Address by Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO on the occasion of the International Conference on the Human Right to Peace UNESCO s Contribution to Building Peace Santiago de Compostela, 9 December 2010 Dear Rector, Your Excellency and Dear Friend, Dr Federico Mayor, thank you for your kind words, Your Excellency Mr Mario Soares, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a pleasure and an honour to be with the Foundation for a Culture of Peace and the Forum 2010. Federico Mayor, I wish to thank you again for your energy and vision in pursuit of the initiative of a culture of peace that was launched during your mandate as UNESCO Director-General. I am grateful also to Manuel de Dios Diz, President of Seminario Galego de Educacion para la Paz and to Dr Ramón Sánchez Rodríguez and the UNESCO Chair of the Culture of Peace and Human Rights. Newly created this year, this Chair embodies the goal we all share to promote peace through dialogue and human rights. It is an honour to be at the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. There was no better place to speak on UNESCO s role in building peace. For more than five centuries, this University has served as a place of scholarship, and much more. This was one of the great platforms of the renaissance and the DG/2010/138 Original: Multilingual
rebirth of humanism, thanks to which we still speak of humanism today. This university and this city, thanks to this learning and the well-worn path of Compostelle, have always been at the heart of Europe. The importance of connecting with the hearts and minds of people is also UNESCO s mandate. Next week, we are celebrating UNESCO s 65 th anniversary. In London, sixty five years ago, UNESCO s mission was defined as that of building peace through cooperation in education, science, culture, communication and information. I have always thought that UNESCO is guided by an essential humanism. To cite our Constitution: If wars start in the minds of men and women; it is in the minds of men and women that the defences of peace must be built. As Federico has mentioned the UNESCO Constitution, I would say this charter is one of the most inspiring agreements reached after the Second World War. Building a culture of peace lies at the heart of this project. Above all, this is a culture of peace-building. This means empowering individuals with the skills to live lives of dignity, where they are able to make choices and develop as they wish. The UN General Assembly designated UNESCO to lead the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World that closes this year, 2010. This objective has underpinned all of our activities. As we approach the end of the decade, we know the challenges that remain. We cannot say that the world is safe when over one billion people live in extreme poverty. Societies are not secure when people lack access to education and health, when human practices threaten the environment, when women do not enjoy equal rights. Our future is thrown into question when over eight million children die each year before the age of five, when conflicts remain aflame across the globe. New times call on us to rethink how to build the defences of peace. DG/2010/138 - Page 2
The inherent dignity and human rights of every individual must remain the starting point for all action and the measure of its success. This is the foundation for sustainable development which, itself, provides the basis for lasting peace. Individuals must have the right to participate in global developments and to express their views but they also need the skills to do so. Building peace starts in the classroom, with ensuring access to quality learning for every child and adult. This goal underpins UNESCO s work in leading Education for All. Education is a force for social change, for healthier and more inclusive societies, and for growth and development. Education is the common denominator of success for of all the Millennium Development Goals. Education is a source of revival after societal shocks. This is why UNESCO is supporting the recovery of Pakistan s education system after the devastating floods. This is why we are active in Iraq in teacher training and the rehabilitation of higher education. Gender equality is a vital part of the equation for peace. Exclusion and marginalization weaken societies and undermine overall development. Being born a girl today is still a primary cause for exclusion. Globally, girls are more likely to never enter primary school than boys. Women represent two-thirds of the world s 800 million illiterate population. Violence against girls and women remains a shocking reality. Empowering girls and women is a sure path to peace and sustainable development. Study after study demonstrates the positive impact of girls education on child and maternal health, on poverty reduction and economic growth. Needs are sharper in situations affected by conflict. UNESCO is active here. To increase literacy in Afghanistan, we are reaching out to 600,000 learners across 18 provinces, with women and girls as the priority. DG/2010/138 - Page 3
Women are powerful agents for reconciliation. We see this in conflict zones around the world, where women are often the greatest anchors of peace. This role must be recognized and empowered. Ladies and Gentlemen, Culture is another strategic direction for strengthening the defences of peace in the 21st century. Pressures are rising with globalization, and so are the points of friction between and within communities. In our increasingly complex societies, we know only too well the dangers of the breakdown of dialogue and the rise of hatred. The stakes are high. Promoting intercultural and interfaith dialogue through education, the arts, and the media is the best answer to intolerance. Culture can be a force for prevention and for regeneration. As we have seen in Haiti, it can be a source of revival and solidarity at the most difficult times. We need to protect all that people hold in common and strengthen the ties that bind communities together. Culture lies at the heart of this project. Culture can help to re-establish ties broken by conflict. The reinstallation of the Aksum Obelisk returned by Italy to Ethiopia in 2005 showcased the healing powers of culture. The rebuilding of the Old Bridge of Mostar under UNESCO s stewardship embodies the power of culture and heritage to restore dialogue. The need to bridge cultures through dialogue is vital for so many other parts of the world. UNESCO is guided by these objectives as leader of the 2010 International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures. Cultural diversity is a tremendous resource for all humanity. We must promote the dialogue of cultures at every level in order to challenge the myths of difference as threat and diversity as weakness. DG/2010/138 - Page 4
In this context, it is essential that we deepen the cooperation we have today the Alliance of Civilizations, which is an inspiring political project. Ladies and Gentlemen, UNESCO role s is also to raise and explore the hard questions of our time. There is no lack of tough questions today. I wish to highlight three with you. First, how can we address the rise of violent youth radicalization? Many societies today feature large bodies of unemployed youth, who lack education, skills and prospects -- in a context of changing family structures, rapid urbanization, and rising perceptions of marginalization. The youth equation holds the key to the future of many countries especially those experiencing tensions or emerging from conflict. I see the 2010/2011 International Year of Youth Dialogue and Mutual Understanding as an important opportunity to explore and recognize the key role of youth as active stakeholders in peace and development processes. A second question concerns migration and the art of living together in ever-more heterogeneous societies. Recent figures released by the United Nations are staggering highlighting massive movements between countries in the North (53 million), between countries in the South (61 million) as well as between the North and the South (62 million from South to North and 14 million from North to South). At the same time, there is the reverse trend of restrictions on the freedom of movement. Capital has never been so free to move, but people face new barriers in many parts of the world. The tensions at the heart of migration make it one of the great questions for the century ahead. UNESCO is active in this area. For instance, we created two weeks ago a UNESCO Chair on this question at the University Nations University in DG/2010/138 - Page 5
Bruges, Belgium. We should also deepen our cooperation with this university through the UNESCO Chair we have created. Finally, how to respond more effectively to post conflict and post disaster situations? Take disasters, for example. 2010 has been marked by the earthquake in Haiti and record floods in Pakistan, by tsunami, volcanic and seismic activity, floods and drought, from Chile to the Indonesian archipelago. Right now, Colombia and Indonesia are suffering from flooding. Conflicts and disasters undermine the very foundations of peace. We must act from the start of recovery and reconciliation efforts to rebuild societies on solid grounds. Education and culture must be first priorities, along with material reconstruction. Both hardware and software are necessary to build back better. This objective guides UNESCO in rebuilding the educational system in Haiti and in Pakistan. These questions call on us to make the most of UNESCO s unique multidimensional mandate and approach. I launched the High Level Panel on Peace and Dialogue among Cultures with this objective -- to explore how to build peace and reconciliation through education, the sciences and culture. The launch meeting occurred last February. The next meeting will be in March at the United Nations in New York, to mark the end of the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures and the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World. The discussions of the Panel will contribute to developing a new draft programme of action for a culture of peace. New times call for new thinking and new approaches, but the core challenge we face remains the same -- to build a singular and lasting human community, where all are equally empowered to live lives of dignity and respect. DG/2010/138 - Page 6
I have called this new humanism, and I believe it must be the red thread weaving through all UNESCO programmes. This calls for ensuring that every child goes to school and receives a quality education. It calls for achieving gender equality and giving women and men equal access to knowledge and power. This new humanism also means a better grasp of our environment, by understanding and anticipating the consequences of climate change. It means also protecting humanity s great cultural diversity, along with biodiversity. The foundations of peace lie with each individual s ability to imagine a better world and to shape reality in this direction. This idea also drives the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, dedicated for centuries to learning as the source of dignity and peace. Thank you for listening. DG/2010/138 - Page 7