UNESCO has been developing activities to promote a shared culture of peace since its inception, shortly after the Second World War, to “construct the defences of peace in the minds of men and women”. However, the term “culture of peace” appeared 40 years later, at the end of the Cold War (1986). For the first time, the UN’s founding objective – to replace war with peace – was within reach.
1986
The term “culture of peace” first appeared in the “Cultura de paz” initiative launched in Peru in 1986, and was supported by the Seville Declaration on Violence. Drawn up in 1986 by scientists from all over the world, this declaration provides the scientific arguments to affirm that war is not determined by genes, a violent brain, human nature or instinct, but is rather a social invention. It concludes that “the same species that invented war is also capable of inventing peace”.
1989
The concept of a culture of peace was further developed at the International Congress on Peace in the Minds of Men, held in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire, in September 1989, under the aegis of UNESCO and on the initiative of the Fondation du Président Houphouët Boigny.
In its final declaration, the Congress recommended that UNESCO “(…) contribute to the construction of a new vision of peace through the development of a culture of peace, based on the universal values of respect for life, liberty, justice, solidarity, tolerance, human rights and equality between women and men”.
1992
In 1992, UNESCO’s Executive Board called for a specific Culture of Peace program as a contribution to the United Nations’ peacekeeping efforts. Starting from the premise that peacekeeping operations alone could possibly ensure the absence of war, but that they did not have the power to establish the dynamics of a positive peace, UNESCO argued in 1992 that the best way to achieve this
might be to get former adversaries of a conflict to engage in joint undertakings of human development. With its focus on education, science, culture and communication, UNESCO offered its services to post-conflict peace-building. National programs have been launched in many Central American and African countries, and in collaboration with the government of the Philippines.
1995
A major turning point: UNESCO decides to devote its 1996-2001 medium-term strategy to a culture of peace.
The General Conference declared that “the major challenge at the end of the twentieth century is to begin the transition from a culture of war to a culture of peace:
- a culture of conviviality and sharing, founded on the principles of freedom, justice and democracy, tolerance and solidarity,
- a culture that rejects violence, strives to prevent conflicts at their source, and resolves problems through dialogue and negotiation,
- a culture that ensures the full exercise of all rights and the means to participate fully in the endogenous development of their society. UNESCO set up a transdisciplinary project to meet this challenge.
1997
Recognizing the importance of UNESCO’s experience in the field of the culture of peace, the 52nd General Assembly of the United Nations, meeting in the autumn of 1997, entitled a separate item on its agenda “Towards a culture of peace” and requested the Secretary-General, in coordination with the Director-General of UNESCO, to submit a report on his transdisciplinary project, together with a draft declaration and programme of action on a culture of peace.
1998
The General Assembly proclaimed the year 2000 as the International Year for the Culture of Peace, with UNESCO as its Focal Point. The Executive Board invited Member States “to take all necessary measures to ensure its success, and thus to affirm the values of tolerance and mutual understanding, as well as those of the fight against poverty and exclusion, actions which will benefit above all women, youth and the least developed countries”.
The UN adopts the Tashkent Declaration for the Culture of Peace, which defines UNESCO’s actions in Member States.
The 53rd General Assembly then proclaimed the decade 2001-2010 “International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World”
following a proposal by the Nobel Peace Prize laureates. The year 2000 should thus be seen as a fresh start to a long-term process of transformation.
september 13, 1999
After nine months of debate, the 53rd General Assembly adopted a “Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace” (A/53/243). Article 1 of the Declaration gives the latest and most comprehensive definition of the culture of peace “as the set of values, attitudes, traditions, behaviours and ways of life based on :
a) Respect for life, the rejection of violence and the promotion and practice of non-violence through education, dialogue and cooperation;
b) Respect for the principles of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of States and non-intervention in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any State, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and international law;
c) Respect for and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms;
d) Commitment to the peaceful settlement of disputes;
e) Efforts to meet the needs of present and future generations with regard to
development and the environment;
f) Respect for and promotion of the right to development;
g) Respect for and promotion of equal rights and opportunities for women and
men;
h) Respect for and promotion of everyone’s right to freedom of expression, opinion and
information;
i) Adherence to the principles of freedom, justice, democracy, tolerance, solidarity, cooperation, pluralism, cultural diversity, dialogue and understanding at all levels of society and between nations; and encouraged by a national and international environment conducive to peace, the establishment of which depends on a favourable national and international environment”.
2001-2010
The International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World was the driving force behind hundreds of activities promoting a culture of peace in countries around the world. Several associations promoting a culture of peace were set up during this decade, including Graines de Paix.
2014
UNESCO organizes the celebration of 25 years of the Culture of Peace in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire, where it was first proclaimed, in the presence of the UNESCO Africa Network of Research Institutes and Foundations for the Promotion of the Culture of Peace.
Sept. 2015
The UN votes on the new Sustainable Development Goals for the period 2016-2030 and specifically mentions education for a culture of peace as the foundation of quality education (Goal 4) in point 4.7.
Note: this article adapts and completes a UNESCO article: “Brief history of the concept of the culture of peace”, 2000.