UNESCO
welcomes the initiative taken by the UNESCO Centre and the Florence
National Library, in co-operation with the Italian National
Commission for UNESCO and the Foundation Romaualdo Del Bianco,
to organise a number of events on the theme of reading and peace.
The principal mission 4 UNESCO is to build peace through education,
science and culture, and the international community has joined
in this aspiration by proclaiming the year 2000 the ~ International
Year for a Culture of Peace ", and the decade 2001-2010
t. Decade far a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence far the Children
of the World Education, at all levels, constitutes a means to
transmit not only knowledge, but also values and behaviours.
Schools are places of culture and exchange, and together with
the family, schools shall become privileged spaces far education
far tolerance, peace, respect far the other and solidarity.
As the Delors Report on Education far the XXI century underlines,
we should "1earn to live together". UNESCO's
action in the field of education far peace and human rights
has notably developed towards the support of the development
of regional and national capacities in the field of human rights
education, the development and production of pedagogical material,
and the reinforcement of information networks, The Practice
of Citizenship, a civics education kit which is also part of
the exhibition on Reading to Build Peace, is one of the activities
on the production of pedagogical aids far trainers and teachers.
The kit contains a number of materials concerning education
for peace, human rights and democracy, and offers a broader
concept of education for a culture of peace and for citizenship,
which should include the dimension of human rights, democracy
and intercultural understanding. UNESCO's
efforts to produce teaching aids for this area of education
; will only prove to be successful if they lead the way to local
and sub-regional initiatives by local actors, such as UNESCO
Centres or Clubs, or other NGOs, with the support of governments,
national commissions, and private and public institutions These
.initiatives should focus on the translation of teaching aids
into national and local languages, the development of specific
programmes at national and local levels, and the organisation
of appropriate training activities àt the sub-regional
and national levels. To
educate is also to transmit values, attitudes and behaviours
conducive to peace. UNESCO wil1 always be a determined partner
for all those working to build a will and an attitude of peace
in the minds of all human beings.
