Heritage

Contentsannex i – unesco and peace education115UNESCO advocates strongly for the inclusion of human rights principles and valueswithin the education system, and encourages UN Member States to draw up nationalplans of action for human rights education. Action is concentrated in those areas whereUNESCO has a special mandate, these being: generating and sharing knowledge, protectinghuman rights, renewing and reinforcing commitment to human rights educationand providing advisory services and technical assistance to Member States.The UNESCO Recommendation concerning education for international understanding.An important instrument for peace education was adopted by the General Conferenceof UNESCO during its 18 th session: the Recommendation concerning Education forInternational Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Education relating to HumanRights and Fundamental Freedoms (1974). The notion of peace education receiveda new interpretation, and concrete goals and approaches were defined, buildingon the basic assumption: ‘Peace can be learned’. The Recommendation is intended topromote these aims through education.In the past decades, UNESCO has taken the lead in various initiatives of the UnitedNations to promote human rights and peace education:• 1995-2004 was designated the UN Decade for Human Rights. UNESCOwas assigned a key role in the development, implementation and evaluation ofvarious projects by providing training, information, fellowships and advisoryservices programmes to Member States and developing model human rights curricula,pedagogical techniques and teaching materials for primary and secondaryschools.• UNESCO played a major role in the implementation of the World Programmefor Human Rights Education (WPHRE). As a follow-up to the UN Decade forHuman Rights Education (1995-2004), the United Nations General Assemblyproclaimed the World Programme on 10 December 2004 in order to advancethe implementation of human rights education programmes in all sectors.• 2000 was declared International Year for the Culture of Peace, with the worldwideaction Manifesto 2000 produced by a group of Nobel Peace Prize laureateswith the help of UNESCO.• 2001-2010 was pronounced International Decade for a Culture of Peace andnon-Violence for the Children of the World. The latter aimed at the creationof an international convention on a culture of peace and non-violence. For this,