B
PROGRAMME OF ACTION ON A CULTURE OF PEACE
The General Assembly,
Bearing in mind the Declaration on a Culture of Peace adopted on 13 September 1999,
Recalling
its resolution 52/15 of 20 November 1997, by which it proclaimed the
year 2000 as the "International Year for the Culture of Peace", and its
resolution 53/25 of 10 November 1998, by which it proclaimed the period
2001-2010 as the "International Decade for a Culture of Peace and
Non-violence for the Children of the World";
Adopts the following Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace:
A. Aims, strategies and main actors
1.
The Programme of Action should serve as the basis for the International
Year for the Culture of Peace and the International Decade for a
Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World.
2.
Member States are encouraged to take actions for promoting a culture of
peace at the national level as well as at the regional and
international levels.
3.
Civil society should be involved at the local, regional and national
levels to widen the scope of activities on a culture of peace.
4.
The United Nations system should strengthen its ongoing efforts to promote a culture of peace.
5.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
should continue to play its important role in and make major
contributions to the promotion of a culture of peace.
6.
Partnerships between and among the various actors as set out in the
Declaration should be encouraged and strengthened for a global movement
for a culture of peace.
7.
A culture of peace could be promoted through sharing of information among actors on their initiatives in this regard.
8.
Effective implementation of the Programme of Action requires
mobilization of resources, including financial resources, by interested
Governments, organizations and individuals.
B. Strengthening actions at the national, regional and international levels by all relevant actors
9.
Actions to foster a culture of peace through education:
(a)
Reinvigorate national efforts and international cooperation to promote
the goals of education for all with a view to achieving human, social
and economic development and for promoting a culture of peace;
(b)
Ensure that children, from an early age, benefit from education on the
values, attitudes, modes of behaviour and ways of life to enable them
to resolve any dispute peacefully and in a spirit of respect for human
dignity and of tolerance and non-discrimination;
(c)
Involve children in activities designed to instill in them the values and goals of a culture of peace;
(d)
Ensure equality of access to education for women, especially girls;
(e)
Encourage revision of educational curricula, including textbooks,
bearing in mind the 1995 Declaration and Integrated Framework of Action
on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy3
for which technical cooperation should be provided by the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization upon request;
(f)
Encourage and strengthen efforts by actors as identified in the
Declaration, in particular the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization, aimed at developing values and skills
conducive to a culture of peace, including education and training in
promoting dialogue and consensus-building;
(g)
Strengthen the ongoing efforts of the relevant entities of the United
Nations system aimed at training and education, where appropriate, in
the areas of conflict prevention and crisis management, peaceful
settlement of disputes, as well as in post-conflict peace-building;
(h)
Expand initiatives to promote a culture of peace undertaken by
institutions of higher education in various parts of the world,
including the United Nations University, the University for Peace and
the project for twinning universities and the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Chairs Programme.
10.
Actions to promote sustainable economic and social development:
(a)
Undertake comprehensive actions on the basis of appropriate strategies
and agreed targets to eradicate poverty through national and
international efforts, including through international cooperation;
(b)
Strengthen the national capacity for implementation of policies and
programmes designed to reduce economic and social inequalities within
nations through, inter alia, international cooperation;
(c)
Promote effective and equitable development-oriented and durable
solutions to the external debt and debt-servicing problems of
developing countries through, inter alia, debt relief;
(d)
Reinforce actions at all levels to implement national strategies for
sustainable food security, including the development of actions to
mobilize and optimize the allocation and utilization of resources from
all sources, including through international cooperation, such as
resources coming from debt relief;
(e)
Undertake further efforts to ensure that the development process is
participatory and that development projects involve the full
participation of all;
(f)
Include a gender perspective and empowerment of women and girls as an integral part of the development process;
(g)
Include in development strategies special measures focusing on needs of
women and children as well as groups with special needs;
(h)
Strengthen, through development assistance in post-conflict situations,
rehabilitation, reintegration and reconciliation processes involving
all engaged in conflicts;
(i)
Incorporate capacity-building in development strategies and projects to
ensure environmental sustainability, including preservation and
regeneration of the natural resource base;
(j)
Remove obstacles to the realization of the right of peoples to
self-determination, in particular of peoples living under colonial or
other forms of alien domination or foreign occupation, which adversely
affect their social and economic development.
11.
Actions to promote respect for all human rights:
(a)
Full implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action;4
(b)
Encouragement of development of national plans of action for the promotion and protection of all human rights;
(c)
Strengthening of national institutions and capacities in the field of
human rights, including through national human rights institutions;
(d)
Realization and implementation of the right to development, as established in the Declaration on the Right to Development5 and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action;
(e)
Achievement of the goals of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004);6
(f)
Dissemination and promotion of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at all levels;
(g)
Further support to the activities of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights in the fulfilment of her or his mandate
as established in General Assembly resolution 48/141 of 20 December
1993, as well as the responsibilities set by subsequent resolutions and
decisions.
12.
Actions to ensure equality between women and men:
(a)
Integration of a gender perspective into the implementation of all relevant international instruments;
(b)
Further implementation of international instruments that promote equality between women and men;
(c)
Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women,7 with adequate resources and political will, and through, inter alia, the elaboration, implementation and follow-up of the national plans of action;
(d)
Promotion of equality between women and men in economic, social and political decision-making;
(e)
Further strengthening of efforts by the relevant entities of the United
Nations system for the elimination of all forms of discrimination and
violence against women;
(f)
Provision of support and assistance to women who have become victims of
any forms of violence, including in the home, workplace and during
armed conflicts.
13.
Actions to foster democratic participation:
(a)
Reinforcement of the full range of actions to promote democratic principles and practices;
(b)
Special emphasis on democratic principles and practices at all levels of formal, informal and non-formal education;
(c)
Establishment and strengthening of national institutions and processes that promote and sustain democracy through, inter alia, training and capacity-building of public officials;
(d)
Strengthening of democratic participation through, inter alia, the
provision of electoral assistance upon the request of States concerned
and based on relevant United Nations guidelines;
(e)
Combating of terrorism, organized crime, corruption as well as
production, trafficking and consumption of illicit drugs and money
laundering, as they undermine democracies and impede the fuller
development of a culture of peace.
14.
Actions to advance understanding, tolerance and solidarity:
(a)
Implement the Declaration of Principles on Tolerance and the Follow-up Plan of Action for the United Nations Year for Tolerance8 (1995);
(b)
Support activities in the context of the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations in the year 2001;
(c)
Study further the local or indigenous practices and traditions of
dispute settlement and promotion of tolerance with the objective of
learning from them;
(d)
Support actions that foster understanding, tolerance and solidarity throughout society, in particular with vulnerable groups;
(e)
Further support the attainment of the goals of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People;
(f)
Support actions that foster tolerance and solidarity with refugees and
displaced persons, bearing in mind the objective of facilitating their
voluntary return and social integration;
(g)
Support actions that foster tolerance and solidarity with migrants;
(h)
Promote increased understanding, tolerance and cooperation among all
peoples through, inter alia, appropriate use of new technologies and
dissemination of information;
(i)
Support actions that foster understanding, tolerance, solidarity and cooperation among peoples and within and among nations.
15.
Actions to support participatory communication and the free flow of information and knowledge:
(a)
Support the important role of the media in the promotion of a culture of peace;
(b)
Ensure freedom of the press and freedom of information and communication;
(c)
Make effective use of the media for advocacy and dissemination of
information on a culture of peace involving, as appropriate, the United
Nations and relevant regional, national and local mechanisms;
(d)
Promote mass communication that enables communities to express their needs and participate in decision-making;
(e)
Take measures to address the issue of violence in the media, including new communication technologies, inter alia, the Internet;
(f)
Increase efforts to promote the sharing of information on new information technologies, including the Internet.
16.
Actions to promote international peace and security:
(a)
Promote general and complete disarmament under strict and effective
international control, taking into account the priorities established
by the United Nations in the field of disarmament;
(b)
Draw, where appropriate, on lessons conducive to a culture of peace
learned from "military conversion" efforts as evidenced in some
countries of the world;
(c)
Emphasize the inadmissibility of acquisition of territory by war and
the need to work for a just and lasting peace in all parts of the
world;
(d)
Encourage confidence-building measures and efforts for negotiating peaceful settlements;
(e)
Take measures to eliminate illicit production and traffic of small arms and light weapons;
(f)
Support initiatives, at the national, regional and international
levels, to address concrete problems arising from post-conflict
situations, such as demobilization, reintegration of former combatants
into society, as well as refugees and displaced persons, weapon
collection programmes, exchange of information and confidence-building;
(g)
Discourage the adoption of and refrain from any unilateral measure, not
in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United
Nations, that impedes the full achievement of economic and social
development by the population of the affected countries, in particular
women and children, that hinders their well-being, that creates
obstacles to the full enjoyment of their human rights, including the
right of everyone to a standard of living adequate for their health and
well-being and their right to food, medical care and the necessary
social services, while reaffirming that food and medicine must not be
used as a tool for political pressure;
(h)
Refrain from military, political, economic or any other form of
coercion, not in accordance with international law and the Charter,
aimed against the political independence or territorial integrity of
any State;
(i)
Recommend proper consideration for the issue of the humanitarian impact
of sanctions, in particular on women and children, with a view to
minimizing the humanitarian effects of sanctions;
(j)
Promote greater involvement of women in prevention and resolution of
conflicts and, in particular, in activities promoting a culture of
peace in post-conflict situations;
(k)
Promote initiatives in conflict situations such as days of tranquillity
to carry out immunization and medicine distribution campaigns,
corridors of peace to ensure delivery of humanitarian supplies and
sanctuaries of peace to respect the central role of health and medical
institutions such as hospitals and clinics;
(l)
Encourage training in techniques for the understanding, prevention and
resolution of conflict for the concerned staff of the United Nations,
relevant regional organizations and Member States, upon request, where
appropriate. |
