UNESCO. General Conference; 30th; Records ... - unesdoc - Unesco

and concrete projects which should be characterized by peaceful, critical and thoughtful behaviour amongst all
people. The Commission strongly insisted on a vision of a culture of peace which has its foundation in a simple
proclamation of general and positive principles. These should permeate the community and the classroom and
should guide the learning experience at every level of education and training.
3.3 UNESCO is on the right track. The strategies which underpin the activities under way or foreseen should
be viewed positively - they are not merely a catalogue of good intentions for the teaching of values in schools;
rather, they are designed to lead to integrated national policies and practices covering all subsectors of education.
The Commission complimented the Education Sector on its efforts to reorient and regroup ongoing activities in
an integrated approach in conformity with the recommendations of the Executive Board. The content of
programmes and projects in education for human rights, tolerance, democracy and international understanding
received special approval. Many delegates felt that the dynamism and innovative character of the ever-growing
network of Associated Schools, which contributes to the culture of peace and is creating a strong momentum,
should not, however, result in a loss of educational quality. Multilingual education as well as physical education
and sport constitute important elements in the overall strategy of the transdisciplinary project, debated by the
Commission. The representative of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference and Indigenous Peoples emphasized that
cultural and ethnic challenges comprise both opportunities and responsibilities and stated that pluralism must be
both the foundation and the pillar of social cohesion.
3.4 The activities under way permeate and give character to the entire Education Sector. The strategy for a
culture of peace in education aims at encouraging action plans in favour of young children; it covers sport and the
work of the Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport (CIGEPS), whose new orientation is
strongly characterized by the principle of tolerance; the strategy also seeks a real articulation between the culture
of peace and UNESCO’s fields of competence, education, science, culture and communication. It is aimed at
young people in the formal education system without forgetting those who are excluded through lack of access. It
recognizes the necessity for a reform of educational programmes, whose content should be based on practical
experiences in and out of school designed to promote a better civic spirit. It advocates gender-specific
approaches and is particularly concerned with disadvantaged groups - the handicapped, the poor, those excluded
from education, minorities that are culturally or linguistically oppressed, and the victims of war or the occupation
of their territory.
3.5 The measures envisaged go beyond the transmission of knowledge since they aim at generating a
constant questioning of the status quo; more particularly they seek to transform social behaviour with a view to
promoting peace and the capacity to live together. Several participants strongly insisted on the need for a
coherent and holistic approach in which human rights would underpin all types of teaching and serve as an ethical
filter that would imbue the content and orient the objectives of education.
3.6 Many Member States presented initiatives under way in their countries to promote the culture of peace
through education. For example, the Republic of Korea requested the Commission’s support for the
establishment of an Asia-Pacific Centre for International Understanding. Australia referred to a specific project
on peace education in South Australia, France spoke of its programme in Civic Education and Human Rights.
Canada tabled four strategies for peace education. New Zealand stressed the importance of exchanging and
sharing best practices. Several other countries, notably Belarus, Georgia, Mexico, Peru, the Russian Federation
and Ukraine, considered that multilingual education is an excellent way of contributing to a culture of peace.
From these debates emanated an urgent call to reject verbal criticism and mere reflection in favour of positive
action to promote peace by targeting concrete results, such as the Flame of Peace in Mali, the Moratorium on
Light Weapons in West Africa, the University of Peace in Costa Rica and the Inter-American Institute for Human
Rights. Many commented on the need to establish national programmes and plans related to education for a
culture of peace and, in particular, on the importance of national action plans to develop human rights education.
The support of UNESCO in these areas was requested. Certain countries (notably Germany, Canada, Costa Rica,
Côte d’Ivoire, Finland, France and the Netherlands) referred to the impetus given by the recommendations of the
Executive Board on the Strategy for Human Rights Education. Others, including Canada, Spain and Finland,
praised the work of the Consultative Committee on Education for Peace, Human Rights, Democracy,
International Understanding and Tolerance. It also emerged that the fight against poverty, inequality and social
exclusion (as mentioned by Algeria, Cuba, Ecuador, Hungary and the United Republic of Tanzania), the specific
needs of excluded groups such as refugees and immigrants and their right to education, and the particular
situation of indigenous peoples, constitute key elements of a true policy in human rights education.
3.7 Several delegates (Barbados, Romania, Norway and Uzbekistan) drew attention to the impressive
educational innovations of the pilot projects of the Associated Schools such as the “Young People’s World
Heritage Education Project”, “Breaking the Silence on Teaching about the Transatlantic Slave Trade” and the
Caribbean Sea project. These have resulted in creative educational materials such as the Peace Pack and the
World Heritage Education Kit. A number of delegates (Denmark, Iceland and Tunisia) suggested wider use of
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