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Malaviya
Centre for Peace Research
The ancient city of Varanasi has
traditionally been a site of intercultural and interreligious dialogue and
discourses peace. Continuing this tradition, the
Banaras Hindu
University has taken the lead in
institutionalizing an interdisciplinary centre of peace research and
conflict resolution. Deriving its name from the illustrious founder of the
university, the Malaviya Centre for Peace Research (MCPR) was launched in
1998 under the VIII UGC Plan as the first centre of its kind in the Indian
University system.
Since its inception, the MCPR has established itself globally as a hub
of scholarly and practical activities concerning varied dimensions of
conflict analysis and sustainable peace. The granting of UNESCO Chair
for Peace has been worthy recognition of the continuing peace work.
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UNESCO Chair
for Peace and Intercultural Understanding
UNESCO Chair for Peace and
Intercultural Understanding has been formally established in December
2010 at the Malaviya Centre for Peace Research, Banaras Hindu
University with the following mandate.
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Explore and
highlight the potentials of cultural and, in particular
religious diversity as a resource for peace rather than a
barrier; |
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Create a critical mass of
trained and sensitized peace workers in this particular
field; |
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Create an integrated regional
hub for research, training, information and documentation in
the fields of peace, human rights, conflicts resolution and
human development sensitive to the issues of structural and
cultural diversity; |
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Develop a curriculum for Asian
and African Universities focusing particularly on the
cultural and religious dimension; |
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Promote the preservation of
public spaces of communally inclusive heritage and cultural
practices in India and elsewhere, and sensitize media and
civil society about the common grounds between diverse
cultures; and peace building. |
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Create and reinforce networks
of academic institutions in India and abroad concerned with
intercultural peace and intercultural practices, to initiate
Masters/ PhD programs for peace and development. |
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NEWS AND EVENTS
Professor Priyankar Upadhyaya, UNESCO Chair has participated
in the roundtable discussion on 'Building Just and
Peaceful Societies: UNESCO's contribution to a Culture of Prevention' on the
occasion of International Day of Peace on 21 September 2018
The keenly-awaited UN volume
‘Long
Walk of Peace Towards Conflict Prevention” authored and edited by UNESCO
Chair Professor Priyankar Upadhyaya of BHU was launched in Geneva at the UN
Headquarters on 24 May 2018. Hailing as an epoch-making contribution, the book
presentation was commemorated by many leading UN representatives and
distinguished celebrities, including Michael Moller, Director General of UN at
Geneva, Nada al-Nashif Additional Director General of UNESCO and a large
number of diplomatic community, journalists and academia, from various
Universities NGOs and the general public.
The
Coordinator & UNESCO Chair holder Professor Priyankar Upadhyaya
has been invited by the US President Barack Obama to participate
as an academic expert in a meeting on Peace and Inter-Faith
Understanding at the White House. He will also deliver
a special lecture at Berkeley Centre for Religion, Peace and
Global Affairs, Georgetown on 22 September 2016.
Peace is a
Process:- 21 June 2016, UNESCO hosted a
path-breaking
Consultative Meeting on the
contribution of the UN system to the promotion of peace. The
meeting was attended by heads of 28 United Nations entities (programmes,
funds, specialized agencies and bodies), who discussed the
advancement of the global peace agenda and took stock of the
present situation – and the future of the agenda in the new millennium
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