The Governments of the States Parties to the present Convention, on behalf of their peoples, declare that:
that since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed,
that the mutual incomprehension of peoples has always, throughout history, been at the root of suspicion and mistrust between nations, where their disagreements have all too often degenerated into war;
that the great and terrible war which has just ended was made possible by the denial of the democratic ideal of dignity, equality and respect for the human person, and by the desire to replace it, by exploiting ignorance and prejudice, with the dogma of the inequality of races and men;
that since human dignity demands the dissemination of culture and the education of all for justice, freedom and peace, all nations have a sacred duty to fulfill in a spirit of mutual assistance;
that a peace based solely on the economic and political agreements of governments would be unable to secure the unanimous, lasting and sincere support of the peoples of the world
and that, consequently, this peace must be established on the basis of the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind.
For these reasons, the States Parties to this Convention, believing in full and equal opportunities for education for all, in the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth, and in the free exchange of ideas and knowledge, are agreed to develop and to increase the means of communication between their peoples and to employ these means for the purposes of mutual understanding and a truer and more perfect knowledge of each other’s lives.
Accordingly, they do hereby create the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for the purpose of advancing, through the educational and scientific and cultural relations of the peoples of the world, the objectives of international peace and of the common welfare of mankind for which the United Nations Organization was established and which its Charter proclaims.