The International Year for the Culture of Peace was designated by the United Nations as the year 2000, with the aim of celebrating and encouraging a culture of peace.
Since 1959 the United Nations has designated specific years to emphasize issues which are part of the mission of the organization. The International Year for the Culture of Peace was proclaimed in a United Nations General Assembly resolution in 1997 on the basis of an Economic and Social Council resolution. [1] The General Assembly invited a Declaration and Programme of Action from UNESCO and adopted it after ten months of difficult negotiation. [2]
The lead organization for the International Year was UNESCO. There was a logic to this, in that UNESCO is the United Nations organization dealing with education, and also in that the constitutional mandate of UNESCO involves the encouragement of a global culture of peace. Within the UNESCO Secretariat in Paris, a specific International Year for the Culture of Peace Taskforce was established from 1998 to 2000, with the aim of co-ordinating the activities to publicize the International Year. Members of the Taskforce included: David Adams (Chair), Enzo Fazzino, [3] Katherine Stoessel, [4] Di Bretherton, [4] Zeynep Varoglu [4] and Jan Visser. [4]
The strategies behind the International Year centred upon involving civil society as much as possible. The specific initiatives included the collection of some 75 million signatures worldwide in support of a culture of peace, with the Manifesto 2000 Project. [5] Another initiative was the Culture of Peace News Network, otherwise known as the CPNN, a web-based news service reporting news in support of a culture of peace.
An extensive description of the results obtained during the International Year was published by UNESCO. [6]
Opinion is divided as to how effective the International Year was. It is possible to argue that there was much rhetoric in the International Year, and yet often the impact of such events can only be discerned many years later. [7]
The work of supporting and encouraging a culture of peace continues through the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, and the ongoing Culture of Peace News Network.
The University for Peace (UPEACE) is an international university and intergovernmental organization established as a treaty organisation by the United Nations General Assembly in 1980. The university offers postgraduate, doctoral, and executive programmes related to the study of peace and conflict, environment and development, and international law.
The Windhoek Declaration for the Development of a Free, Independent and Pluralistic Press, the Windhoek Declaration for short, is a statement of press freedom principles by African newspaper journalists in 1991. The Declaration was produced at a UNESCO seminar, "Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press," held in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, from 29 April to 3 May 1991.
The United Nations General Assembly declared 2004 as the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition.
The International Day of Peace, also officially known as World Peace Day, is a United Nations-sanctioned holiday observed annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to world peace, and specifically the absence of war and violence, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone for humanitarian aid access. The day was first established in 1981 and first observed in September 1982 and is kept by many nations, political groups, military groups, and people.
Federico Mayor Zaragoza is a Spanish scientist, scholar, politician, diplomat, and poet. He served as the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) from 1987 to 1999. After his tenure as Director-General, he continued to participate in various peace-related organizations, such as the Foundation for a Culture of Peace and the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, as a member of their honorary boards. Additionally, he serves as the honorary chairman of the Académie de la Paix.
The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) is an initiative that attempts to "galvanize international action against extremism" through the forging of international, intercultural and interreligious dialogue and cooperation. The Alliance places a particular emphasis on defusing tensions between the Western and Islamic worlds.
Human rights education (HRE) is the learning process that seeks to build up knowledge, values, and proficiency in the rights that each person is entitled to. This education teaches students to examine their own experiences from a point of view that enables them to integrate these concepts into their values, decision-making, and daily situations. According to Amnesty International, HRE is a way to empower people, training them so their skills and behaviors will promote dignity and equality within their communities, societies, and throughout the world.
In its Proclamation on Aging, the United Nations General Assembly decided to declare 1999 as the International Year of Older Persons (IYOP). The proclamation was launched on 1 October 1998, the International Day of Older Persons, by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.
The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the first decade of the 21st century and the third millennium, the years 2001 to 2010, as the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World. This followed resolutions about the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the International Day of Peace.
The International Programme for the Development of Communication is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) programme aimed at strengthening the development of mass media in developing countries.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the United Nations:
The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2008 as the International Year of Languages, pursuant to a resolution of UNESCO. The resolution also reaffirmed the need to achieve full parity among the six official languages on United Nations websites.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It has 194 member states and 12 associate members, as well as partners in the non-governmental, intergovernmental and private sector. Headquartered in Paris, France, UNESCO has 53 regional field offices and 199 national commissions.
In December 2009, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 64/134 proclaiming the year commencing 12 August 2010 as the International Year of Youth.
The Culture of Peace News Network is a United Nations authorized interactive online network, committed to supporting the global movement for a culture of peace and nonviolence. The network commenced under the auspices of UNESCO, as part of the International Year for the Culture of Peace. The United Nations General Assembly in 2009 further endorsed the work of the network, in resolution A/RES/64/80.
The People's Socialist Republic of Albania joined the United Nations on 14 December 1955, and has participated in several UN peacekeeping operations. The current Representative of Albania in the UN is Mr. Ferit Hoxha. Albania is a non-permanent member of the 15-country UN Security Council for the two-year term (2022–2023).
David Adams is an American peace activist, scientist, scholar, writer and journalist. As a professor at Wesleyan University he ran a brain research laboratory and published many scientific articles. Adams then served at UNESCO, where he worked on the Culture of Peace initiative that eventually led to the International Year for the Culture of Peace.
The Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on September 13, 1999. This occurred after ten months of negotiations in the context of preparations for the International Year for the Culture of Peace.
The International Year of Indigenous Languages was a United Nations observance in 2019 that aimed to raise awareness of the consequences of the endangerment of Indigenous languages across the world, with an aim to establish a link between language, development, peace, and reconciliation.
The International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development was proclaimed by the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly 2 December 2021 for 2022, stressing that the applications of basic sciences are vital for advances in medicine, industry, agriculture, water resources, energy planning, environment, communications and culture, and that basic sciences rupture technologies respond to the needs of humankind by providing access to information and increasing societal well-being, and promoting peace through improved collaboration toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).