Dr. David Fernández Puyana

Ambassador and Permanent Observer | United Nations mandated University for Peace to UNESCO in Paris and the United Nations Offices at Geneva and Vienna

Dr. David Fernández Puyana is the Ambassador and Permanent Observer of the the UN University for Peace to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Vienna, and the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. He chairs the Geneva Multilateral Center, which is a diplomatic initiative led by the Shanghai University on Political Science and Law, and UPEACE Geneva. He cooperates with the Foundation Peace without Borders, Geneva Institute for Leadership & Public Policy and the Diplomatic Institute “Doctor José Gustavo Guerrero” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador. He is co-founder of the UNESCO Chair on Peace, Solidarity and Intercultural Dialogue at the University Abat Oliba CEU (Spain).

In 2015-2017, he was appointed by the Director-General of UNESCO to coordinate a “Peace Research” in which thirty-two UN Funds, Programmes and Specialized Agencies analysed the multidimensional notion of peace in the context of the International Decade on the Rapprochement of Cultures (2013-2022). He served as adviser at the UNESCO Liaison Office in Geneva.

He served as legal and diplomatic adviser at the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the UN in Geneva and assisted the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the UN Intergovernmental Open Ended Working Group on the right to peace (2013-2015). He was one of the architects of the Declaration on the Right to Peace adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2016, the first legal peace instrument adopted by the United Nations in the XXI century.

He has an extensive experience with civil society by having worked from 2006 to 2013 with Religions for Peace, Finn Church Aid, UNESCO Etxea and International Association of Peace Messenger Cities. He has served into the Human Rights Office of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Spain.

He has led successful endeavours to sign cooperation agreements and programs with different Ministries of Foreign Affairs and international organizations. He also leads second-track diplomacy processes in different regions of the world, including a long-standing inter-faith dialogue. He is part of different EU mechanisms in encountering anti-Muslim hatred and antisemitism. He is member of the Board of Governors of the Shimon Peres Center on Peace and Innovation.

He obtained the title of Doctor in Law with European Mention by the University of Pompeu Fabra (Spain). He also holds a LLM on Human Rights Law by the University of Essex (UK), an MA on Human Rights Protection by the University of Alcala de Henares (Spain) and MA on International Relations by the University of Pompeu Fabra. He is also graduated in Law, as well as, Philosophy and Education Science by the University of Barcelona and Pompeu Fabra, Spain.

He was appointed in 2017 Associate Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Science and in 2019, member of the Club of Rome. He is also nominated Gender Champion.