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David Fernández Puyana
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David Fernández Puyana
The Blogs
David Fernández Puyana
Ambassador and Permanent Observer of UPEACE
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Joining efforts for Peace-Building in Armenia

Photo courtesy of the author
Photo courtesy of the author

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6 AND 7, 2022 . Within the context of a regional UPEACE mission to the South Caucasus countries, Dr. David Fernandez Puyana, Ambassador, Permanent Observer of the University for Peace to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva, maintained high level meetings in both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Armenia. The visit to Armenia was organized by the Diplomatic School of Armenia.

On 6 October a meeting was held with Mr. Artak Papoyan, Head of the Department for Foreign Relations and Diaspora of MESCS at the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports in order to extend the cooperation with the Armenian universities. UPEACE offered to the academic community of Armenia a wide range of higher education studies in the field of peace and security, international and environment law, diplomacy or human rights.

On 7 October a lecture on the role of education in maintaining peace and protecting human rights took place at the Diplomatic School of Armenia. Based on the agreement of cooperation signed between UPEACE and the Diplomatic School of Armenia, this joint activity was a follow-up of the successful first ever training on human rights in the multilateral level, which was organized for Armenian diplomats on May 23 and 24, 2022, at the United Nations Office in Geneva. Both institutions agreed to reinforce their partnership.

Later a meeting was held with Ms. Karine Sujuyan, Head of the Department of Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the purpose of exploring further cooperation in the field of multilateralism, peace and human rights.

Throughout the visit Ambassador Puyana had meetings with Ambassador Vahe Gabrielyan, Director of the Diplomatic School to discuss further implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the parties and to extend the scope of activities by embracing new ideas and initiatives of cooperation aimed at education for peace and human rights.

About the Author
Dr. David Fernández Puyana was born in Spain and is a practitioner and international lawyer specialized in international human rights law, international relations, peace studies, United Nations and civil society movements. He earned a Phd with European Mention and he has also a Degree on Law & Philosophy, as well as, some Masters on Human Rights (Essex, Alcala de Henares and Barcelona Universities). He served as adviser at the UNESCO Liaison Office and the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the UN in Geneva. As a legal assistant of the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the UN Intergovernmental Working Group on the right to peace, he was one of the architects of the Declaration on the Right to Peace adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2016. He advises Paz sin Fronteras and is Professor of Public International Law at Abat Oliba University CEU. Since June 2018, he serves as Ambassador and Permanent Observer of the University for Peace established by the UN General Assembly to the UN and UNESCO. He is also nominated Gender Champion.