Center for International Peace and Security
Taking a rights-based approach to the challenges of our times.
The College of Law is developing a new Center that will advance inclusive peace and security, support global organizations and institutions dedicated to human rights, women, peace, and security, and train future advocates.
Taking a rights-based, human-centered, interdisciplinary approach, the Center for International Peace and Security will foster an understanding of the drivers of insecurity, conflict and displacement; the legal and policy frameworks to address them; effective peacebuilding; and a framework for changing the traditional paradigms of peace and security to better reflect the challenges of today’s world.
Students will learn how diverse issues relate to peace and security, and how to analyze peace and security in terms of human rights and gender equality.
Support Our Work
Howard M. Leftwich, PhD spent his entire career at the University of Cincinnati as a faculty member in the Department of Economics and the Center for Organizational Leadership. He also served as head of the department’s graduate program in Labor and Employment Relations.
He was a kind, generous, and caring person who was loved by everyone who knew him. He wanted to see good in the world and had a deep sense of compassion and social justice, which he passed on to his daughter Julie.
He was a bright light that shone in the lives of all who knew him. He was an inspiration.
This fund was established by Howard’s family in his memory to support the Center for International Peace and Security and to honor the legacy that he left behind.
Please join us in honoring his memory and supporting the work that he believed in.
To send a check: Please make checks payable to the UC Foundation, with Howard M. Leftwich Memorial Fund in the memo line or on an accompanying note. Checks can be mailed to the following address:
- Attn: Development Office
- UC College of Law
- PO Box 210040
- Cincinnati, OH 45221
Focus on Practice
Working in close partnership with the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights, Cincinnati Center for the Global Practice of Law, and the School for Public and International Affairs (SPIA) as well as other programs throughout the College of Law and the University, the Center will:
Provide practical learning and experiential opportunities
Expand opportunities for students to directly support the work of global partners
Support peacebuilders, organizations, and institutions dedicated to advancing human rights, gender equality, peace, and security
Facilitate policy-based experiences
Increase connections to government agencies and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) while preparing future advocates and leaders
Provide internship opportunities
Increase post-graduate employment opportunities in the field
Connect students globally, nationally, and locally
Create space for other experts to advance their scholarship and practice
Peacebuilding requires a broader approach, and inclusive security has better outcomes for peace.
There are no sustainable military solutions to contemporary civil conflicts...political and societal dialogue and engagement are needed to sustain peace and shift away from a fragile negative peace (i.e., absence of violence) to a positive and more sustainable one. Our vision of peace must be rooted in universal human rights and social justice. (Sanam Naraghi Anderlini)
Why Peace and Security?
The world is facing increasingly diverse security threats and unprecedented displacement, massive human rights violations, gender-based violence, violent extremism, cyber attacks, and climate disasters. 90% of casualties in today’s conflict are civilians, and 70% are women and children.
Nations cannot be secure if their people are not secure. There is growing recognition of the need to focus on human security, rather than just traditional state security, to get to true and sustainable peace. Human security encompasses things like economic, food, health, and environmental security, political security, personal and community security, and, increasingly, cyber security.
Peace must be fostered not just by the traditional patriarchal power structure, but also by women and all people affected.
It’s not just about protecting states and securing borders. It’s about protecting and empowering people and building resilient societies.
Contact
Julie Leftwich
Director of International Peace and Security Initiatives , College of Law
Julie is an international human rights and women, peace and security expert with extensive experience in rule of law, access to justice, combating sexual and gender-based violence, refugee and asylum law, women’s political and security sector participation, and governance.
An experienced nonprofit and thought leader, Julie has created and led nonprofit organizations and developed and managed programs related to gender justice, women’s rights, and the rule of law in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. She has advised, trained, and published extensively on gender, peace and security, women’s rights, international human rights law, gender-based violence, refugee and asylum law, and human trafficking with audiences including judges, legal practitioners, law enforcement, military, government, social workers, religious and cultural leaders, and civil society.
Prior to joining UC Law, Julie founded and was Executive Director of the Immigrant and Refugee Law Center, where she also represented women seeking asylum from gender violence and brought voice to the rights of migrants.
Julie has worked with many organizations including the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), Freedom House, U.S. Institute of Peace, Women in International Security (WIIS), Our Secure Future, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), National Defense University, International Association of Women Judges, American Association of People with Disabilities, Internews, and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
Additionally, Julie has held adjunct faculty appointments at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Korbel School of International Affairs at the University of Denver.
Julie is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Law/Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights, holds a master's degree in international relations and communications from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and received her bachelor's degree from Brandeis University.