Workers save remnants of fabled statues

BAMIYAN, Afghanistan. "Afghan laborers are collecting the pieces of two once-towering Buddha statues five years after the Taliban blew them up.

While they wait for the Afghan government and international community to decide whether to rebuild them, a $1.3 million UNESCO-funded project is sorting out the chunks of clay and plaster — ranging from boulders weighing several tons to fragments the size of tennis balls — and sheltering them from the elements.

Progress is slow in the central highland town of Bamiyan where the statues were chiseled more than 1,500 years ago into a cliff face about 1/4 mile apart. Rebuilding the statues, one 174 feet tall and the other 115 feet, will be like assembling giant jigsaw puzzles.

The Taliban dynamited the Buddha statues in March 2001, deeming them idolatrous and anti-Muslim. It was one of the regime's most widely condemned acts.

"Our job is to safeguard the pieces left from the Buddha statues and put the fragments in a shelter," said Ernst Blochinger, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites. The Paris-based group is working with UNESCO on the project."

© The Associated Press / Arizona Daily Star
© Photography: UNESCO

The United States of America and UNESCO: Building Knowledge, Bridging Cultures

"It is America's honor and gift to be a nation of nations, whose people and aspirations touch every nation on the face of the earth. From universal dreams of freedom, equality and prosperity, we became a country that melded many different cultures, ideas, perspectives, and talents — giving us a rich diversity that continues to make us strong today. With this strength comes great responsibility and a desire to engage with the international community. And words are not enough. Americans are committed to turning these visions into action." Colin L. Powell

When the United States reentered UNESCO, the State Department published this discussion of the reasons we belong in the organization. It makes good reading. It concludes:

The United States will again be the biggest financial contributor to UNESCO, paying 22 percent of the annual assessed budget, in addition to voluntary contributions. America will work to ensure that funds are spent efficiently and transparently.

With respect to education, the statement notes:

Education is the most important long-term investment that any country can make in its people and its future. It is an instrument for change. With UNESCO's support, nations can develop strong education programs. The United States has invested $333 million in international primary, secondary and college education in 2003......

The United States will work toward ensuring that UNESCO's education programs pay attention to civic education as a foundation of democratic governance and peace.

Education is essential for achieving the goals of the Millennium Declaration, which the United Nations adopted as a blueprint for building a better world. Literacy and education bring freedom, power and opportunity for people to transform themselves. The United States believes the world community cannot waste time if we are to meet UNESCO's goal of increasing global literacy by 50 percent by the year 2015.

Our nation is poised to rejoin UNESCO because — as President Bush pointed out — this organization is committed to advancing human rights, tolerance, and learning. It's a noble goal that we all share. We must devote ourselves to making education a universal reality now. Far too many have waited too long for this day to come." Rod Paige, U.S. Secretary of Education

With regard to culture, the statement includes the following:

UNESCO's role in preserving cultural heritage worldwide is aimed at helping nations better understand their own roots and each other. A long-term goal of the United States is to preserve cultural artifacts in those developing countries where such treasures are otherwise unprotected.......

The United States is one of the most culturally diverse nations on Earth. Such diversity stems from openness to and acceptance of cultural influences from around the globe. In addition to preserving cultural heritage, UNESCO has an obligation to encourage the exchange of cultural influences and cultural works that are essential to achievement of real cultural diversity and inter-cultural understanding.

Download the entire document setting forth the rationale. (August, 2003; PDF, 1.26MB)

The Asia/Pacific Culture Center for UNESCO

ACCU training in audio visual production

The Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) is a non-profit organization for Asia and the Pacific regional activities in line with the principles of UNESCO, working for the promotion of mutual understanding and cultural cooperation among peoples in the region.

ACCU was established in 1971 in Tokyo through joint efforts of both public and private sectors in Japan. ACCU has since been implementing various regional cooperative programs in the fields of culture, education and personnel exchange in close collaboration with UNESCO and its Member States in Asia and the Pacific.

It has a vigorous program. Too bad that the United States has not worked with its neighbor countries to establish a comparable center for our region!

Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems -- LINKS

Rural and indigenous peoples possess their own knowledge, practices and representations of the natural environment, as well as their own conceptions about how human interactions with nature should be managed.

UNESCO launched the LINKS project in 2002 to heighten interdisciplinary and intersectoral action among the elements of its program.

The LINKS project seeks to promote dialogue amongst traditional knowledge holders, natural and social scientists, resource managers and decision-makers in order to enhance biodiversity conservation and secure an active and equitable role for local communities in resource governance. The survival of indigenous knowledge as a dynamic and vibrant resource within rural and indigenous communities depends upon its continuing transmission from generation to generation.

The project website includes links to publications and other resources as well as descriptions of project activities.

During the Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City (March 2006), the project published "Water and Indigenous Peoples", based on the papers delivered at the Second and Third World Water Forums (The Hague in 2000 and Kyoto in 2003).

It brings to the fore some of the most incisive indigenous critics of international debates on water access, use and management, as well as indigenous expressions of generosity that share community knowledge and insight in order to propose remedies for the global water crisis.

To request a copy, email - links@unesco.org.

US Policy toward UNESCO Clarified

The U.S. Ambassador to UNESCO, Louise Oliver, has written to the Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, to clarify that the U.S. government officials "did not ask, and do not wish, to approve contacts with U.S. individuals or non-governmental organizations." As the United States resumed membership in UNESCO, and as the State Department prepared to represent the nation in UNESCO venues, State officials asked that UNESCO make them aware of its contacts with U.S. citizens and organizations. Ambassador Oliver clarified that the request was for information only, and the intention was to enable State to facilitate such contacts. Reports had come to her attention that some UNESCO staff might have misunderstood State's request and were needlessly complicating contacts with people from the United States.

With the clarification, we hope that U.S.-UNESCO linkages will continue to grow and strengthen rapidly!

New on the Americans for UNESCO website

Laura Bush, UNESCO Honorary Ambassador for the Literacy Decade

A page about the UNESCO Celebrity Advocates has been added to the Americans for UNESCO website. Check it out! It provides links to the programs that allow educators, artists, scientists, athletes,and other distinguished people to lend their support to UNESCO.

The response by the U.S. State Department to UNESCO's questionnaire about its mid-term strategy and next biennial program and budget has also been added to the AU website. Check it out!

Special session of the UNESCO Middle East Task Force to discuss UNESCO’s response to the crisis in Lebanon

On 31 July, Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, convened a Special Session of the UNESCO Task Force on the Middle East to discuss the current crisis in Lebanon. The aim of the meeting was to co-ordinate UNESCO’s response to the current situation and to prepare the Organization’s contribution to future recovery and reconstruction efforts by the Lebanese authorities.

To read more about the meeting, click here.

The Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity

UNESCO's Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity explores ways to turn creativity in developing countries into sustainable cultural industries. The Alliance aims to promote cultural diversity, support economic development and encourage job creation in a range of fields including music, publishing, cinema, crafts and the performing arts. According to its website, its "projects range from local level 'people to people' projects to the design of far-reaching public policy and regulatory frameworks." It is hoped that these projects will enable UNESCO and the alliance members to identify best practices and establish project models that can be reproduced in other regions of the world. Its projects are grouped into the following categories: Music, Cinema and Audiovisual, Publishing, Crafts and Design, Copyright, and Multisectoral. The Creative Cities program is also a part of the Alliance.

The Creative Cities Network

The Creative Cities Network connects creative cities so that they can share experiences, know-how, training in business skills and technology. Cities may apply to be endorsed by the Network and join the programme to ensure their continued role as centres of excellence and to support other cities, particularly those in developing countries, in nurturing their own creative economy.

The cities that have been appointed to the network are:

* Aswan, Egypt - UNESCO City of Folk Art
* Berlin, Germany - UNESCO City of Design
* Bologna, Italy - UNESCO City of Music
* Buenos Aires, Argentina - UNESCO City of Design
* Edinburgh, UK - UNESCO City of Literature
* Montreal, Canada - UNESCO City of Design
* Popayan, Colombia - UNESCO City of Gastronomy
* Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA - UNESCO City of Folk Art
* Seville, Spain - UNESCO City of Music

Americans for UNESCO in Lien/Link

Read the full April-June 2006 issue of Lien/Link (the bulletin of the Association of Former Staff Members of UNESCO).

Andre Varchaver, President of Americans for UNESCO, publishes an update on AU's activities in the most recent issue of the newsletter of the Association of Former Staff Members of UNESCO. (Andre served on the UNESCO staff from 1959 to 1981.) Here is an excerpt from the article:

AU’s Advisory Council, co-chaired by Esther Coopersmith and Dick Arndt, is composed of a number of distinguished Americans in fields directly or indirectly related to those of Unesco. A particularly distinguished one, Dr Miller Upton, died a few weeks ago at the ripe age of 88, having devoted years of energy to education, internationalism in general and Unesco in particular. Over the years, while heading Beloit College in Wisconsin, he innovated the widely admired “Beloit Plan” that featured a continuous school year and a “World Affairs” program that revitalized the college, attracted national attention and inspired other colleges, such as renowned Dartmouth, to adopt his innovations. He was greatly admired by René Maheu, with whom I visited Beloit College, and Jack Fobes who much later succeeded him at the helm of the U.S. National Commission for Unesco. Upton headed it from 1971 to 1975 and led the U.S. delegation to the eighteenth session of the General Conference where he displayed exceptional qualities of leadership and an innate sense of diplomacy. He was an early supporter of Fobes’ creation of “Americans for the Universality of Unesco”, now AU, and we mourn the loss of this exceptional man.

In cooperation with AU, the Better World Campaign, a subsidiary of the United Nations Foundation (which actively supports a number of Unesco programs, notably the World Heritage), has resumed organizing meetings of representatives of civil society as well as of the government/National Commission and the Congress, related to or interested in Unesco. AU will continue and develop its cooperation with the National Commission and looks forward to working closely with Unesco’s New York Office and its newly appointed Director Hélène Gosselin.

The New NatCom Newsletter is Out

Read the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO Newsletter (Volume 2, Issue 2, April/May/June 2006) online.

Contents:

* Comments from the Executive Director
* UNESCO National Commission Host Second Annual Meeting
* Mrs. Laura Bush Announces Global Literacy Conference
* U.S. Ambassador Hosts Reception for UNESCO Award Winning Journalist
* Newly Established U.S. National Committee for the International Hydrological Program * Conducts Inaugural Meeting on Future Objectives
* UNESCO Overall Review of Major Programs II and III
* UNESCO Prizes Information
* UNESCO Job Vacancies

UNESCO Courier Features New World Heritage Sites

The July-August 2006 issue of the UNESCO Courier headlines the 18 new sites added to the World Heritage List. The additions bring the total number of protected sites to 830. Five of the sights are the subject of Courier articles:

* Bisotun (Islamic Republic of Iran), a monument in bas-relief and cuneiform that that is located 70 meters above the ground.
* Bilbao’s ria in (Spain's Basque country), the first transporter bridge ever built in the world.
* Harar (Ethiopia), entrenched behind its encircling wall with a market and mosques pulsing with life.
* The valleys of Jalisco (Mexico) famous for their agave plantations used for making the famous Mexican liquor.
* The Giant Panda Sanctuaries in Sichuan (China).

The Ricky Martin Foundation has joined forces with UNESCO

The Ricky Martin Foundation, whose President, Puerto Rican singer and humanitarian Ricky Martin, was named a hero against trafficking in persons by the U.S. Department of State in 2005 for his work to promote awareness of and protect children from trafficking, has joined forces with UNESCO on a global initiative aimed at safeguarding children against exploitation and abuse.

Click here to read more about the initiative.

UNESCO Resources for Those Who Wish to Study Abroad

The book, "Study Abroad", is UNESCO's international guide to higher-education study opportunities and scholarships offered by higher education institutions and international organizations in over 145 countries. It includes some 3,000 entries on courses and scholarships in different higher-education academic and professional disciplines. There is information on: addresses (including Internet sites), admission requirements, application deadlines, financial aid, fees, living expenses and other topics. Entries are presented in English, French or Spanish according to the language of the country concerned.

UNESCO's online "Study Abroad Database" contains some 3,000 opportunities for post-secondary studies in all academic and professional fields in 147 countries and territories for the years 2005 and 2006.

UNESCO International Conventions on the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education

There are six regional conventions on the recognition of qualifications (Africa, Arab States, Asia and Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and two European conventions) and one interregional convention (Mediterranean Convention).

UNESCO conventions are aimed at promoting the recognition of academic qualifications for academic purposes (e.g. to continue studies in a different institution). Nevertheless, the conventions sometimes hold a ‘de facto’ and ‘de jure’ role in recognizing diplomas for professional purposes (e.g. to get a job). It is important to check with the different conventions.

Alert: Misuse of UNESCO Name by Bogus Institutions

Click here to read the full alert from UNESCO.

Recently, there has been an increase in the number of requests from individuals, recognition bodies and accrediting agencies concerning dubious providers of higher education that use UNESCO’s name or logo to give the impression that they are recognized providers of higher education.

UNESCO is an intergovernmental body. It does not have the mandate to accredit nor to recognise higher education institutions, programmes, diplomas or accrediting agencies.

Any provider of higher education or accrediting agency which claims or gives the impression of being accredited and/or recognised by UNESCO should be looked upon with caution. Such institutions or accrediting agencies may use different fraudulent modes.

UNESCO Project Mapping Archaeology in Kazakhstan

An archaeological expedition from The Institute of Archaeology of Kazakh Ministry of Education and Science is continuing its research at the necropolis located at Berel in the eastern part of Kazakhstan. A part of the work involves a UNESCO project which is studying the burial mounds in association with the scientists of Belgium's Ghent University. That subproject is mapping the site with the help of modern technologies of satellite space communications.

In another part of the research, in collaboration with the team from the Central Asian French Archaeological Mission, the body of a Saka prince was discovered buried with 13 horses. . In this princely kourgan at the site, the sacrificed horses were fitted with false wooden horns fixed to their foreheads imitating those of ibex.

Some UNESCO Higher Education Initiatives

The UNESCO Higher Education Open and Distance Learning Knowledge Base

The Open and Distance Learning (ODL) Knowledge Base project was set up to support decision makers and practitioners with ready access to information and tools that will assist them in more effective policy planning, development and management of ODL in higher education programmes. It provides Web-based knowledge base regional resources for:

* Africa
* Asia and the Pacific and
* CIS/Baltic countries.

It also provides an Inter-Regional Decision Support Tool to assist decision makers to make first-level assessments about the viability and quality of distance education programs. The International Internet Forum on the Higher Education Open and Distance Learning Knowledge Base (HEODLKB) Project is also linked to this website.

Mega Universities

A dozen or so Mega Universities (each of which has an enrolment in excess of 100,000 learners per year) utilize a combination of media to accommodate learners. U.S. Mega Universities include:

* City College of San Francisco
* University of Maryland University College and
* University of Phoenix

This UNESCO website provides links to Mega Universities in developing nations, including:

* Allama Iqbal Open University (Pakistan)
* Bangladesh Open University
* China Central Radio & TV University
* Indira Gandhi National Open University (India)
* Indonesian Open Learning University
* Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
* Payame Noor University (Iran)
* Korea National Open University
* Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University (Thailand)
* University of South Africa
* Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
* Shanghai TV University

The site also provides a link to the World Summit of Mega Universities held 23-25 September 2005.

Reforms at UNESCO

According to Wikipedia:

The organization's reforms included the following measures: the number of divisions in UNESCO was cut in half, allowing a corresponding halving of the number of Directors -- from 200 to under 100, out of a total staff of approximately 2,000 worldwide. At the same time, the number of field units was cut from a high of 79 in 1999 to 52 today. Parallel management structures, including 35 Cabinet-level special advisor positions, were abolished. 209 negotiated staff departures and buy-outs took place from 1999–2003, causing the inherited $10 million staff cost deficit to disappear. The staff pyramid, which was the most top-heavy in the UN system, was cut back as the number of high-level posts was halved and the “inflation” of posts was reversed through the down-grading many positions. Open competitive recruitment, results-based appraisal of staff, training of all managers and field rotation were instituted, as well as SISTER and SAP systems for transparency in results-based programming and budgeting. In addition, the Internal Oversight Service (IOS) was established in 2001 to improve organizational performance by including the lessons learned from program evaluations into the overall reform process.

Go to Director General Koïchiro Matsuura's 2005 discussion of the reform and restructuring efforts.

Encyclopedia Entries for UNESCO

Online encyclopedias represent a great resource on the World Wide Web. Here are a couple of online encyclopedia entries on UNESCO that are chock full of information and useful links:

* Wikipendia
* Questia

The John Bolton Confirmation

The Washington Post today has an editorial opposing the confirmation of John Bolton as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. It states (in part):

Mr. Bolton began his tenure with an argument over the preparations for a gathering of heads of state. He demanded that the summit document omit, among other things, references to the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals, on the ground that these had been interpreted by U.N. officials to include a commitment to more foreign aid. Mr. Bolton's action alienated other U.N. ambassadors with no obvious gain; such commitments, even if accepted, are non-binding.

Mr. Bolton's handling of the new U.N. Human Rights Council was equally clumsy. He failed to show up at nearly all of the 30 or so negotiating sessions leading up to the council's creation, then waded in at the eleventh hour with a bizarre proposal that the State Department quickly repudiated. Mr. Bolton's spokesman says that the ambassador engaged in good faith throughout the process. But U.S. allies felt that Mr. Bolton did not do so.

Mr. Bolton has embarrassed himself most recently by his mishandling of U.N. management reform, a cause supported by U.N. officials and the richer member states. Mr. Bolton came up with the idea of threatening to cut U.N. funding unless the management reforms were adopted, and his spokesman insists that this brinkmanship was helpful. But South Africa's U.N. envoy called it "poison"; Germany's ambassador called it "wrong"; his British counterpart said it was a mistake to hold the budget hostage. After six months the budget threat was dropped.

WP also published a story in today's news section ("The Bolton Nomination, Act II" by Colum Lynch) detailing some of the controvery around Bolton's role in the United Nations. Notably, it quotes the distinguished international civil servant, U.N. Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown who said in a public speech on June 6:

There is currently a perception among many otherwise quite moderate countries that anything the U.S. supports must have a secret agenda aimed at either subordinating multilateral processes to Washington's ends or weakening the institutions, and therefore, put crudely, should be opposed without any real discussion of whether they make sense or not.

"Future Leaders Meet Before World Heritage Session"

Lead: "Young leaders from around the Pacific will attend a global youth forum on world heritage ahead of next year’s UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Christchurch says Margaret Austin, chair of the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO."

Wouldn't it be great if a delegation of young people from the United States could also attend?

Read the full article from Scoop (26 July 2006).

"Bolton Hopes for Vote on U.N. Nomination"

Read the full Associated Press article in The Washington Post. (Sunday, July 23, 2006.)

Last year Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee opposed Bolton's confirmation as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, leading to President Bush making a recess appointment. According to the WP:

the senator has had a change of heart, saying last week that he would not block Bolton's nomination this year because of an urgent need to ease tensions in the Middle East.

The GOP-controlled Senate Committee has scheduled a hearing for Thursday on Bolton's nomination. If confirmed by the Senate, Bolton would be expected to serve as UN Ambassador through the rest of the Bush Administration. It seems likely that the nomination will go forward to the full Senate, and that Democrats will oppose it in the Committee and on the floor of the Senate.

Since UNESCO is part of the United Nations family of organizations, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations has significant influence on U.S. policy towards UNESCO.

UNESCO Job: Senior ProgramSpecialist for Science and Technology Education and Technical Capacity Building

Purpose of post:: Promoting Natural Sciences Sector actions in Science and Technology Education & Technical Capacity building.

Main responsibilities: Under the authority of the Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences and under the supervision of the Director of the Division of Basic and Engineering Sciences, the incumbent shall, in particular:

· Foster the quality of university science and technology education in developing countries and reinforce the linkage of university education with other levels of education in science and technology.

· Promote the Organization’s clearing house functions on science and technology education for sharing information on curricula development, innovative teaching methodologies, and best practices.

· Carry out and/or develop selected activities for capacity building in engineering and technology in developing countries. Oversee and foster collaboration between divisions of the Sector for Natural Sciences and regional offices in strengthening national capacities in engineering, science and technology and science-based monitoring of the environment.

· Provide back up to cross-sectoral activities on building capacities in developing countries and mainly, least developed countries and post-conflict countries to address the goals for sustainable development specified in the UN Millennium Declaration.

· Promote extra-budgetary activity in technical capacity building and in science and technology education.

Profile:

· Advanced University Degree, preferably at Doctorate level, in one of the basic or engineering sciences.

· 10 to 15 years of progressively responsible relevant experience of which, at least 5 years’ experience in university teaching in science and/or engineering, and in the planning, management or administration of university education, and at least 5 years’ experience of regional or international activity in building up human and institutional capacity in science or engineering in developing countries. Part of this experience should be acquired at the international level.

· Demonstrated experience in science-based monitoring of the environment.

· Thorough knowledge and ability to use micro-computers (for retrieval and analysis of information and for information service to Member States and partner organizations) in particular mastering of Word; Excel, Internet, etc.

· Excellent oral and written communication skills.

· Excellent knowledge of English or French, and good knowledge of the other language.

Conditions of employment: UNESCO’s salaries are calculated in United States dollars but mainly paid in local currency. They consist of a basic salary and a post adjustment which reflects the cost of living in a particular duty station and exchange rates. For this post, the annual remuneration in local currency will start at around €95,900 (€89,100 if without dependants), exempt from income tax. In addition, UNESCO offers an attractive benefits package including 30 days’ annual leave, home leave, an education grant for dependent children, a pension plan and medical insurance. The initial appointment will be for two years, with a probationary period of 12 months, and renewal of the contract is subject to satisfactory service. Wordwide mobility is required as staff members have to serve in other duty stations according to UNESCO’s job rotation policy. UNESCO is a non-smoking organization.

How to apply: Candidates should use UNESCO’s online application system at www.unesco.org/employment. Candidates without access to internet may send a paper application by completing the official UNESCO CV form (available at Headquarters, UNESCO Offices, National Commissions in Member States, or any office of a United Nations Resident Representative) in English or French to Chief, HRM/RCR, UNESCO, 7 place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France, before the closing date, quoting the post number “SC-427”. There is no application, processing or other fee at this or at any stage of the process.

New Edition of the NatCom Newsletter

U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, Volume 2, Issue 2, April/May/June 2006

In This Issue:

* Comments from the Executive Director
* UNESCO National Commission Host Second Annual Meeting
* Mrs. Laura Bush Announces Global Literacy Conference
* U.S. Ambassador Hosts Reception for UNESCO Award Winning Journalist
* Newly Established U.S. National Committee for the International Hydrological Program Conducts Inaugural Meeting on Future Objectives
* UNESCO Overall Review of Major Programs II and III
* UNESCO Prizes Information
* UNESCO Job Vacancies

Marguerite H. Sullivan To Leave the State Department

To read a biography of Ms. Sullivan, click here.

Margerite Sullivan will be leaving the Department of State on August 4, 2006 to take up a new position in the field of international media. For the last two years she has served as the Executive Director of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO.

New World Heritage Sites to be Named

Read the story online in the Times of Oman.

"Thirty-seven sites are to compete for a place on UNESCO's prestigious World Heritage list at a meeting in Lithuania later this month, the UN's educational, scientific and cultural organisation said Monday."

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2006

Read the full report online (PDF file).

The MDGs Report of the United Nations was released on 3 July 2006. The report presents the latest assessment on how far we have come, and how far we have to go in reaching the goals, in each of the world’s regions.

Reuters AlertNet notes with respect to the report:

"With less than a decade left to meet its development targets, the United Nations said on Monday there were "staggering" obstacles to succeeding and conditions in many poor countries were actually worsening.

"The eight Millennium Development Goals include targets on health, poverty and the environment -- such as halving the number of people living on less than $1 a day and stopping the spread of AIDS and tuberculosis.

"The U.N. progress report on the goals, set in 2000, found that while global incidence of extreme poverty has declined, some 140 million more people have entered that category in sub-Saharan Africa.

"More people are also going hungry in the region, which has seen only modest improvements in child mortality and maternity rates in the past six years, according to the study."

Education Today is hot off the press!

Read the new issue of UNESCO's Education Today newsletter online!

In recent years, non-governmental organizations have established themselves as fully recognized partners in the Education for All movement. The latest issue of UNESCO’s Education Sector newsletter reports on how civil society involvement pushes the boundaries in education.

Aksu-Dzhabagly Nature Reserve

The Aksu-Dzhabagly Nature Reserve is the oldest nature reserve in Central Asia. It also the first in the world to get status of a UNESCO biosphere preserve. For more than 70 years fauna and flora of Aksu-Dzabagly have been safe from ax, hunting and industrial pollution. The symbol of the preserve is Graid's Tulip. The Aksu Canyon - is 15 km long and 500 m deep, with a width between the canyon walls of 600-800m.

There is also a paleonthological preserve a the altitude of 3000 m above the sea level. Petroglyphs here go back to the 5-7th cc BC.

Robert Rauschenberg: Artist and Citizen

Go to the Smithsonian’s Robert Rauschenberg Traveling Exhibit website.

Robert Rauschenberg, Artist-Citizen presents 17 framed prints produced between 1970 and 1996 that reverberate with Rauschenberg’s commitment to making the world a better place .

The exhibition includes posters created for and often donated to such organizations as the United Nations, UNESCO, and the AFL-CIO as well as work from the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI), an evolving multi-media traveling exhibition of the artist’s paintings, sculpture, prints, and objects. All of the posters in the exhibition, which was developed by the University Art Gallery, California State University, Hayward, have been lent by the artist.

The International Council of Museums

The ICOM Home Page.

The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is an international organisation of museums and museum professionals which is committed to the conservation, continuation and communication to society of the world's natural and cultural heritage, present and future, tangible and intangible.

Created in 1946, ICOM is a non-governmental organisation maintaining formal relations with UNESCO and having a consultative status with the United Nations' Economic and Social Council.

13 Specialist International Organisations are affiliated to ICOM. They are:

* AEOM - Association of European Open-Air Museums
* AIMA - International Association of Agricultural Museums
* AMOI - Association of Museums of the Indian Ocean
* CAM - Commonwealth Association of Museums
* IACM - International Association of Custom Museums
* IATM - International Association of Transport and Communications Museums
* ICAM - International Confederation of Architectural Museums
* ICMM - International Congress of Maritime Museums
* MAC - Museums Association of the Caribbean
* MINOM - International Movement for a New Museology
* PIMA - Pacific Islands Museums Association
* SADCAMM - Southern Africa Development Community Association of Museums and Monuments
* SIBMAS - International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts

U.S. Participation in UNESCO Deliberations

Read the full article, "Damage Control." By Barbara Crossette in the current edition of Foreign Policy. (Subscription required.)

In an article generally critical of U.S. Representative to the United Nations John Bolton and U.S. Ambassador to the Economic and Social Council Richard “Terry” Miller, Barbara Crossette makes the following comment:

At the United Nations, with 191 nations and foreign policies, compromise is inevitable. The trick is to know when to quit debating and cut a deal.

Take the case of UNESCO, the United Nations’ social and cultural arm. Fed up with its anti-American bias, the United States withdrew from the organization in 1984. After winning some important reforms, the United States returned to unesco in 2003. First lady Laura Bush was even dispatched to Paris to mark the American return to the fold. Yet by the fall of 2005, Bolton’s team was embroiled in a nasty fight over a draft Cultural Diversity Convention. Let’s be clear: The convention was clumsily written and contained provisions that were a transparent attempt to protect the French entertainment industry from competition. The way the United States (often represented by Terry Miller) went about opposing it, however, was disastrous. Almost all U.S. amendments were voted down unanimously; in retaliation, Bolton’s team voted against the agency’s budget. “Japan was particularly troubled and outspoken in opposition,” reports former U.S. diplomat Ray Wanner. “It is difficult to understand how this vote served the national interest.”

Bolton almost always has a solid rationale for the arguments he makes. But having U.S. representatives bravely charging up well-defended diplomatic hills only to be mowed down is not good strategy, particularly when it irritates critical allies. Your office needs to do a better job of making him choose his battles.

Barbara Crossette was United Nations bureau chief for the New York Times from 1994 to 2001. She is now a consulting editor at the United Nations Association of the United States.

Announcing the new Americans for UNESCO Website

Americans for UNESCO (AU) has just remounted its website on the Internet. We hope to make it a useful source for Americans interested in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. At the moment it has information on the AU itself, and links to some useful website at UNESCO and the State Department.

Lien / Link: 60th Anniversary Issue

Emily Vargas-Baron writes:

Dear Friends,

I wish to inform you that in the current issue of "Link," Bulletin No. 96 of the Association of Former UNESCO Staff Members, there are several valuable sections: a wonderful article on Andre (plus a fine picture of him), an insightful article on AU written by Andre, and a touching article by Michel Debeauvais on Phil Coombs.

I think Andre's article will be most helpful in informing UNESCO colleagues (both current and former) about AU and its support for expanding collaboration with UNESCO.

Editorial: UNESCO's Values 60 Years Later

UNESCO
Headquarters

"SINCE WARS BEGIN IN THE MINDS OF MEN..., it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed." From the preamble of UNESCO's Constitution

UNESCO is celebrating its six decades of work this year. The U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, in its meeting next week, is devoting a session to the commemoration. It seems appropriate to editorialize about the UNESCO adventure at this moment.

UNESCO was created by the Allies, working in a bombed out London, at the end of World War II. It is not surprising that UNESCO’s mandate was “to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture.”

As the membership of UNESCO expanded to more than 190 nations, UNESCO’s leadership came to recognize that -- as important as the maintenance of peace is -- there is a still greater objective for UNESCO. We have come to understand that development too begins in the minds of men, and it is in the minds of men that progress in all fields must be constructed. I suggest that UNESCO’s broader mandate is to promote social, political and economic development through education, science and culture!

I believe that UNESCO promotes a set of values, and that the global penetration of these values is indeed transforming the world, leading to peace and progress. These values include:

§ Concern for the poor
§ Love of peace
§ Emphasis on ethical behavior informed by philosophy
§ Respect for learning
§ Love of the written word
§ Respect for cultural diversity, and joy in cultural riches
§ Enthusiasm for the global dissemination of new media
§ Freedom of information
§ Respect for and love of scientific knowledge
§ Respect for knowledge based policies
§ Respect for the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of mankind
§ Respect for and love of the natural heritage of mankind
§ Respect for nature and concern for the environment

Certainly UNESCO can not transform the world alone, but it has played an important role in the global dissemination of these values. Its thousands of workers and myriad programs spread these values, and indeed the prestige of UNESCO itself helps to promote these values. UNESCO helps catalyze the efforts of governments, academia, the scientific community and civil society all over the world.

Indeed, were there not an international forum such as UNESCO for the discussion and debate of these fundamental values, I think we would have to create one complementary to but separate from the General Assembly and Councils of the United Nations.

I am proud that Americans were leaders in the creation of UNESCO, and pleased that we are again leaders in the governing councils of the organization. I hope and believe that the promotion of these values is fundamental to American national policy.

Mrs. Bush's Remarks at the 100th Anniversary of Mesa Verde

"I'm delighted to be here on this very, very special celebration for Mesa Verde, the 100th Anniversary of Mesa Verde as a national park. Amid these centuries-old dwellings, we're reminded of Mesa Verde's special place in our national park system. Many of our parks offer awe-inspiring landscapes or iconic structures, but visitors to Mesa Verde have a unique opportunity to enjoy both. Mesa Verde is actually the first national park that was established to protect America's man-made treasures, and thanks to a century of custodianship by Mesa Verde rangers, God's creation and man's will be enjoyed here for centuries to come. Congratulations to all of you.

"I'm happy today to have the opportunity to explore a few of Mesa Verde's more than 4,000 archeological sites, including some of the famous cliff dwellings. These sites reflect the culture of this region's ancient inhabitants, tracing their progression from basket weavers, to pottery makers, to farmers, to urban planners, who developed some of America's earliest communities.

"These dwellings also show us the connection between the ancestral pueblo people and their descendents who live in the Southwest today. In fact, 24 Native American tribes in this region have an ancestral affiliation with Mesa Verde."

Mesa Verde is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The European Center for Higher Education

UNESCO-CEPES was established in 1972 to promote co-operation in higher education among UNESCO's Member States of the Europe Region (the countries of Europe, North America, and Israel). The activities of the Centre are focused foremost on higher education in Central and Eastern Europe and the Director of UNESCO-CEPES also serves as the Representative of UNESCO in Romania.

The origins of the Centre lie in the context of UNESCO actions in favour of international cooperation in higher education going back, in the case of Europe, at least to the First Conference of Ministers of Education of the European Member States of the organization (MINEDEUROPE I) that was held in Vienna, from 20 to 25 November, 1967. This conference gave rise to a set of recommendations that have been viewed as the inspiration for the setting up of the European Center for Higher Education.

In order to fulfill its mission, UNESCO-CEPES undertakes programs and projects relevant to the development and reform of higher education. It also promotes research on higher education and serves as a forum for the discussion of important topics in higher education. It also serves as the co-secretariat of the ENIC/NARIC Networks set up to implement the Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications Concerning Higher Education in the European Region.

UNESCO's Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet)

Founded in 1953, UNESCO’s Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet), commonly referred to as UNESCO Associated Schools, is a global network of some 7,900 educational institutions in 176 countries (ranging from pre-schools and primary to secondary schools and teacher training institutions), who work in support of quality education in practice.

Following fifty years of networking with a view to reinforcing the humanistic, ethical, cultural and international dimensions of education, ASPnet commissioned a Global Review evaluation in 2003. More recently, it has evaluated the ASPnet News Infos, the ASPnet newsletter.

The ASPnet National Coordinator for the United States of America is:

Ms. Amy Ostermeier
U.S. National Commission for UNESCO
Department of State
2121 Virginia Ave.
Suite 6200
Washington DC 20037
Tel: (1.202) 663 0026
Fax: (1.202) 663 0035
E-mail: DCUNESCO@state.gov

'10 STORIES THE WORLD SHOULD HEAR MORE ABOUT'

The 2006 list covers a spectrum of issues and geographical regions, some of which draw on troubling humanitarian emergencies and conflict situations (such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nepal) while others focus on such vital areas as human rights (asylum law and child prisoners) and development (Liberia and water as a shared resource). In this year's list, some stories focus on conflicts that may have been in the media spotlight - but highlight a perspective that does not usually get much play.

The United Nations each year publishes "Ten Stories the World Should Hear More About." The initiative was first launched in 2004. The short list of stories is not meant to be representative of the UN agenda. The ranking of the stories is not a reflection of their relative significance.

One of this years stories describes a UNESCO project, From Potential Conflict to Co-operation Potential (PCCP), that aims to foster cooperation between stakeholders in the management of shared water resources, while helping to ensure that potential conflicts do not turn into real ones.

From water wars to bridges of cooperation: Exploring the peace-building potential of a shared resource

“Guidelines for Terminology Policies. Formulating and implementing terminology policy in language communities”

UNESCO just published this report that was prepared by the International Information Center for Terminology (Infoterm). Terminology planning occurs at different levels: national, regional, language community, local community, institutional or organizational. There are also terminology planning activities in various professional fields such as chemistry, biology, physics and medicine. In addition, there is a terminology component to virtually all standardization and harmonization activities, whether in industry or elsewhere. A terminology policy or strategy, especially when conceived and implemented at the national level, needs to take into account highly complex demographic, cultural, ethno-linguistic and geo-linguistic and socio-psychological factors. Infoterm, was founded in 1971 by UNESCO with the objective to support and co-ordinate international co-operation in the field of terminology. Members are national, international and regional terminology institutions, organizations and networks, as well as specialized public or semi-public or other kind of non-profit institutions engaged in terminological activities.

UNESCO and Rising Above A Gathering Storm

Norman R. Augustine

The Keynote address on Friday, June 2nd at the annual meeting of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO is titled:

UNESCO and Rising Above A Gathering Storm

It is to be delivered by Norman R. Augustine, who is listed in the program as “Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lockheed Martin Corporation”.

There is some background suggesting that this will be an especially interesting talk.

Rising Above A Gathering Storm is the title of an important and influential book published last year by the National Academies of Science. It was written by the Academies’ Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century.

The group consisted of several corporate CEOs, university presidents, three Nobel Prize winners, several past presidential appointees, and distinguished teachers.

The chairman of the committee was Norman Augustine.

Not only that, but Augustine has a knack for turning a memorable phrase! (Click here for some examples.)

This report has been credited as significantly influencing the American Competitiveness Initiative announced by President Bush in the last State of the Union message. The Initiative, recognizing that America's economic strength and global leadership depend on continued technological advances, promises:

· a major increase in federal funding of fundamental research and development,
· incentives for private sector investments in research and development,
· a major effort to improve math, science, and technological education in our K-12 schools, and
· a new program of Career Advancement Accounts that workers and people looking for work can use to obtain training and other employment services.

Thus, the talk should be an exceptional opportunity to hear about the current and future state of U.S. competitiveness, and the role that UNESCO can play in helping assure that science and technology remain a vibrant force for American economic progress.

AmUNESCO Board and U.S. NatCom meetings

The Board of Directors of Americans for UNESCO met yesterday (Tuesday, May 23, 2006). The main topic of discussion was the upcoming meeting of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO (NatCom).

The NatCom meeting is to take place on June 1st and 2nd, at the Doubletree Hotel in Washington, DC (1515 Rhode Island Avenue, NW). It is open to the public, but those planning to attend should contact the National Commission staff (they need to plan for the number of attendees). )Click here to see the full agenda.)

UNESCO is celebrating its six decades of existence. AmUNESCO Board member Raymond E. Wanner has been invited to participate in a panel on Thursday (June 1) titled: “UNESCO at Sixty Years: How It Began and Where It Is Going”. In my experience, no one knows more about this topic than Ray.

The keynote speaker on Friday (June 2) is to be Norman R. Augustine, who will speak on “UNESCO and Rising Above A Gathering Storm”.

UNESCO is currently conduction a major review of its natural and social science programs. An international panel has been convened for the purpose. Dr. Kathie Olsen, Deputy Director of the National Science Foundation, is a member of the panel, and is to speak on the exercise on Thursday afternoon.

“What UNESCO for the Future”

"A reflexion on current and future trends, on potential gaps that must be filled and on future scenarios, with a foreword by Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, and an introduction by Mr Pierre Sané, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO for Social and Human Sciences."

‘What UNESCO for the future?’ proceeds from a reflexion on current and future trends and potential gaps that must be filled, on future scenarios and on ‘What UNESCO?’ in terms of its role today as a participant that could influence the processes of global transformation.

‘What UNESCO for the future?’ reflects on UNESCO’s possible responses to the rising global challenges it faces today. In other words, what role could our Organization have within the United Nations system, and what contribution could it make towards resolving the main challenges and threats of the twenty-first century?

If, as some think, we have effectively arrived at a crossroads – that we are reaching a point of no return in a number of fields (water, energy, climate change, pollution, terrorism, nuclear power) – what UNESCO will allow us to face this future? What relationship to foster between the Organization’s fields of competence and its functions? What methods to use to reach the world’s most vulnerable populations if we are to build intellectual co-operation worthy of the name?

This publication presents the addresses given in the course of this forum by sixteen personalities:

* Jacques Attali
* Robert Badinter
* Boutros Boutros-Ghali
* Souleymane Bachir Diagne
* Fatma Haddad-Chamakh
* Ping Huang
* Albert Jacquard
* Randolph Kent
* Yersu Kim
* Achille Mbembé
* Edgar Morin
* Hisashi Owada
* Miguel Rojas-Mix
* Carolina Rossetti Gallardo
* Ghassan Salamé
* Tu Weiming

Andre Varchaver comments:

- Most interesting and valuable as a well written historical account of how UNESCO came to be and, - importantly - the role of the United States in its creation is to be found in the reprint of "Planning the Organization of UNESCO, 1942-1946; a Personal Record" by Frank Richard Cowell, former Secretary-General of the British National Commission for UNESCO, written on the occasion of UNESCO's 20th anniversary. I am tempted to say that it should be required reading for all of us as well as the members and staff of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO.

The UNESCO Courier: Intangible Heritage

The May 2006 edition of The UNESCO Courier is devoted to the theme of intaginble heritage.

"The entry into force of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage represents a new phase for this living and intrinsically fragile heritage.

"Oral traditions and expressions (including language as a vehicle of intangible cultural heritage), traditional performing arts, social practices, rituals and festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe, traditional craftsmanship – all merit safeguarding for future generations, in the same way as the Galapagos Islands or the Egyptian Pyramids.

"Since 20 April, date of its entry into force, the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage stands watch to ensure the continuity of this living testimony to human creativity.

"To date, 47 States – from Algeria, first to approve it in February 2004, to Albania, which ratified it on 4 April 2006 – are parties to this Convention that completes UNESCO’s standard-setting measures for the safeguard of cultural heritage.

"The text is based on certain articles of the 1972 Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage that protects “tangible” forms of expression of heritage, both monuments and natural sites. It thus anticipates the creation of a General Assembly which will have its first meeting next June, an Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and a Fund that will make it possible to finance safeguarding projects.

"The Convention also stipulates that two lists will be drawn up: the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding."

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development 2006

UNESCO has designated May 21 as World Day for

Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.

Since the adoption of UNESCO’s Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity in November 2001, May 21st has always been so designated. According to the UNESCO website, the day provides an opportunity to deepen understanding of the values of cultural diversity and to learn to "live together" better.

UNESCO appeals to its Member States as well as to all civil society to celebrate this World Day by involving as many actors and partners as possible.

Annual Meeting of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO

The U.S. National Commission for UNESCO will host its annual conference on Thursday, June 1 and Friday, June 2, 2006 at the Doubletree Hotel in Washington, DC (1515 Rhode Island Avenue, NW).

The Commission will have a series of informational plenary sessions and subject-specific committee breakout sessions on Thursday, June 1 and the morning of Friday, June 2.

The Commission will meet in plenary session to discuss its recommendations on Friday, June 2, 2006, from 1345 until 1600.

The theme of the conference is the 60th Anniversary of the creation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. The meetings will be open to the public.

Anyone wishing to attend should contact the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO no later than Wednesday, May 24th for further information about admission, as seating is limited.

Call: (202) 663-0026;
or Email: DCUNESCO@state.gov

UNESCO Milestones

Check out this website with a list of the milestones in UNESCO's 60 year history.

Educational Milestones of the 20th Century

UNESCO has produced this extensive list of educational milestones, emphasizing the educational advances of the 20th century. Click on the date, and you will find an explanation of the event commemorated.

UNESCO: Strategy on Human Rights

Read the full PDF document.

"Further integrating the human rights approach into all of UNESCO’s programs, advancing human rights in an era of globalization, and strengthening partnerships."

18 million new primary teachers needed by 2015

Read the full article from Reuters AlertNet (April 26. 20060.

"More than 18 million new teachers will be needed over the next nine years to meet a U.N. goal of providing primary education to all the world's children by 2015, a U.N. agency said on Tuesday.

"Developing nations have the greatest needs but are poorly equipped to fulfill them because of lack of money and qualified personnel, UNESCO's Montreal-based Institute for Statistics said in a report."

Mrs. Bush's Remarks at the UNESCO Education for All Week Luncheon

Read the transcript of the First Lady's remarks.

"Literacy is the foundation of personal freedom. Being able to read, and choosing what we read, is how we shape our beliefs, our minds, and our characters. Reading brings self-reliance and independence. For many women and their children, literacy can even mean the difference between life and death. A mother who can read can understand the label on a food container. She knows how to follow the instructions on a bottle of medicine. She's more likely to make wise decisions about her life that will keep her and her children healthy.

"Literacy is the foundation of economic freedom. Free markets require informed consumers, and that means consumers who can read. Wider literacy also increases economic participation, which leads to more stable and vibrant economies......

"Today, I'm delighted to announce that this September, during the opening of the 61st session of the U.N. General Assembly, we'll convene a Conference on Global Literacy in New York. Working in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and UNESCO, the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization, we'll be looking at literacy programs that work, and connecting countries with the information they need to implement similar programs. The Conference will also encourage leaders from around the world to become involved in literacy in their own countries, and then to learn ways to support UNESCO's goal of Education for All by 2015."

World Book and Copyright Day - April 23, 2006

Go to the UNESCO website for the World Book and Copyright Day, 2006.

By celebrating this Day throughout the world, UNESCO seeks to promote reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyright.

23 April: a symbolic date for world literature for on this date and in the same year of 1616, Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. It is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors, and was a natural choice for UNESCO's General Conference to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors. UNESCO encourages "everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity".

United Kingdom to give $15 billion to promote Education for All (EFA)

Read the full press release from UNESCO.

"The United Kingdom has pledged $15 billion in overseas aid for education in Africa and Asia over the next ten years."

Masterpieces of Intangible Heritage

UNESCO's Culture program includes a strong focus on the intangible heritage of mankind. Indeed, UNESCO is the managing U.N. agency for The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

It has produced this webpage with an interactive map showing the entire List of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Various lists down the left side of the webpage, plus a world map, allow visitors to the page to browse among the 47 proclaimed masterpieces and to consult detailed information, diaporamas, and videos on each of them.

Unesco intends to put the magic back in Babylon

Read the full article by Jeffrey Gettleman in The New York Times/International Herald Tribune, FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2006.

"Babylon, the city with the million- dollar name, has paid the price of war. It has been ransacked, looted, torn up, paved over, neglected and roughly occupied. Archaeologists said American soldiers had even used soil thick with priceless artifacts to stuff sandbags.

"But Iraqi leaders and UN officials are not giving up on it. They are working assiduously to restore Babylon, home to the Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.........

"The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is pumping millions of dollars into Babylon and a handful of other sites. It has even printed a snazzy brochure to give to wealthy donors. "Cultural tourism could become Iraq's second biggest industry, after oil," explained Philippe Delanghe, a United Nations official helping with the project."

Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage Enteers into Force

Read the full UNESCO announcement.

As at 31 March 2006, forty-six States had ratified the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Convention was approved by the UNESCO General Conference in 2005. It will enter into force on 20 April 2006. The implementation of this Convention, which strongly emphasizes the role of communities and groups as bearers and transmitters of intangible cultural heritage, is hoped to contribute to the promotion of cultural diversity and human creativity. The convention was strongly opposed by the Bush administration.

Panographic Views of World Heritage Sites

World Heritage Tour provides an online experience of UNESCO World Heritage sites. Click on the link above, and then on the map, and you will have the chance to view the pyramids, or the empire state building almost as well as if you were there, never leaving your computer.

UNESCO’s Basic Texts on the Information Society

Article 1 of UNESCO's Constitution states that it will "collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommend such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image". Among UNESCO’s fundamental activities, then, is the drafting of charters, declarations and recommendations intended to present the essence of its proposals for action in the fields of education, science, culture and communication. UNESCO staff have attempted through this publication to select a number of quotations from the Organization’s many official texts, originating from all its program sectors, which contribute to defining what the information society ought to be, without reducing the debate to purely technical issues. It was prepared for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). UNESCO, 2003. (PDF, 116 pages.)

Towards Knowledge Societies

The UNESCO World Report on knowledge societies for all has been released at a crucial moment. After the achievements of the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, there is fresh international interest in the growth and development paradigm that bears within it the idea of “knowledge societies”. We are witnessing the emergence of a need for clarification of its aims as a project of society. This is the challenge that the UNESCO World Report intends to address on the eve of decisive international meetings.

UNESCO Projects on Slavery: St. Patrick' Day

Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was sold into slavery in the 5th century. After his escape he returned to Ireland, where he had been a slave, and brought Christianity to the island. On this day, dedicated to St. Patrick, it seems appropriate to spotlight UNESCO's concern for slavery.

Check out UNESCO's Lest We Forget: The Triumph Over Slavery Exhibit online.

The Slave Route is UNESCO's portal for a long term project with three major objectives:

* to break the silence surrounding the slave trade and slavery through the historical study of the causes and dynamics of the transatlantic slave trade
* to clarify of the consequences and interactions resulting from the slave trade
* to contribute to the establishment of a culture of tolerance and peaceful coexistence between races and peoples.

The UNESCO Office in the Caribbean also emphasized its Slave Route Project.

The Slave Trade Archives is a major project to break a silence and make universally known the issue of the transatlantic slave trade and slavery, its causes and dramatic results, by means of scientific work. Under this project historical records of the slave trade have been digitized and made available in new formats:

* The National Library of Brazil's project is considered a model of excellence.
* Haiti, in the middle of civil war, under the threat of death, lack of electricity and political instability, was able to finish on schedule the first CD-ROM.
* Senegal prepared the documents of former French West Africa and inscribed them on the Memory of the World Register.
* Colombia digitised over 150.000 images.
* The Museum of Barbados created an archive for the 14 English-speaking countries of the Caribbean.

2004 was dedicated by the United Nations as Slavery Abolition Year. UNESCO's portal for the commeroration describes its activities.

Unfortunately, involuntary servitude is still with us 1600 years after St. Patrick, and in spite of the progress made in the 19th and 20 centuries. UNESCO's efforts, helping to keep the issue before the public and to further scientific understanding of slavery, are an arm in the international effort to promote and protect human rights!

Water and Indigenous Peoples

Edited by R. Boelens, M. Chiba and D. Nakashima. Knowledges of Nature 2, UNESCO: Paris, 177 pp., March 2006.

To request a copy, email - sc_links@unesco.org

This book has been launched by UNESCO during the Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City (March 2006). It is based on the papers delivered atf the Second and Third World Water Forums (The Hague in 2000 and Kyoto in 2003). It brings to the fore some of the most incisive critics from indigenous communities of international debates on water access, use and management, as well as indigenous expressions of generosity that share community knowledge and insight in order to propose remedies for the global water crisis.

Water and Indigenous Peoples advocates a revision of international development efforts to fully embrace indigenous peoples' knowledge, values, land tenure, customary management, social arrangements and rights pertaining to water. Contributions cover a wide array of approaches and issues, ranging from 'worldviews' to 'rights-based struggles'.

"Education Makes News" training kit

UNESCO has launched a revised and improved the Education For All media training and resource kit titled “Education Makes News”. Education for All (EFA) is the international initiative to achieve education for all by 2015. The kit is to be used to encourage the communication media to highlight EFA goals locally, regionally and globally. The kit can be used to develop the interest, knowledge and skills of journalists and other media professionals in writing, reporting and investigating the EFA issues. It can help them to create stories from statistics and bring the EFA debate to the center stage. The revised kit has been updated with recent statistics, facts, and examples and newly organized contents. The technology used in the Computer Based Training (CBT) is simplified for easy use by learners/trainers.

Click here to downloaded the kit.

Philip Hall Coombs; Education Expert and Advocate

Read the obituary in the Washington Post, March 10, 2006.

Read the obituary in the New York Times, March 7, 2006.

Philip Hall Coombs, 90, the first assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs, died Februar 15, 2006 in Chester, Conn.

Mr. Coombs worked for UNESCO's International Institute for Educational Planning in Paris. In 1970, he became vice chairman and then chairman of the International Council of Economic Development, focusing on improving education in developing countries.

His books include "The Fourth Dimension of Foreign Policy" (1964); "Education and Foreign Aid" (1965); "Attacking Rural Poverty: How Nonformal Education Can Help" (1974); and "The World Crisis in Education: The View From the Eighties" (1985).

"We praise education's virtues and count on it to help the new generation solve great problems which the older generation has failed to solve," Secretary Coombs told an international meeting in Washington in 1961. "But when it comes to spending more money for education, our deeds often fail to match our words."

22 March - World Day for Water 2006: Water and Culture

Go to UNESCO's website for the World Day for Water 2006.

The United Nations General Assembly has declared that 22 March of each year is World Day for Water. States are invited to devote the Day, as appropriate in the national context, to concrete activities such as the promotion of public awareness through the publication and diffusion of documentaries and the organization of conferences, round tables, seminars and expositions related to the conservation and development of water resources and the implementation of the recommendations of Agenda 21.

World Water Day (WWD) 2006 will be guided by the theme 'Water and Culture' under the leadership of UNESCO.

Laura Bush calls for promoting education with advanced teachers Training

Read the full article in the Pakistan Times.

"US First Lady Laura Bush on Saturday stressed the need for promotion of education in Pakistan, with special focus on advanced skill training for teachers.

"'Education is an issue of concern worldwide,...and we (United States) want Pakistan to shift from simple qualifications to advanced methodology in the educational field. This can help people to lead life with success,' she said in a roundtable talk with the representatives of UNESCO, Federal Directorate of Education, Children Resource International (CRI) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at US Embassy here."

"UNESCO: Sixty Years of Standard-Setting in Education, Science and Culture"

Go to the Conference website.

This Symposium is is to take place 9-10 March 2006 in Paris at the UNESCO Headquarters. It has been organized by UNESCO's Office of International Standards and Legal Affairs.

UNESCO has adopted over the last sixty years 35 conventions, 31 recommendations and 13 declarations in the fields of education, science and culture.

* What has become of all these instruments ?

* Have they contributed to the realization of the principles and objectives of UNESCO as laid down in its Constitution ?

* What is their impact on national laws and policies of Member States ?

* Have they become part of international law ?

This symposium on UNESCO’s standard-setting activities - the first of its kind - is organized in the context of the sixtieth anniversary of the Organization. It brings together eminent international legal scholars and practitioners to address the above issues, and to assess the impact of UNESCO’s standard setting-activities in the realization of the mandate of the Organization.

Two experts from U.S. universities are included among the distinguished participants:

* Prof. Ruth OKEDIJI from the University of Minnesota, and

* Prof. Jerome H. REICHMAN from Duke University.

International Women's Day 2006

Today is International Women's Day. Check out UNESCO's website describing the events taking place at UNESCO in honor of the occasion.

Every year on 8 March, both at and away from Headquarters, UNESCO celebrates International Women’s Day, a flagship event which highlights at the international level questions relating to the empowerment of women and the promotion of gender equality.

UNESCO Holds Conference on Arts in Human Development

UNESCO Holds Conference on Arts in Human Development

A conference on the role of arts in human development sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) began on Monday in the Portuguese capital.

The four-day meeting drew 750 experts from around the world including teachers, researchers and other experts in visual arts, dance, music, theatre, creative writing and poetry.

Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio opened the conference with UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura.

Strategies for Teacher Training in ICT

UNESCO Bangkok provides a page of links to several studies of pre- and in-service teacher development programs intended to effectively integrate information and communication technologies into school and university curricula. Examples include Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea and Costa Rica. UNESCO also has a link to a Professional Development Model for Online Course Development.

Inter-Agency Peace Education Programg

Read the booklet online.

This new UNESCO publication describes a program for the introduction of peace education and conflict minimization for refugee and returnee children. The program is designed to enable people to think constructively about living together and about solving problems that arise in their communities through peaceful means. It also allows the learners to practice these skills.

The program described is currently being implemented in eleven countries in Africa, and has been integrated into complementary programmes in Kosovo, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

It is run by UNESCO in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

U.S. Public Opinion on International Relations

"America's Place in the World 2005: An Investigation of the Attitudes of American Opinion Leaders and the American Public About International Affairs"

This is a study produced by the Pew Center for the People and the Press in association with the Council on Foreign Relations. It is the latest of a series. It is perceived by many to indicate a shift toward isolationism on the part of the American Public.

Peter Beinhart wrote last month, for example:

Public isolationism has jumped sharply since 2002. Even more striking is the change in elite opinion. According to a recent Pew study, the percentage of security experts who say the United States should be highly assertive around the world has dropped from 75 percent in 1993 to 53 percent today. Among leading scientists and engineers, it has dropped from 55 percent to 32 percent. Among top religious leaders, it has fallen from 57 percent to 36 percent.

Larry Seaquist, a member of the Board of Directors of Americans for UNESCO, provided a column by David Brooks of the New York Times, in which he takes an alternative view:

A polling analyst, Ruy Teixeira, has taken the closest look at the data over at his Web site, Donkey Rising. Teixeira argues that instead of seeing a turn to isolationism, what we are seeing in poll after poll is public opinion returning to normal post-World War II levels, after the unusual 9/11 blip.

Much of the isolationist talk started when a Pew survey found that 42 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. should mind its own business internationally, a 12-point rise over three years. But Teixeira points out that the 42 percent number puts Americans back where they were throughout the Clinton years, when Americans supported more foreign interventions than ever before.

Ruy Teixeira, on his website "Donkey Rising", in fact wrote:

Is the US public moving toward isolationism? Last week, I cited the John Mueller article on “The Iraq Syndrome” that suggested a trend among the public toward isolationism was likely in reaction to the Iraq debacle. Partial confirmation of this trend is provided by data from a new Pew Research Center/Council on Foreign Relations study, “American’s Place in the World, 2005". I say partial confirmation for two reasons: (1) There are counter-trends that suggest the public mood cannot easily by typecast as simply isolationist; and (2) The move away from internationalism, such as it is, is mostly relative to the post-September 11, 2001 surge in internationalism. Therefore, the public is mostly returning to the status quo ante–the post Vietnam era of qualified internationalism--rather than true isolationism.

Brooks seems clearly to have wrongly interpreted Teixeira, who thinks that the level of isolationism is returning to post Desert Storm levels, not post WWII levels. The key finding from the Pew study is shown in the graph below:


The report itself states:

Fully 42% of Americans say the United States should “mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own.” This is on par with the percentage expressing that view during the mid-1970s, following the Vietnam War, and in the 1990s after the Cold War ended.

Thus, on the basis of this one indicator, public opinion appears more isolationist not only than after WWII, when the failure of isolationism was fresh in the minds of the public, but than at any time other than right after Viet Nam and right after Desert Storm.

Teixeira also writes:

Data on the UN are somewhat contradictory. On the one hand, favorability toward the UN has nosedived, so it is now 29 points lower than it was just prior to September 11, 2001. And sentiment that the “The United States should cooperate fully with the United Nations” is now at just 54 percent, down 13 points from just before 9/11 and 6 points since 2002 (though this is still substantially higher than the previous low of 46 percent in 1976). But views on whether “strengthening the UN” should be a top priority (40 percent) are just about the same as they were before 9/11 and quite a bit higher than they were in 1997 (30 percent).

However, consider the results from "Americans on Addressing World Poverty of June 2005":

A large majority of Americans favors the US committing to the goal of devoting seven-tenths of one-percent of GDP to reducing world poverty, provided that other developed countries do so as well. An equally large majority favors the US committing up to $50 a year per taxpaying household to meet the Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015—once again, provided that other developed countries do so as well.

I suggest that public opinion polls show a reduction in support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the related policies in the Middle East and West Asia. The changing views of the United Nations, especially if ascertained in the context of the wars, are probably also related to the conflict. Few opinion leaders and few in the public would distinguish the United Nations and its peace keeping functions, from the IAEA and its non-proliferation functions, from the decesntralized agencies such as UNESCO.

In fact I suppose there is great public support for some U.N. agencies. Thus the concern for a possible avian flu pandemic has required leadership on a global level from the World Health Organization, and I would guess that there is practically no isolationism expressed in terms of waiting for the pandemic to hit the United States, rather than working through multilateral channels to stop the disease where it breaks out in the human population.

I would suggest that UNESCO represents a special case. Opinion leaders and the public should be very supportive of its efforts toward Education for All. They should see international cooperation in science to be a public good, promoted effectively by UNESCO. But due to the long period that the United States was out of UNESCO, Americans know even less about it than about other U.N agencies. At a time when Americans for UNESCO is seeking to promote more linkages between UNESCO and its natural consitituencies in the United States, and to promote better understanding of UNESCO, those efforts might well be endangered by fall-out criticism of other international policies or of the United Nations.