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APPEAL ADOPTED BY THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM "FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM" Baden-Baden, Germany, 20 August 1998
- Express our full support for the efforts of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) aimed at the elaboration and promotion of the concept of a culture of peace, presented by the Director-General of UNESCO, Mr Federico Mayor, in the document 154 EX/42 "Preliminary Consolidated Report to the United Nations on a Culture of Peace", and the implementation of the project "Towards the Culture of Peace" which prove the determination of the world community to enter the 21st century and the Third Millennium, leaving behind the culture of war and the logic of force which have prevailed over the force of reason for thousands of years; - Welcome the decision of the United Nations General Assembly in resolution 52/15 which proclaims the year 2000 as the International Year for the Culture of Peace. - We are aware that in order to achieve the transfer from the culture of war to a culture of peace, humanity must be ready to recognize its failures: the ineffectiveness of the development policies adopted to date, the ineffectiveness of measures which ignore the individual and continue to engender marginality, poverty and frustration, we must also recognize that the exclusion, poverty and injustice which are at the root of may of today's conflicts result from reductionist concept of the individual; - We are convinced that a culture of peace is closely connected with a culture of human rights and democracy and that peace cannot be built and preserved if basic rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups are violated and when discrimination and exclusion generate conflict; - We underline that education for peace, human rights, democracy, international understanding and tolerance are particularly important because peace and democracy cannot be built in a single day and because most effective protection for peace and democracy is provided by an educated and responsible public;.
We, scientists and educators, are able of making an important contribution to the building of a culture of peace and dialogue. We, as intellectuals who can influence the minds of other people, are responsible for inculcating the values of respect for human life, cultural diversity, tolerance, non-violence, dialogue, justice, freedom, and personal responsibility which form the basis of peace. Taking into account the complexity of the present day's world, we must establish forums for scientific, intellectual and ethical planning in preparation for the twenty-first century. We, representatives of science and culture, appeal to our colleagues in different countries to mobilize their efforts aimed at the promotion of a culture of peace. To understand the part each individual has to play in the construction of peace is essential for developing a wide international movement in support of constructing the defences of peace in the minds of men. We must develop scientific research and education for a culture of peace by preparing educational materials using a wide variety of media technologies and languages. Training for a culture of peace must transmit the skills of transforming conflict into co-operation, in particular in finding solutions to common problems and developing joint projects. We appeal to the United Nations Economic and Social Committee to proclaim the Decade for Education for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence starting from the year 2001 in order to mobilize the whole of the world community for the implementation of these tasks. |
