UNESCO past and present Constitution and mandate The Constitution of UNESCO was signed in London on 16 November 1945 by 37 countries and came into force with its 20th ratification on 4 November 1946. The purpose o f the Organization was defined as: “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.” Building peace in the minds of men: UNESCO
Origins of UNESCO The main predecessors of UNESCO were the International Committee of Intellectual Co-operation, Geneva 19221946, its executing agency: the International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation (IIIC), Paris 1925-1946, and the International Bureau of Education (IBE), Geneva 1925-1968. The latter has since 1969 been part of the UNESCO Secretariat with its own statutes. A Conference of Allied Allied Ministers of Education (CAME) (CAME) started its its meeting in London London on 16 November 1942 and continued until 5 December 1945. 18 governments were represented. Upon the proposal of CAME and in accordance with the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on International Organization (UNCIO), held in San Francisco in April-June 1945, a United Nations Conference for the establishment of an educational and cultural organization (ECO/CONF) was convened in London 1 -16 November 1945. 44 governments were represented. On 16 November 1945 the Constitution of UNESCO was signed and a Preparatory Commission (Prep.Com.) established. The first session of the General Conference of UNESCO took place in Paris from 19 November to 10 December 1946. More about the history of UNESCO UNESCO today Today, after more than 60 years of existence, 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 – clearinghouse – for for the dissemination and sharing of information and knowledge – knowledge – while while helping Member States to build their human and institutional capacities in diverse fields. For all of UNESCO's major areas of focus (Culture, Education, Natural Science, Social and Human Science, and Communication and Information), it is possible to trace the ideas on which UNESCO was based to the Organization's present activities. activities. More about UNESCO Official languages of UNESCO: For the secretariat: English and French since 1946. For the General Conference: English and French since 1946, Spanish since 1950, Russian since 1954, Arabic since 1974 and Chinese since 1980. For the Executive Board: English and French since 1946, Russian and Spanish since 1954, Arabic since 1974 and Chinese since 1977.
The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is an agency within the United Nations that is responsible for promoting peace, social justice, human rights and international security through international cooperation on educational, science and cultural programs. It is based in Paris, France and has over 50 field offices located around the world.
Today, UNESCO has five major themes to its programs which include 1) education, 2) natural sciences, 3) social and human sciences, 4) culture, and 5) communication and information.
UNESCO is also actively working to achieve the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals but it is focused on achieving the goals of significantly reducing extreme poverty in developing countries by 2015, developing a program for universal primary education in all countries by 2015, eliminating gender inequalities in primary and secondary education, promoting sustainable development and reducing the loss of environmental resources.
HISTORY OF UNESCO The development of UNESCO began in 1942, during W orld War II, when the governments of several European countries met in the United Kingdom for the Conference of Allied Ministers of Education (CAME). During that conference, leaders from t he participating countries worked to develop ways to reconstruct education around the world once W WII was over. As a result, the proposal of CAME was established that focused on holding a future conference in London for the establishment of an education and cultural organization from November 1-16, 1945. When that conference began in 1 945 (shortly after the United Nations officially came into existence), there were 44 participating countries whose delegates decided to create an organization that would promote a culture of peace, establish an "intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind," and prevent another world war.
When the conference ended on November 16, 1945, 37 of the participating countries founded UNESCO with the Constitution of UNESCO.
After ratification, the Constitution of UNESCO came into e ffect on November 4, 1946. The first o fficial General Conference of UNESCO was then held in Paris from November 19-December 10, 1946 with representatives from 30 countries.
Since then, UNESCO has grown in significance across the globe and its number of participating member states has grown to 195 (there are 193 members of the United Nations but the Cook Islands and Palestine are also members of UNESCO).
UNESCO'S STRUCTURE TODAY UNESCO is currently divided into three different governing, policy-making and administrative branches. The first of these are the Governing Bodies that consist of the General C onference and Executive Board. The General Conference is the actual meeting of the Governing Bo dies and is comprised of representatives from the different member states. The General Conference meets every two years to establish policies, set goals and outline the work of UNESCO. The Exec utive Board, which meets twice a year, is responsible for ensuring that decisions made by t he General Conference are implemented. The Director General is another branch of UNESCO and is the executive head of the organization. Since UNESCO's founding in 1946, there have bee n eight Director Generals. The first was t he United Kingdom's Julian Huxley who served from 1946-1948. The current Director General is Koïchiro Matsuura from Japan. He has been serving since 1999. The final branch of UNESCO is the Secret ariat.
It is composed of civil servants who are based in UNESCO's Paris headquarters and also in field offices around the world. The Secretariat is responsible implementing UNESCO's policies, maintaining outside relationships, and strengthening UNESCO's presence and actions worldwide.
THEMES OF UNESCO Upon its founding, UNESCO's goal was to promote education, social justice and global peace and cooperation. To reach these goals, UNESCO has five distinct themes or fields of action. The first of these is education and it has set various priorities for education t hat include, basic education for all with an emphasis on literacy, HIV/AIDS prevention and teac her training in sub-Saharan Africa, promoting quality education worldwide, as well as secondary education, tec hnological education and higher education.
Natural sciences and the management of Earth's resources is another UNESCO field of action.
It includes protecting water and w ater quality, the ocean, and promoting science and e ngineering technologies to achieve sustainable development in developed and developing countries, resource management and disaster preparedness.
Social and human sciences is another UNESCO theme and promotes basic human rights and focuses on global issues like fighting discrimination and racism.
Culture is another closely related UNESCO theme that promotes cultural acceptance but also t he maintenance of cultural diversity, as well as the pro tection of cultural heritage.
Finally, communication and information is the last UNESCO theme. It includes the "free flow of ideas by word and image" to build a worldwide community of shared knowledge and empower people through access to information and knowledge about different subject areas.
In addition to the five themes, UNESCO also has special themes or fields of action that require a multidisciplinary approach as they do not fit into one distinct theme. Some of these fields include Climate Change, Gender Equality, Languages and Multilingualism and Education for Sustainable Development.
One of UNESCO's most famous special themes is its World Heritage Center which identifies cultural, natural and mixed sites to be prote cted all over the world in an effort to promote the maintenance of cultural, historic and/or natural heritage in those places fo r others to see. These include the P yramids of Giza, Australia's Great Barrier Reef and Peru's Machu Picchu.
