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In March 1999, the United Nations University (UNU) successfully concluded the pilot phase of its six-week long UNU International Courses (UNU/IC) organized at its Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. The UNU/IC programme is designed for postgraduate students and professionals in various occupations (with a college or university degree) in Japan and abroad who wish to pursue careers in international fields in public-service or private organizations, including the United Nations, multinational corporations and non-governmental organizations, as well as national foreign service organizations. The courses are designed to provide analyses of global issues from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. On the basis of the experience gained in the pilot phase, the UNU has decided to offer four regular courses from mid-May to late June every year starting in 2000. In 2000, the courses will be offered from 15 May to 23 June.

Courses of the UNU/IC are taught in a cooperative fashion by a team of scholars and practitioners comprising both in-house and outside experts. One of the unique features of the UNU/IC is that most of the practitioners come from United Nations organizations. Another important characteristic of the UNU/IC is the direct access to teaching faculty and the support provided to course participants by UNU in-house academic staff who serve as academic counselors. Courses of the UNU/IC also draw on the research projects undertaken at the UNU Centre in Tokyo and at UNU research and training centres and programmes (RTC/Ps) located around the world. The regular courses will be advanced in nature, though open to graduate students and professionals in various occupations who are not necessarily specialists in the field.

The four courses to be offered in May and June 2000 are:

1. Armed Conflict and Peace-keeping;
2. Environmental Institutions and Governance;
3. Human Rights: Concept and Issues; and
4. International Trade and Dispute Settlement

(For a brief outline of each of these courses, click here.)

There will be 18 sessions per course (three sessions per week) during the six-week course period. One of the sessions will be used either for a supplementary lecture or discussion session or a special lecture. The courses will involve considerable reading and study, but will be scheduled to allow students to have sufficient preparatory and review time for each session.

The expected learning outcomes for UNU/IC participants include:

• Deep, sophisticated understanding of the subject at a high level.
• Sharpened analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Opportunity to develop research skills through an essay project.
• Opportunity to interact intellectually with a wide cross-section of fellow participants from around the world from diverse academic and professional backgrounds.
• Opportunity to interact socially with fellow-participants from diverse cultural backgrounds.

The learning environment and facilities prepared for the UNU/IC include:

• Complementary theoretical and practical perspectives from academic experts and practitioners respectively.
• Guest lectures by leading specialists and practitioners in Japan and overseas, including in those in the UN system.
• Access to the library and other resources of the UNU in these areas of study.
• Close contact with UNU in-house specialists in small-group settings.
• Opportunity to sample life in one of the world's great metropolises.

The UNU/IC will be administered and coordinated by the UNU Centre. Each of the courses will be handled by a responsible UNU academic officer, who also will teach at least part of the course. In principle, each course will be taught by a combination of the academic staff of the UNU Centre and the RTC/Ps, adjunct professors and other scholars involved in related UNU research projects, and representatives of various UN agencies and other internationally-oriented organizations, as well as prominent professors from universities in different parts of the world and professional experts in relevant fields.

The UNU will provide assistance to those who wish to serve as an intern with the United Nations and other relevant organizations. The UNU will request all relevant organizations, including those in the United Nations system, to take account of the UNU/IC Certificate of Completion when submitted as part of an employment dossier. This will be done in collaboration with relevant offices of the United Nations, national governments, and other organizations.

Tuition fees for students from Japan and other industrialized countries are Japanese yen 100,000 per course - about US dollars 900 at the September 1999 UN exchange rate or Japanese yen 150,000 for two courses. A limited number of fellowships are available to those participants from developing countries who take two courses and who can successfully demonstrate a need for financial assistance. Those who wish to apply for a UNU fellowship can obtain the UNU Fellowship Application form.

The UNU will locate available space in college dormitories and other low-cost housing facilities in and around Tokyo to accommodate course participants from outside Tokyo and Japan.

Participants who successfully complete at least one course will receive a UNU Certificate of Completion at the UNU/IC closing ceremony. Requirements include preparation of one 5,000 word paper for each course, on the topic as submitted in advance, by the end of the six-week period.

Ms. Wilma James
The United Nations University Headquarters
5-53-70 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku,
Tokyo 150-8925
Japan

Tel: +81-3/3499-2811
Fax: +81-3/3499-2828
E-mail: james@hq.unu.edu

Armed Conflict and Peace-keeping

This course will examine different types of armed conflict today, including intra-state ethnic and religious conflicts, and explore the UN's record and roles in traditional and evolving peace-keeping activities around the world. The course will also examine the possibility of cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations in peace-keeping operations and examine the challenges and opportunities that typify the international community's efforts to prevent, manage and resolve armed conflict at the threshold of a new millennium.

• The UN as a Global Security Provider
• The UN's Historic Role in International Security
• Seminar: The UN's Place in Global Security Management

• Traditional Peace-keeping
• The Cold War Era - Interstate Conflict and UN Peace-keeping
• Seminar: Opportunities and Limits for UN Security Provision During the Cold War Years

• The Post-Cold War Era - New Challenges of Intergroup Conflict and UN Peace Operations
• From Traditional Peace-keeping to Muscular Peace-enforcement
• Seminar: The Changing Face of Conflict and UN Peace-keeping

Week Four

• Regional Actors and UN Peace-keeping
• UN Member States and Peace-keeping
• Seminar: Partners in Peace-keeping - Policies, Preferences and Relations with the UN

• UN Peace-keeping: Reflections from the Field
• UN Peace-keeping: Reflections from the Secretariat
• Seminar: Practical Experience of UN Peace-keeping Operations

• Major Challenges of UN Peace-keeping
• "New" Focus: Conflict Prevention and Post-Conflict Peace-building
• Seminar: Armed Conflict and UN Peace-keeping: Towards a New Beginning

UNU Peace and Governance Programme academics (with teaching experience and a strong publication record on traditional and non-traditional UN peace-keeping operations and conflict resolution)

UN Peace-keeping Force Commanders, Special Representatives, UNDPKO officers, and key scholarly analysts (chosen from the group of speakers featured during the 1999 UN Day Symposium on "UN Peace-keeping," related UNUPG research project staff and others)

Environmental Institutions and Governance

Environmental institutions play a key role in achieving sustainable development and global environmental governance. This course will focus on global and regional environmental institutions and discuss the role of these institutions in environmental governance and the institutional aspects of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). Special attention will be given to the three major MEAs: the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The curriculum will highlight the scientific basis behind these conventions and its relationship to development of the relevant international legislation. The interlinkages among these MEAs will also be discussed and explored. In-class exercises of scenario development and mock negotiations will be utilized to fully engage the participants.

Week One

• Introduction to International Environmental Institutions (focus: UN system)
• Linkages Between Sustainable Development and Environmental Governance

• Introduction to Scientific Research Behind Various MEAs
• Scientific Interlinkages Between Various Environmental Regimes

• Existing MEAs at Global Level
• Process of MEA Development and Key Players
• Interlinkages Between MEAs

• Climate Change Issues
• Basic Elements of FCCC
• Issues and Themes in Implementation of FCCC

• Desertification - A Global Problem
• Basic Elements of CCD
• Role of CCD at National and Regional Levels

• Themes in Biodiversity
• Basic Elements of CBD
• Worldwide Initiatives Linked to CBD
• Overview of the Whole Course

UNU Environment & Sustainable Development Programme academics, including GEIC and the Institute of Advanced Studies
Academic researchers working on scientific aspects of MEAs
Expert scholars and practitioners involved in development and negotiation of MEAs

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Human Rights: Concepts and Issues

This course is intended to help participants think about human rights and related issues in proper historical, comparative and global perspectives, with a view to finding feasible solutions.

The course will begin by looking at the concept of human rights and the norms behind it in philosophical and theoretical perspectives. Participants will also see how human rights have been perceived and defined in different national, historical and cultural contexts. The second part of the course will review and discuss various roles and activities of international and non-governmental organizations involved in the issue area of human rights. After presentation of an overview and an analysis of legal and political implications, the course will look at case studies on specific institutions, such as the UN Human Rights Commission, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). We will also discuss human right issues and refugee problems in different geographical regions including Palestine, and talk about international human rights in the Post-Cold War world.

• Course Overview
• Review of Human Rights Concepts and Norms

• Human Rights as Domestic and International Issues
• History of Human Rights Discussion and Debate
• Human Rights: Universality and Particularity

• The UN Charter and Human Rights: Intention and Subsequent Unexpected Development
• Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Its Significance
• Effectiveness of UN Actions in the Field of Human Rights

• Overview on Human Rights of Refugees
• Role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
• Role of UNICEF for Children's Rights

• Impact of Political Conflicts on Human Rights
• The Middle East, The Palestinian Refugees and Human Rights
• Economics of Human Rights
• Human Rights in Developing Countries - Preparedness and Adaptability
• Bridging the Gap: Assistance to Developing Countries on Human Rights

• Human Rights and Foreign Policy
• Human Rights and Non-Governmental Organizations
• International Criminal Courts
• Peace-keeping and Human Rights

University professors and scholars specializing in human rights issues.

Officials in human-rights-related organizations including UNHCHR, UNHCR, UNICEF and the UN Commission on Human Rights.

International Trade and Dispute Settlement

The purpose of this course is to acquaint participants with political, economic and legal aspects of international trade in bilateral and multilateral settings and to help them analyse trade issues and trade agreements in an objective perspective.

The course will first review the history and political economy of multilateral trade negotiations and GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and WTO (World Trade Organization), as well as major trade negotiations and agreements, involving both developed and developing countries. It will then analyze the on-going debates on free trade, fair trade, and cultural/structural trade barriers, as well as WTO and alternative dispute settlement mechanisms, with a view to better understanding rule-oriented settlement of trade disputes in general.

• The State and the Market
• Theoretical and Historical Origins of Trade Issues
• International Politics of Trade

• US
• EC/EU
• Japan

• Asia
• Latin America
• Africa

• Open or Closed Regionalism?
• European Integration
• The Americas: NAFTA and MERCOSUR
• Asia-Pacific: APEC and ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA)

• An Overview
• WTO and its Rules
• Multilateral Trade: Decision-Making and Negotiations
• Future Prospects

• The WTO Dispute Settlement System
• Important Recent Cases of Trade Disputes Before the WTO

In-house scholars, university professors and other academics who are trade specialists. Officials of trade-related international organizations, such as WTO and UNCTAD.

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