The United Nations and International Peacebuilding in Central America
Submitted by Steve Dickinson
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Standards:
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Unit Timeframe:
Fifteen 40-minute class periods
Unit Overview:
The overall goal for this unit is for students to understand the significance of the United Nations' international peacebuilding efforts in the geographic and historical contexts of Central America. Students will examine situations where the UN has been asked to intervene, and study the comparative effectiveness of the different approaches that have been attempted in El Salvador and Guatemala. They will communicate their assessments and conclusions to other students in their class and school, and to teachers and parents, through oral reports, and the creation of poster presentations and/or power point presentations. All presentations and communications will be evaluated.
Context:
Students have successfully completed a year and a half of Spanish at the high school level. They are able to use the present and future tenses with facility and have a beginning working knowledge of the simple past, imperfect, and subjunctive tenses. They have learned a simple Spanish vocabulary relevant to the study of questions of human rights and responsibilities, peacemaking, and the growth of democracy. They are students in a high school, Community of Peace Academy, in St. Paul, Minnesota, which is inspired and informed by a philosophy of personal ethics and national and international peacebuilding. They have also completed a section in their social studies course that introduces them to the philosophy, structures and objectives of the work of the United Nations Organization. This unit is part of an effort to expand the foreign language curriculum to reflect and promote the ethos of the school, to deepen students' understanding of the work of the UN in specific countries to which it has been invited, and to help equip them to contribute positively as citizens.
General Unit References and Resources:
Holiday, David and William Stanley. (1997, June). En la mejor de las circunstancias: ONUSAL y los desafíos de la verificación y el fortalecimiento institucional en El Salvador. Estudios Centroamericanos, No. 584. El Salvador, pp. 549-571.
Montgomery, Tommie, Getting to Peace in El Salvador: The Role of the United Nations Secretariat and ONUSAL. Journal of Inter-American Studies and World Affairs, Vol. 37, No. 4, Winter 1995, pp 139-172.
Ponciano Castellanos, Karen. El rol de la sociedad civil en los procesos de paz de Guatemala y El Salvador (Procesos de negociación comparados), Guatemala, INCEP, 1996.
Ríos, Mayrand. El proceso de paz en centroamérica y su impacto en el desarrollo de la democracia. Relaciones Internacionales, No. 46, Costa Rica, 1994, pp 23-30.
United Nations, Guatemala-MINUGUA. United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala, http://www.un.org/Depts/DPKO/Missions/minugua.htm , 1997.
United Nations, El Salvador-ONUSAL.United Nations Observer Mission in El Salvador, Background, http://www.un.org/Depts/DPKO/Missions/onusal_b.htm , 1996.
Woodrow Wilson Center, comp., El Proceso de Paz en Guatemala: Logros y Desafíos, Latin American Program, Washington, Woodrow Wilson Center, 1999.
The United Nations and International Politics. Stephen Ryan. St. Martin's Press. New York, 2000. The United Nations' contribution to international peace and security, pp. 159-166.
United Nations in the Contemporary World. David J. Whitaker. Routledge. London, 1997. Peacekeeping, pp.45-56.
Past Imperfect, Future Uncertain. Editor, Ramesh Thakur. MacMillan. London, 1998.
- Cooperating for Peace, pp 33-46.
- The UN and Mediation of International Disputes, pp.47-62.
- UN Peacekeeping: Cosmetic or Comprehensive?‚ pp.63-84.
- Promoting Peacemaking and Peacekeeping: The role and Perspective of the International Peace Academy, pp.205-218.
Understanding the United Nations, UN Association of MN
Websites:
www.arias.or.cr
http://www.un.org/
http://www.un.org/spanish/spatxt.htm
http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/spanish/index.asp
Links or files for unit content: A new window will open for each lesson.
Lesson 1: Background of the Peace Process in Central America
Lesson 2: Peacebuilding in El Salvador and Guatemala
Lesson 3: Preparing Posterboard and Power Point Presentations
Unit Assessment