UNESCO Chair in Communication and Culture of Peace

The UNESCO Chair in Communication and Culture of Peace, assigned to Universidad de Lima in Peru since it was created in 2003, has been raising and promoting awareness on the importance of the culture of peace at the university level. This has been possible through a series of activities that have managed to bring together prominent intellectuals and personalities from the academic and professional fields to participate in building a culture that promotes a better quality of life and the development of a society in harmony with and respect for human and cultural values.

Education and Training

One of the most important experiences of the UNESCO Chair in Communication and Culture of Peace held at Universidad de Lima has been the creation of a course for professors, and a workshop-based course and a contest for students of public and private schools called “Cinema, Human Values and Culture of Peace”. This activity, organized for almost ten years, has sought to contribute to the strengthening of the critical thinking of students in secondary education by offering tools that engage them in the language learning and film appreciation with an impact on the culture of peace. This initiative was based on the screening and discussion of outstanding works of world cinematography that were selected due to their significant references to human values such as the right to life, freedom, dialogue and tolerance in the context of the cultural diversity that characterizes our society.

This activity was part of the university extension and social responsibility policies with which Universidad de Lima reaches out the community.

This work has been strengthened in recent years with the development of discussion groups that take place in a space called Intermediate: Communication Issues, organized within the framework of the UNESCO Chair in Communication and Culture of Peace. Discussion groups consist of a series of round-table discussions on various communication issues, as well as those issues that are present in the social universe and that affect the development of a culture of peace. Scholars and professionals that are specialists in their respective fields, and that are convened from different sectors of Peruvian society, participate in each meeting. Each session is held live with the participation of the audience and is recorded with a multi-camera system for its subsequent editing and post-production in digital media. This activity takes place during regular academic terms and lasts approximately 90 minutes in the Room “Rear Window” of the Faculty of Communication. It is transmitted via streaming and recorded in DVD format to be available for a wider public.

Ibero-American Technical Meetings of UNESCO Chairs

Universidad de Lima promoted and organized the first technical meetings of UNESCO Chairs in Communication in Ibero-America. The first meeting was held in Havana, Cuba, as part of the 13th Meeting of the Latin American Federation of Faculties of Social Communication (FELAFACS 2009). The second was held at Universidad de Lima in 2012, also within the framework of the 14th Latin American Meeting of Faculties of Communication (FELAFACS 2012) with technical support and the presence of representatives of UNESCO and Orbicom.

The main objective of these regular technical meetings has been – and still is – seeking a rapprochement between UNESCO Chairs in the Ibero-American region in order to exchange experiences and come up with more specific proposals for mutual cooperation in the upcoming years.