“THE CULTURE OF PEACE: AN IDEA IN ACTION” SYMPOSIUM NOVEMBER 24-25 AT UNESCO HEADQUARTERS

Paris, November 23 (No.2000-125) - The NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee is organising a symposium on November 24-25 at UNESCO Headquarters entitled The Culture of Peace: An Idea in Action, which is designed to be a contribution from the NGOs to the global movement for a culture of peace.

NGOs have played a fundamental role in defining the conceptual framework and actions in favour of peace and today they play a central role in the implementation of such actions. The NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee became fully involved in the promotion and dissemination of Manifesto 2000, which was written by Nobel Prize laureates and has already been signed by 71 million people around the world.

The symposium will deal with the contribution of non-governmental organisations to the International Year for the Culture of Peace and will draw up proposals for a plan of action for the NGOs for the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010). These proposals will be submitted for adoption at the International Conference of NGOs to be held in July 2001.

The symposium, which will be opened by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura, includes a session entitled Men and Women Committed to Peace: Some Great Witnesses (November 24 at 9.35 a.m.), featuring Greek writer Vassilis Vassilikos, Joseph Ki-Zerbo, a writer from Burkina Faso, and Hildegard Goss-Mayr, from Austria, the Honorary President of IFOR. This session will be moderated by Dan Haulica, President of the UNESCO Executive Board NGO Committee.

A roundtable on the theme of The Culture of Peace: Today’s Challenges will close the first morning. Moderated by Aidan White, Secretary General of the International Federation of Journalists, it will bring together Rut Diamint, Director of Research at the University of Torquata Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Pat Youri, from the African Medical and Research Foundation (Kenya) and Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations. A second roundtable, moderated by Monique Fouilhoux, President of the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee, and bringing together Anwarul Karim Chowdhury and Françoise Rivièere, Executive Director of the Executive Office of the Director-General, will be held on Saturday at 4.00 p.m. on the theme Plan of Action of the NGOs for the Decade, how can the entire community of NGOs be mobilised?

In order to highlight the NGOs’ contributions, but also to allow them to contribute in their specific fields, eight workshops - following the eight topics of the UN Action Plan for a Culture of Peace - will be run (on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning) and are expected to make concrete recommendations. Bangladeshi writer and activist Taslima Nasreen will take part in the workshop on equality between women and men.

 

****