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

(9.1) Mr AL-MASHAT (Iraq), Chairperson of Commission V (Translation from the Arabic):
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Madam President, Mr Director-General,
distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, in my capacity as Chairperson of Commission V, I should like to
read the Commission’s report on items relating to the culture of peace. During the meetings at which the
Commission considered Major Programme IV, “Towards a communication and information society for all”, there
were two major debates, and a number of the points raised in the course of those debates had to do with the role
played by the information and communication media in strengthening the culture of peace. The first debate was
devoted to consideration of paragraphs 3.3, 4.5 and 7.6, while the second was concerned more particularly with
paragraph 3.3, which relates to Subprogramme IV.1.1, “Freedom of expression, democracy and peace”. These two
debates, inevitably, devoted considerable attention to the question of strengthening the culture of peace through the
information media. From the outset, the Director-General’s representative emphasized that UNESCO’s activities
relating to strengthening the culture of peace through and by means of the information media were fully consistent
with the resolution recently adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on the Declaration and
Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, which states that “A culture of peace is a set of values, attitudes,
traditions and modes of behaviour and ways of life based on ... respect for and promotion of the rights of everyone
to freedom of expression, opinion and information”, and “The fuller development of a culture of peace is integrally
linked to ... ensuring the free flow of information at all levels and enhancing access thereto”. Moreover, the
Programme of Action clearly acknowledges the pioneering role played by UNESCO in strengthening the culture of
peace. Article 15 of the Programme of Action sets forth a number of activities aimed at supporting participatory
communication and the free flow of information and knowledge for a culture of peace. In that connection, the
Director-General’s representative remarked (and his remarks were subsequently reiterated by the Assistant
Director-General in charge of the Unit for Freedom of Expression and Democracy, Mr Modoux) that Major
Programme IV was the first programme expressly to recall, in the context of UNESCO, the transdisciplinary
project “Towards a culture of peace” and to incorporate it in its activities, as repeatedly suggested by a number of
Member States. The objective here is to strengthen the coordination of activities concerned with communication for
peace. Many representatives of Member States and other speakers took the floor to comment on this issue, and
ultimately a consensus emerged in favour of support for the continuation and strengthening of UNESCO’s
activities aimed at putting the media into the service of a culture of peace. I should like to mention three areas that
aroused particular interest in that connection.
(9.2) First, referring to areas of conflict, many speakers emphasized the need for a free press during the
transition period and during reconstruction, to strengthen the important role played by independent media in areas
of conflict in making unbiased information available to the local residents. As was rightly observed, this has been
one of the main activities carried out by UNESCO over the past six years. Concurrently, its programme of support
for the media has grown steadily and has attracted increased support, both financial and non-financial, from a
variety of sources. These resources have been applied to the implementation of many activities.
(9.3) Secondly, many delegations emphasized the importance of ensuring the safety of journalists working in
areas of conflict or tension. This has been one of UNESCO’s major concerns for a long time now, as is apparent
from its activities aimed at ensuring that those who commit crimes against journalists will be punished, its
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