UNESCO IN THE WORLD — UNESCO's PARTNERS
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THE FIRST REGIONAL CONFERENCE OF NATIONAL COMMISSIONS OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE Conference Resolutions Reflect Regional Support for UNESCO’s Programme
Reporting on the work of the first regional conference of National Commissions
of the Western Hemisphere held in Havana to UNESCO’s Executive Board last month,
Mr Jaime Torres Bodet, the Director-General stated:
‘The Conference might have been no more than a meeting for information and study
purposes; even as such it was indispensable, as was shown by the discussions.
But, whether it was a question of fundamental education [...] of teaching about
the United Nations and the Declaration of Human Rights, of the role of the
university on the American continent, or of the development of exchanges of
persons, the Conference, both in its advice to the Secretariat and in its
recommendations to the governments concerned, showed its keen desire for more
regional co-operation within the Organization’.
Mr Torres Bodet added: ‘The fact that, in the case of at least half the
delegations, those who voted for these resolutions were the persons directly
responsible for action, gives me considerable hope that these intentions will
be translated into fact in the near future’.
The desire of National Commissions in the Western Hemisphere to contribute
actively to UNESCO’s programme is reflected in the texts of conference resolutions
relating to important aspects of UNESCO’s work: teaching of human rights and civic
education, technical assistance, fundamental education.
The UNESCO Courier, January/February 1951.
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INTERNATIONAL
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (NGOs)
At the first session of the General Conference, Julian Huxley, at that time
Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission, stressed that UNESCO could
not reasonably be expected to implement a programme so vast and diversified
alone and that it must, whenever possible, be able to count on the assistance
of international organizations of specialists. Article 11 of the Constitution,
supplemented by directives ratified by the General Conference in 1960, 1966 and
1995, confers upon those NGOs recognized by UNESCO very particular, indeed
unique, privileges within the United Nations system, including the right to
participate in drawing up the Organization’s programme.
During its early years, UNESCO helped to set up some of the leading NGOs and
concluded co-operative agreements with others already existing. For education,
the most important were the International Federation of Children’s Communities
(IFCC) created in 1948, the International Association of Universities (IAU),
established in 1950, the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU)
founded in 1919, and with which the Organization signed a co-operative agreement
in 1946. Subsequently, this co-operation grew to embrace a great many
organizations covering the whole spectrum of educational activities, from the
World Organization for Early Childhood Education (OMEP), the International
Council for Adult Education (ICAE) and the various teachers unions (the main
ones have recently merged to form Education International (EI)), to
associations of specialists in different disciplines and those formed
by researchers in the educational sciences. Over 100 NGOs working for the
advancement of education
maintain associate, consultative or operational relations with UNESCO.
Methods of co-operation have, on the one hand, involved the granting of
subsidies to a limited number of organizations to enable them to undertake
documentation services and publish newsletters and, on the other, the issuing
of contracts to allow some NGOs
to contribute to the implementation of UNESCO’s programme by carrying out a
variety of study- training- or information-related activities, or even by
participating in the actual execution of extrabudgetary projects. Collective
consultations on specific themes are organized with specialized NGOs, such as
those arranged periodically on literacy, higher education and education for
peace; co-operation can also take the form of round tables arranged on topical
issues. Some NGOs have also set up working and study groups which contribute to
the definition of strategies and programmes, especially for human rights
education, literacy and education for all.
New directives were adopted in 1995 by the General Conference with a view to
facilitating relations and enlarging co-operation between UNESCO and the
non-governmental community on the threshold of the twenty-first century.
These directives take into account the growing importance of associative life
for international co-operation and of the need for more involvement of civil
society in the activities of the Organization. They also aim at encouraging the
development of networks of associations in the regions of the world where NGOs
remain weak and isolated.
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UNIVERSITIES FOUND FIRST WORLD ASSOCIATION AT NICE CONFERENCE Representatives of universities in 53 countries set up the International Association of Universities (IAU) The world’s first International Association of Universities was set up in Nice, France, last month at a one-week meeting (December 4-10) attended by delegates representing universities in 53 countries. Assembled in the Mediterranean University Centre, more than 200 delegates unanimously approved the constitution and programme of the new association and elected Mr Jean Sarrailh, Rector of the University of Paris as president and Professor S. C. Roberts, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University as vice-president. The main purpose of the Association, whose headquarters will be in Paris is to give universities greater solidarity through mutual assistance. By spreading among universities better knowledge of each other’s curricula and methods of organization, the Association will help to solve such problems as the equivalence of degrees and diplomas issued by higher education authorities in all parts of the world. The UNESCO Courier, January 1951. |
Caption: 5 October: World Teachers' Day Bookmark distributed in celebration of 5 October 1996.
Caption2: Co-operation with Education International (EI) in disseminating information for teachers, using all available communications media, including Internet.
FOOTNOTES
Delegates to the Regional Conference of UNESCO National Commissions in the Western
Hemisphere took part in a ceremony marking the second anniversary of the adoption
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in Havana’s Parliament Building, on
10 December, 1950. They were addressed by Jaime Torres Bodet, UNESCO’s
Director-General.