* Is the violence essential to the story?

* Can the violence be implied rather than shown?

* Are the brutal consequence of violence also apparent?

* Is violence being glorified?

Someday, it may be hoped, the media will work within guidelines in which the non-violent solution of conflicts are given as much emphasis as violent solutions.
Social scientists from around the world are increasingly addressing a culture of peace with support from UNESCO. At its biennial meeting in 1994, the International Peace Research Association featured the subject in its plenary discussions. Similarly, the Peace Committee of the International Union of Psychological Sciences is devoting its priority to psychological aspects of a culture of peace. Along the same lines, a volume of UNESCO Peace and Conflict Issues is under preparation on the theme 'from a culture of violence towards a culture of peace'.
Among the many relevant initiatives of the social sciences in the recent biennium, of special importance are the meetings on 'The Contribution of Religions to the Culture of Peace', organized with the UNESCO Catalunya Centre in Barcelona. At the 1994 meeting the participants, representing all major religious groups, issued the 'Declaration on the Role of Religion in the Promotion of a Culture of Peace,' calling upon all religious and cultural traditions to unite their efforts to spread the message of peace.
Research in social science becomes useful after its results are known and applied to practical problems. Hence, one of UNESCO's priorities in this field is the establishment of sustainable links between the scientific and policy communities and to emphasize the relevance

of social science research for policy formulation. The Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme is UNESCO's response to this challenge facing policy-makers and researchers. MOST activities fall under three research areas, all of which are related to promotion of sustainable development and a culture of peace:

* multi cultural and multi-ethnic societies;

* cities as arenas of accelerated social transformations;

* coping locally and regionally with economic, technological and environmental transformations.

The new transdisciplinary project of UNESCO for Environmental and Population Education and Information for Development contributes to a culture of peace by promoting global solidarity and consciousness. One of its central objectives is to improve education and training programmes and materials to raise awareness of the environmental threats which endanger everyone and which require concerted action on a planetary level.

UNESCO field offices

Through the field offices of UNESCO, the Culture of Peace Programme is able to operate in every corner of the globe. As will be discussed in the section on national programmes, the management of the programmes in El Salvador and Mozambique is handled by new field offices in those countries.
The UNESCO office in San Jos�, Costa Rica has played a key role in the initiation and support of national culture of peace programmes in Central America. Not only has it been instrumental in the El Salvador programme, but also in the design of programmes for Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

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