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A number of forums have been organized by the UNESCO Culture of Peace Programme for the elaboration of an operational concept of the culture of peace. These have included the Roundtable of Eminent Persons on 'The Agenda for Peace: A Challenge for UNESCO' in Paris in July 1993, the First International Forum on the Culture of Peace, held from 16 to 18 February 1994 in El Salvador, the Venice Deliberations' of May, 1994, and the First Consultative Meeting of the Culture of Peace Programme in Paris, September 1994. A second International Forum will be held in November 1995 in the Philippines. The Philippines also hosted, in April 1995, an expert group meeting on Women's Contribution to a Culture of Peace.
The participants at the 1993 round table stressed the link between a culture of peace and human development. They emphasized the importance of peace building in post conflict situations within the context of the United Nations activities as outlined in An Agenda for Peace (see Chapter 6 on the United Nations). The unique contribution of UNESCO, they said, is to integrate activities in education, communication, culture and science in such a way that they promote the 'fundamental and pervasive adoption of the values and daily behaviours of peace and strengthen the conditions which can guarantee that the peace is sustainable'.
The El Salvador Forum of 1994, based on a discussion of the experiences of national culture of peace programmes, proposed basic principles to define the framework for future such programmes. Experiences were presented not only from El Salvador and other Latin American countries, but also from Cambodia, Mozambique, India, Egypt, Angola, Belarus, Israel, Palestine and the Philippines. In his opening remarks, President Cristiani of El Salvador characterized the culture of peace as 'a programme of work for the benefit of the future'. 'It must have a distinctly universal inspiration' and 'must be a deep rooted culture which finds its way into all the attitudes of mind and institutional forms which shape the course of reality.'

General conclusions
from the First International Forum
on the Culture of Peace

(a) the objective of a culture of peace is to ensure that the conflicts inherent in human relationships be resolved non violently;

(b) peace and human rights are indivisible and concern everyone;

(c) the construction of a culture of peace is a multidimensional task requiring the participation of people at all levels;

(d) a culture of peace should contribute to the strengthening of democratic processes;

(e) the implementation of a culture of peace project requires a thorough mobilization of all means of education, both formal and non formal and of communication;

(f) a culture of peace requires the learning and use of new techniques for the peaceful management and resolution of conflicts;

(g) a culture of peace should be elaborated within the process of sustainable, endogenous, equitable human development; it cannot be imposed from the outside.


The 'Venice Deliberations' of May 1994 highlighted the changing nature of security and how it can be addressed in the framework of a culture of peace. Distinguished personalities from a wide range of backgrounds engaged in a holistic and multi disciplinary discussion, which among other issues, came to focus on the transformation of military organizations so that they could play new and positive roles in the decades ahead.

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UNESCO's unique contribution is to integrte activities in education, communication, culture and science to promote the fundamental and pervasive adoption of the values and daily behaviours of peace.


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