8144
to Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres for their roles in the Middle East peace process
by UNESCO Director General Federico Mayor
(excerpts)
... if this prize is a tribute to the exemplary initiative of three outstanding leaders, it may also be seen as an encouragement to the communities they represent to take up the challenge of peace. For, as UNESCO's Constitution affirms, a secure peace is one that is rooted in the hearts and minds of men and women who are prepared to accept its difficult accommodations, to cultivate tolerance and to accord to others those basic rights they claim for themselves. I do not doubt that the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, drawing on rich traditions of civilization to overcome long and deep divisions, will prove equal to this historic challenge.
In doing so, they will be making a major contribution to peace worldwide. Soon it will be time for us to plant olive trees on our borders. The memory of the future will prevail over the memory of the past. And in our diversity we shall follow the same paths: from a culture of war we shall move to a culture of peace to be lived by our children and by our children's children.
Congo
Faced with a national crisis and a stagnation of the democratic process, the Government of the Congo, in co operation with UNESCO, held a National Forum on the Culture of Peace in Brazzaville from 19 to 24 December 1994. Leaders of political parties, both those in power and in the opposition, and representatives of Congolese civil organizations and associations participated. A number of current and former Heads of State of neighbouring countries also attended. The Forum was an opportunity to begin a dialogue on peace between political leaders in the Congo who, over the last two years, had been fighting against each other.
In preparation for the Forum, UNESCO engaged an international expert to travel among the various regions and ethnic groups of the country and consult with the people on their concerns and priorities and to sensitize them to the potential of developing a culture of peace. The mission found an important convergence of opinion on the kind of future people are seeking, a future characterized by dialogue, reconciliation and social priorities which include the peaceful solution of conflicts.
The Forum was seen by its participants, who represented all political parties and sectors of the civil society, as a renewal of national dialogue and an expression of the collective will of the people of the Congo to seek peace through consensus.
The National Forum for a Culture of Peace in Congo was seen by participants - representing all political parties and sectors of the civil society - as a renewal of national dialogue and an expression of the collective will of the people of the Congo to seek peace through consensus.