Every two years, the residents of the Cité internationale organise L’Université de la paix – the University of Peace – a week of debates on the major challenges that must be met to promote peace and harmonious coexistence. The event provides an opportunity for the 12,000 students and researchers living on campus, as well as the general public, to debate together alongside guest researchers and other personalities. The last edition, in 2019, focused on the climate emergency.
The Université de la paix allows the international students living on the campus to compare and contrast their world views with those of their co-residents as well as famous figures and experts from all walks of life. Over three days of talks and debates, participants are invited to discuss a theme related to peace and to come up with some recommendations to help people live together more harmoniously.
To bring together some of the intellects that are the hope of tomorrow and to make them realise that people, despite the diversity of their origins and the traditions that have formed them, are not as different from each other as they imagine.
In a world where the impact of climate change is becoming a daily reality and where geopolitical balances are being redrawn, humanity, and in particular the younger generations, will have to face unprecedented challenges. Water scarcity is one of them. It currently affects 700 million people in 43 countries. The series will be launched by writer and academician Erik Orsenna, guest of honour, and Blanca Jiménez Cisneros, Mexico’s ambassador to France, who will be speaking on “The diplomacy of water”.
Climate change is an ecological, political, food and energy crisis that does not affect all countries in the same way. What are the next steps in achieving true climate justice? Is legal constraint an effective means, or even the only means, of preventing environmental destruction? This is the programme for the 7th Université de la paix.
Analysing crises in democracy from a cross-disciplinary and international perspective and identifying best practices and new, more inclusive and more participatory organisational structures was the aim of the 6th edition of the Université de la paix, organised by 20 houses of the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris.
The 5th edition of the Université de la paix examined the major issues linked to the climate emergency. How can we bring about a radical change in our lifestyles? How can we re-establish a balance that is now seriously compromised? How can we change the way we consume?
Artificial intelligence, cybercrime, fake news, big data, transhumanism… Questions about the challenges and threats of new technologies for our democracies abound. The Cité internationale organised the 4th edition of the Université de la paix on the theme of democracy and digital technology.
The 3rd edition of the University for Peace focused on the theme of “Innovations and peace”In what ways can advances in the exact sciences and humanities be a vehicle for peace and contribute to nurturing the principles of generosity, exchange and sharing? With the participation of Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, and Jean-Claude Ameisen, Honorary President of the French National Consultative Ethics Committee.
The 2nd edition of the University of Peace looked at the theme of Peace and Migration, a topic that came to the fore as a result of the many questions raised by the exceptional migratory movement in the Middle East and Europe in 2016. It was approached from the angle of reception and the problems linked to the arrival in the countries most directly concerned of populations with different profiles. With the participation of António Guterres, former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The Cité internationale was born in the aftermath of the First World War, from the dream and desire of personalities engaged in public life and exceptional philanthropists. They wanted to do their bit to build a more peaceful world by creating a place devoted to international dialogue.
The residents of the Cité internationale play an active role in organising political, social and cultural activities on campus. They engage with the major contemporary social issues, setting up collaborative projects and organising debates and events on campus throughout the year.