What is it? What does it do?

About UNESCO

UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

(UNESCO) was founded on 16 November 1945. For this specialized United Nations
agency, it is not enough to build classrooms in devastated countries or to publish
scientific breakthroughs. Education, Social and Natural Science, Culture and
Communication are the means to a far more ambitious goal : to build peace in the
minds of men.

Today, UNESCO functions as a laboratory of ideas and a standard-setter to forge universal

agreements on emerging ethical issues. The Organization also serves as a clearinghouse –
for the dissemination and sharing of information and knowledge – while helping Member
States to build their human and institutional capacities in diverse fields. In short, UNESCO
promotes international co-operation among its 192* Member States and six Associate
Members in the fields of education, science, culture and communication.
*As of March 2007

UNESCO is working to create the conditions for genuine dialogue based upon respect for
shared values and the dignity of each civilization and culture.
This role is critical, particularly in the face of terrorism, which constitutes an attack
against humanity. The world urgently requires global visions of sustainable development
based upon observance of human rights, mutual respect and the alleviation of poverty, all
of which lie at the heart of UNESCO’s mission and activities.

Through its strategies and activities, UNESCO is actively pursuing the Millennium
Development
Goals, especially those aiming to:
• halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty in developing countries by 2015
• achieve universal primary education in all countries by 2015
• eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005
• help countries implement a national strategy for sustainable development by 2005 to
reverse current trends in the loss of environmental resources by 2015.
• UNESCO and the United Nations Millennium Goals
 The Organization's History

As early as 1942, in wartime, the governments of the European countries, which

were confronting Nazi Germany and its allies, met in the United Kingdom for the
Conference of Allied Ministers of Education (CAME). The Second World War
was far from over, yet those countries were looking for ways and means to
reconstruct their systems of education once peace was restored. Very quickly, the
project gained momentum and soon took on a universal note. New governments,
including that of the United States, decided to join in.

Upon the proposal of CAME, a United Nations Conference for the establishment of an
educational and cultural organization (ECO/CONF) was convened in London from 1 to
16 November 1945. Scarcely had the war ended when the conference opened. It
gathered together the representatives of forty-four countries. Spurred on by France and
the United Kingdom, two countries that had known great hardship during the conflict,
the delegates decided to create an organization that would embody a genuine culture of
peace. In their eyes, the new organization must establish the “intellectual and moral
solidarity of mankind” and, in so doing, prevent the outbreak of another world war.

At the end of the conference, thirty-seven countries founded the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The Constitution of UNESCO,
signed on 16 November 1945, came into force on 4 November 1946 after ratification by
twenty countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Denmark,
Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Greece, India, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand,
Norway, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States. The
first session of the General Conference of UNESCO was held in Paris from 19
November to 10 December 1946 with the participation of representatives from 30
governments entitled to vote.

The ashes of the Second World War are reflected in the composition of the founding
Member States of UNESCO. Japan and the Federal Republic of Germany became
members in 1951, Spain in 1953. Other major historical factors, as the Cold War, the
decolonization process and the dissolution of the USSR, also left their trace on
UNESCO. The USSR joined UNESCO in 1954 and was replaced by the Russian
Federation in 1992. Nineteen African States became Members in 1960. Twelve
Republics from the former Soviet Union joined UNESCO in the period 1991 to 1993.

As a consequence of its entry into the United Nations, the People's Republic of China
has been the only legitimate representative of China at UNESCO since 1971. The
German Democratic Republic was a Member from 1972 to 1990, when it joined the
Federal Republic of Germany.

Origins of UNESCO
The main predecessors of UNESCO were:
 The International Committee of Intellectual Co-operation (CICI), Geneva 1922-
1946,
its executing agency, the International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation (IICI),
Paris, 1925-1946
The International Bureau of Education (IBE), Geneva, 1925-1968; since 1969 IBE
has been part of the UNESCO Secretariat under its own statutes.

The Constitution

The Preamble to the Constitution of UNESCO declares that ‘since wars begin in
the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be
constructed’.
In
order that a unanimous, lasting and genuine peace may be secured, the Preamble
declares that the States Party to the Constitution believed ‘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".

As defined by the Constitution, the purpose of the Organization is: "to contribute to
peace and security by promoting collaboration among nations through education,
science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law
and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples
of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of
the United Nations’.

Major fields of action and priorities

UNESCO deploys its action in the fields of Education, Natural Sciences, Social and
Human Sciences, Culture, Communication and Information.

Education

Since its creation in 1945, UNESCO has worked to improve education worldwide through
technical advice, standard setting, innovative projects, capacity-building and networking.
Education for All (EFA) by 2015 guides UNESCO’s action in the field of education and
indeed, in an intersectoral manner, throughout all its fields of competence.

UNESCO’s educational priorities:

Basic education for all, with special attention being given to literacy, HIV/AIDS
prevention education and teacher training in sub-Saharan Africa
Secondary education, including technical and vocational education and training as well
as science and technology education
Promoting quality education, with special reference to values education and teacher
training
Higher education

Natural Sciences

Since its inception, UNESCO has developed several international programmes to better
assess and manage the Earth’s resources. The Organization also helps reinforce the
capacities of developing countries in the sciences, engineering and technology.

UNESCO’s priorities in the field of Natural Sciences:

Water and associated eco-systems

Oceans
Capacity-building in the basic and engineering sciences, the formulation of science
policies and the promotion of a culture of maintenance
Promoting the application of science, engineering and appropriate technologies for
sustainable development, natural resource use and management, disaster preparedness and
alleviation and renewable sources of energy

Social and Human Sciences

The social and human sciences have a vital role to play in helping to understand and
interpret the social, cultural and economic environment. They provide research, identify
and analyse trends, propose paths of action.

UNESCO’s priorities in the field of Social and Human Sciences:

Ethics of science and technology, with emphasis on bioethics

Promotion of human rights and the fight against all forms of discrimination, racism,
xenophobia and related intolerance through activities in UNESCO’s field of competence
Foresight, philosophy, human sciences, democracy and the enhancement of human
security
Management of social transformation

Culture

Preserving and respecting the specificity of each culture, while ensuring that it preserves
and respects the specificities of another culture, and involving it in an approach that bring
them together and extends beyond them in a more interactive and interdependent world, is
the challenge which must be met by the international community and, on its behalf, by
UNESCO and its partners.

UNESCO’s cultural priorities:

Promoting cultural diversity, with special emphasis on the tangible and intangible
heritage
Cultural policies as well as intercultural and interfaith dialogue and understanding
Cultural industries and artistic expressions
Communication and Information

Communication and Information programmes are rooted in UNESCO’s Constitution,

which requires the Organization to promote the “free flow of ideas by word and image”.
The main objective for UNESCO is to build a knowledge society based on the sharing of
knowledge and incorporating all the socio-cultural and ethical dimensions of sustainable
development.

UNESCO’s priorities in the field of Communication and Information:

Empowering people through access to information and knowledge with special

emphasis on freedom of expression
Promoting communication development
Advancing the use of ICTs for education, science and culture
Latin America and the Caribbean

The Latin America and the Caribbean region presented here follows the
specific UNESCO definition which does not forcibly reflect geography. It refers
to the execution of regional activities of the Organization.

Mexico
In October 2005, the General Conference will study a proposal from the Executive
Board which, should it be accepted, will make UNESCO the main organization to be
involved with the Universal Forum of Cultures, due to take place in the Mexican city of
Monterrey from September 20 to December 20, 2007.
Mexico, which joined UNESCO on November 4, 1946, has hosted a UNESCO National
Office since 1967. The principal role of this bureau is to implement initiatives by the E-
9 (the group of nine most populous countries in the world) in the promotion of
Education For All across the country. The Office also serves as a regional centre for
several UNESCO projects in the field of Human and Social Sciences.

In June 2005, the Palafoxiana Library became one of the 120 collections of
historical documents protected by the Memory of the World Register.
Founded in 1646 in the city of Puebla, the Palafoxiana was the first public
library in the Americas, and houses a collection of manuscripts and printed books dating
from before the colonial era (1473) to shortly after the independence (1821). Books are
still catalogued according to the system used at the library’s foundation.

The distinguished and multi-faceted writer Jaime Torres Bodet (1902-1974) was
UNESCO’s second Director-General, a post he held from 1948 to 1952.