displacement (Rolling Enrollments)

Admissions are Open on a Rolling Basis!

Description of the Diploma

The Human Rights Centre of the United Nations mandated University for Peace is offering its successful Professional Development Diploma in Human Rights and Forced Displacement, courses for which can be taken entirely online. This Diploma, aimed at professionals seeking training for career development, can be obtained upon successful completion of the following five online courses offered in the programme. Enrollments are open on a rolling basis and participants can join the programme at the beginning of any of the following five courses:

1. Protection of Refugees: 26 June – 06 August, 2024 

2. Protection of Stateless Persons: 28 August – 08 October, 2024

3. Protection of Internally Displaced Persons: 23 October – 03 December, 2024

4.  Forced Migration and Human Rights: 05 March – 15 April, 2025 

5. Trafficking in Persons: 30 April – 10 June, 2025 

The next cycle of each of these courses will be on similar dates in the following year, with the necessary adjustment to ensure that each course begins on Wednesday and ends on Tuesday. For instance, a course beginning on 26 June 2024 (Wednesday) will begin the following year on 25 June 2025 (Wednesday).

Each of these courses is also offered as a stand-alone certificate course, but participants can now obtain a diploma by taking all the five courses which fall within the overarching theme of forced displacement. The diploma is designed in a way that participants develop incremental expertise in the different limbs of forced displacement and its linkages with human rights.

Curriculum Design

The curriculum for the diploma programme has been designed by a committee of global experts led by Dr. Mihir Kanade, Director of the UPEACE Human Rights Centre. Dr. Kanade’s academic and policy work over the years has focused on the complex linkages between globalization and human rights, including the interface with forced migration. In leading the design of the overall programme curriculum, Dr. Kanade brings with him over a decade of teaching and training experience on protection of forcibly displaced persons, in particular, refugees and stateless persons, as well as his work on sustainable development. Dr. Kanade currently serves as an independent expert of the United Nations Human Rights Council in the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development. He also chairs the drafting group of international experts appointed by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for preparing a legally binding instrument on the right to development. This diploma programme on Human Rights and Forced Displacement builds on the transdisciplinary work and vision of Dr. Kanade to seek an understanding of forced displacement in relation with broader efforts at realizing sustainable development on the planet and the right to development of those forcibly displaced. Other members of the committee of experts who have played an instrumental role in helping design specific modules within the programme include Dr. Juan M. Amaya Castro (Colombia and the Netherlands), Dr. Jan Hessbrugge (Germany), Dr. Geeta Sekhon (India), and Dr. Juan Carlos Sainz-Borgo (Venezuela).

Who Should Apply

The course is intended for staff members of (inter)governmental and civil society organizations involved in forced displacement and human rights issues, including human trafficking and smuggling, protection of refugees and stateless persons, immigration, protection of internally displaced persons etc. The course is also intended for staff members of (international) development agencies, academics and others interested in the aforesaid areas. (Post)Graduate students with specific research interests in these areas are also encouraged to apply. Candidates should have a good written command of English and have high competence and comfort with computer and Internet use.

Course Fee

For Diploma: Fee for taking this diploma is USD 2400 (as against USD 3000, if paid for each stand-alone course separately). Fee for alumni of UPEACE and the Centre enrolling for the Diploma course is USD 2100.

For Diploma and 10 Academic Credits: Participants are also able to take the five courses in the diploma for a total of 10 graduate level academic credits offered by UPEACE (2 academic credits for each course). The total cost of participating in the diploma for academic credits is USD 4900 (USD 2400 + USD 2500). For alumni of UPEACE and the Centre, the total cost is USD 4600 (USD 2100 + USD 2500).

Application Procedure

To apply, please fill up the enrolment form. Applicants will be contacted within three working days of the application. The diploma is limited to 25 participants.

Payment

Upon being admitted, payments may be made either by credit card or by wire transfer. Payment by wire transfer usually takes three to four business days to be deposited in our account. Payment by credit card is instant.

If you wish to make the payment by credit card, please go to https://payments.upeace.org/hrc/

Payments by wire transfer must be made to the following bank account:

Universidad para la Paz
Banco Nacional de Costa Rica
Bank account number:100-02-099-600195-4
Swift Code: BNCRCRSJ and IBAN: CR57015109910026001958
Avenidas 1 y 3, Calle 4
San José, Costa Rica

Online Diploma in Sustainable Development and Human Rights

Diploma in Sustainable Development and
Human Rights (Rolling Enrollments)

Admissions are Open on a Rolling Basis!

Description of the Diploma

The Human Rights Centre of the University for Peace (established by the UN General Assembly) has for the last five years been offering its flagship Professional Development Diploma in Sustainable Development and Human Rights, courses for which can be taken entirely online. As the name suggests, this programme focuses on the human rights dimensions of sustainable development, with a major thrust on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals through human rights based approaches (HRBA). This Diploma, aimed at professionals seeking training for career development, can be obtained upon successful completion of five of the six online courses offered in the programme. Enrollments are open on a rolling basis and participants can join the programme at the beginning of any of the following six courses:

1. Child Rights and Development: 10 July – 20 August, 2024

2. Environment, Development, and Human Rights: 04 September – 15 October, 2024

3. Gender, Development, and Human Rights: 30 October – 10 December 2024

4. Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Development: 08 January – 18 February 2025

5. Development and Human Rights:  19 March – 29 April, 2025 

6. Business, Human Rights, and Development: 14 May – 24 June, 2025 

The next cycle of each of these courses will be on similar dates in the following year, with the necessary adjustment to ensure that each course begins on Wednesday and ends on Tuesday. For instance, a course beginning on 26 June 2024 (Wednesday) will begin the following year on 25 June 2025 (Wednesday).

Each of these courses is also offered as a stand-alone certificate course, but participants can now obtain a professional development diploma by taking five of the aforementioned six courses which fall within the overarching theme of sustainable development and human rights. The diploma is designed in a way that participants develop incremental expertise in the different limbs of sustainable development and its linkages with human rights.

Curriculum Design

The curriculum for the diploma programme has been designed by a committee of global experts led by Dr. Mihir Kanade, Director of the UPEACE Human Rights Centre. Dr. Kanade currently serves as an independent expert of the United Nations Human Rights Council in the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development. He also chairs the drafting group of international experts appointed by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for preparing a legally binding instrument on the right to development. Dr. Kanade co-leads an e-learning project in partnership with the OHCHR and UNU-IIGH for training UN staff and diplomats of permanent missions of States on operationalizing the Right to Development in Implementation of the SDGs. He also serves on the International Advisory Board of the International Bar Association on the topic of Business and Human Rights. This diploma programme on Sustainable Development and Human Rights builds on the work and vision of Dr. Kanade. Other members of the committee of experts who have played an instrumental role in helping design specific modules within the programme include Dr. Cosmin Corendea (Romania), Dr. Geeta Sekhon (India), Dr. Gal Harmat (Israel) and Dr. Juan Carlos Sainz-Borgo (Venezuela).

Who Should Apply

The course is intended for staff members of (inter)governmental and civil society organizations working in the interface between development and human rights work, including in the fields of rights protection, development aid, social responsibility, trade and investment, environment protection, indigeneity, gender, child rights etc. The course is also intended for staff members of (international) development agencies, academics and others interested in the aforesaid areas. (Post)Graduate students with specific research interests in these areas are also encouraged to apply. Candidates should have a good written command of English and have high competence and comfort with computer and Internet use.

Course Fee

For Diploma: Fee for taking this diploma is USD 2400 (as against USD 3000, if paid for each stand-alone course separately). Fee for alumni of UPEACE and the Centre enrolling for the Diploma programme is USD 2100.

For Diploma and 10 Academic Credits: Participants are also able to take the five courses in the diploma for a total of 10 graduate level academic credits offered by UPEACE (2 academic credits for each course). The total cost of participating in the diploma for academic credits is USD 4900 (USD 2400 + USD 2500). For alumni of UPEACE and the Centre, the total cost is USD 4600 (USD 2100 + USD 2500).

Application Procedure

To apply, please fill up the enrolment form. Applicants will be contacted within three working days of the application. The diploma is limited to 25 participants.

Payment

Upon being admitted, payments may be made either by credit card or by wire transfer. Payment by wire transfer usually takes three to four business days to be deposited in our account. Payment by credit card is instant.

If you wish to make the payment by credit card, please go to https://payments.upeace.org/hrc/

Payments by wire transfer must be made to the following bank account:

Universidad para la Paz
Banco Nacional de Costa Rica
Bank account number:100-02-099-600195-4
Swift Code: BNCRCRSJ and IBAN: CR57015109910026001958
Avenidas 1 y 3, Calle 4
San José, Costa Rica

Specialized Online Courses

The Centre conducts several specialized online courses throughout the year on the basis of annual cycles. The courses can either be taken as stand-alone independent courses, or as part of our Professional Development Diploma in Human Rights and Forced Displacement or as part of the Professional Development Diploma in Sustainable Development and Human Rights. Participants will receive certificates from the Centre upon successful completion of the courses. Each of these courses can also be taken for 2 graduate academic credits offered by UPEACE. The descriptions and the enrollment procedure for the courses can be found on the links below.

  1. Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Development
  2. Forced Migration and Human Rights
  3. Development and Human Rights
  4. Trafficking in Persons
  5. Business, Human Rights, and Development
  6. Protection of Refugees
  7. Child Rights and Development
  8. Protection of Stateless Persons
  9. Environment, Development, and Human Rights
  10. Protection of Internally Displaced Persons
  11. Gender, Development, and Human Rights

Each course will be six weeks long, and will include lectures by instructors either in recorded or webinar formats. Admissions in each course are restricted to 25 participants, and enrollments will be based on a combination of first-come-first-served criteria along with other factors such as qualifications, work experience, motivation, gender and regional representation.

Self-Paced Online Courses

UPEACE-HRC is in the process of developing a series of self-paced online courses that will be rolled out in the coming months. Information will be updated here.

Other Trainings

From time to time, UPEACE-HRC designs and implements stand-alone courses, including field and on-site courses, which are advertised through a call for applications. This includes an annual field course on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in Costa Rica held in August of every year for a week as well as specialized on-site workshops held at the picturesque UPEACE campus. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, all on-site trainings are unfortunately suspended until further notice.