UNESCO. General Conference; 36th; 36 C/5: volume 1: Draft ...

07026 The Director-General proposes to assign the implementation, management and monitoring of the
programme of action to the intersectoral platform on “promotion of a culture of peace and nonviolence”,
which will be responsible for guiding, monitoring and reporting on the implementation
of this programme of action by Sectors collectively. This intersectoral platform will involve senior
staff members from all programme Sectors at Headquarters, from field offices and from relevant
category 1 institutes, including the newly created Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace
and Sustainable Development in Delhi (MGIEP).
07027 UNESCO cannot act alone. As demonstrated during the International Decade for a Culture of
Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, 2001-2010, effective large-scale action will
require a broad and diverse range of stakeholders. The platform will therefore pursue initiatives with
various partners, including the Alliance of Civilizations (AoC), and will promote a diversity of action
by mobilizing diverse stakeholders. These stakeholders include Member States and their National
Commissions, centres and institutes under the auspices of UNESCO (category 2), such as the Asia-
Pacific Centre for Education and Intercultural Understanding (APCEIU) and the International Centre
for Girls and Women’s Education in Africa (CIEFFA), UNESCO Clubs, UNESCO Associated Schools
(ASPnet), UNESCO Chairs, parliamentarians, mayors and their respective international networks,
UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors and Artists for Peace, the United Nations University, the University
for Peace in Costa Rica, NGOs, scientific associations, academia and research centres, journalists and
the media, religious authorities and leaders, national human rights institutions, women’s associations
and youth associations, the private sector and mediators.
07028 The main purpose and strategic focus of the programme of action will be to assist Member States in
preventing conflict and in promoting mutual understanding and reconciliation for a culture of peace
and non-violence among countries, communities and people, in particular through intercultural and
interreligious dialogue in all of UNESCO’s areas of competence.
07029 Reconciliation is an essential component of a culture of peace. It is particularly pertinent to situations in
which long-standing conflict, whether open or latent, is rooted in a culture of mutual suspicion, hostility
or even hatred and in concrete patterns of inequality based on discrimination and asymmetrical power
relations. Many national, ethnic or religious conflicts that have occurred in recent decades in various
regions have shown precisely these features. By removing the bases for emergence or re-emergence of
violence, reconciliation builds personal and social capacity for sustainable peace and contributes to the
attainment of important human developmental goals.
07030 It should be noted that reconciliation as a process is relevant not only for the societies that have been
torn apart by violent conflict, but for any human context where the trauma caused by structural
injustice – discrimination, xenophobia, or various forms of inequality needs to be addressed, and the
attitudes based on stereotypes, misconceptions and fear need to be transformed. Whether it is in big
cities or rural areas of the global North or South, reconciliation is an integral part of building open,
tolerant and peaceful communities.
07031 Fostering reconciliation is therefore among the important challenges facing the international
community today. As stressed during the United Nations High-level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium
Development Goals (MDG Summit) (New York, 20-22 September 2010), countries in situations of
conflict and fragility are furthest away from achieving the MDGs. With only a few years left until
the 2015 deadline to achieve the MDGs, there is a clear need to mobilize resources towards conflictaffected
societies, and to promote reconciliation for durable peace as an integral part of development
strategies.
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