MAIN THRUSTS — INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING AND A CULTURE OF PEACE
 1993
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INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION,
FROM PEACE KEEPING TO PEACE BUILDING With the end of the cold war and the emergence of violent ethnic and cultural conflicts in many parts of the world, (11) the entire United Nations System, including UNESCO, has taken on new challenges and responsibilities in the search for peace. Since the roots of war and violence exist within nations as well as between them, now more than ever before, education must stand at the heart of any strategy of peace building. A culture of peace must address and transform the root causes of conflict, not only the historical, political, and economic origins, but also the attitudes and behaviour of individuals and groups. UNESCO’s efforts join those undertaken during recent years by the United Nations system (12) to provide a comprehensive framework of reference and action for peace, human rights and democracy, culminating in the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2005). The Organization’s special contribution is the Declaration and the Integrated Framework of Action on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy, elaborated in 1994 by the International Conference on Education and endorsed by UNESCO’s General Conference the following year. |
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PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP IN CHILDREN'S DRAWINGS 
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The new multidisciplinary and intersectoral project Towards a Culture of Peace launched
in 1994, provides a framework for integrated action in countries suffering the effects of
armed conflict.(13)
Programmes are prepared by a Forum for Education and Culture of Peace, (14) which emphasizes
education, both formal and non-formal, the reconstruction of education systems, training,
especially for peace-managers in conflict-managing techniques, and the establishment of
UNESCO Chairs on Peace. Priority groups are refugees and displaced persons, demilitarized
soldiers including child-soldiers, women and young people.
Learning to live together is one of the four pillars of education proposed by the Delors
Commission (15). Developing an understanding of others, of their history, their traditions
and their spirituality, would create a new spirit which would induce people
to implement common projects and to manage potential conflicts in a peaceful way.
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Wars and civil strife have resulted in an enormous number of casualties among
children, as reflected in estimated, but no less devastating statistics: in the last ten years,
almost 2 million children have perished and between 4 and 5 million more have some kind of
war-related disabilities. Nearly twelve million children have been uprooted, and numberless
boys and girls are facing the ever greater risks posed by disease and malnutrition, and
separation from their families. International law sets forth childhood protection regulations
applicable to war situations.
These international regulations must be implemented with maximum rigour in order to create
islands of peace for the benefit of children. UNICEF, founded with the mission of providing
emergency aid to children in the wake of world war II, is advancing an Anti-War Programme
which includes a series of practical and vital actions - which UNESCO fully supports -
intended to stem the rising tide of violence. The elimination of the military draft for
youngsters under 18, the ban on the manufacture, use, storage and sale of anti-personnel
land mines, and sterner surveillance and prosecution of war crimes, are among the main
issues contained in the Programme. The Programme also calls for international support to
foster long-term development, reconciliation, rehabilitation and education for peace,
UNESCO’s ultimate objective.
ED-96/MINEDLAC VII/3, 1996.
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Attiya Inayatullah (Pakistan) President of the Executive Board of UNESCO from 1993 to 1995 We refer to a respect for cultural pluralism in which cultural tolerance is not based only on a passive acceptance of the right of other cultural groups, including minorities, but implies, further, an active and empathetic knowledge of those cultures resulting in mutual respect and understanding. International Conference on Education, Geneva, 1994
Colin N. Power (Australia) Final Report of the European Conference on Curriculum Development: Civic Education in Central and Eastern Europe, Vienna, October 1995
Federico Mayor (Spain) Speech given at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Oslo, November 1995
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FOOTNOTES:
(11) From 1989 to 1994, out of ninety armed conflicts, only four took the form of wars between
states; eighty-six were internal conflicts resulting from ethnic differences, territorial
claims, religious extremism or nationalistic prejudices.
(12) The United Nations’ Agenda for Peace (1992), the World Plan of Action on Education for
Human Rights and Democracy (Montreal, 1993), the Declaration and Programme of Action of
the World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna, 1993), the United Nations Year of Tolerance,
1995.
(13) Such as Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Congo, El Salvador, Haiti,
Mozambique, Rwanda, etc.
(14) Forum for Education and Culture of Peace in El Salvador (1993), in Brazzaville,
Congo (1994), in Bujumbura, Burundi (1994); Regional Seminar on the Culture of Peace
in Khartoum, Sudan (1995).
(15) Learning: the Treasure Within. Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on
Education for the Twenty-first Century, Jaques Delors et al., Paris, UNESCO, 1996.
TO KNOW MORE (see also CD-ROM, vol.I)