UNESCO's work on education for peace and non-violence: building peace through education

The promotion of peace through education is at the heart of UNESCO’s mission. As stated in its constitution of 1945, UNESCO advances international peace and the common welfare of humanity through educational, scientific and cultural relations between peoples of the world. Though the world has changed over the past sixty years and continues to change at an ever increasing rate, UNESCO’s mission - a commitment to promoting universal values of peace and nonviolence, human rights and social justice, intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding – persists with growing urgency. UNESCO’s approach to educating for peace is multidimensional, in that it links education with a range of activities that address the root causes of violence, from human security to sustainable development. The goal of UNESCO’s education programmes and partnerships is the development of comprehensive systems of education that embrace the values of human rights, intercultural understanding and tolerance. Education for peace and non-violence promotes the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours that reflect and inspire these values. As the lead agency within the UN system for the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, 2001- 2010, UNESCO is responsible for coordinating and directly implementing activities that promote the objectives of the Decade through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information. The culture of peace is defined as a set of values, attitudes, modes of behaviour and ways of life that reject violence and aim to prevent conflicts by tackling their root causes through dialogue and negotiation between individuals, groups and nations. UNESCO promotes the culture of peace through an intersectoral platform. This platform involves all five sectors of UNESCO: education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information. It seeks to mainstream intercultural dialogue in policies and actions with the aim of promoting mutual understanding, tolerance and respect, all of which are considered to be creative forces for a sustainable future. The intersectoral platform will also develop tools based on good practices in intercultural dialogue.