International Year for the Culture of Peace

The International Year for the Culture of Peace was designated by the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

as the year 2000, with the aim of celebrating and encouraging a culture of peace

Peace

Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...

Origins

Since 1959 the United Nations

United Nations

has designated specific years to emphasize issues which are part of the mission of the organization. The International Year for the Culture of Peace was proclaimed in a United Nations General Assembly

United Nations General Assembly

For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...

resolution in 1997 on the basis of an Economic and Social Council

United Nations Economic and Social Council

The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations constitutes one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and it is responsible for the coordination of the economic, social and related work of 14 UN specialized agencies, its functional commissions and five regional commissions...

resolution, with a Declaration and Programme of Action produced after ten months of negotiation.

The IYCP Taskforce

The lead organization for the International Year was UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

. There was a logic to this, in that UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

is the United Nations

United Nations

organization dealing with education, and also in that the constitutional mandate of UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

involves the encouragement of a global culture of peace. Within the UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

Secretariat in Paris, a specific International Year for the Culture of Peace Taskforce was established from 1998–2000, with the aim of co-ordinating the activities to publicize the International Year. Members of the Taskforce included: David Adams (Chair), Di Bretherton, James Page

James Page (Australian educationist)

Dr James Smith Page , is an Australian educationist and anthropologist, and a recognized authority within the field of peace education.-Education:...

, Katherine Stoessel, Zeynep Varoglu and Jan Visser.

International Year Strategies

The strategies behind the International Year centred upon involving civil society as much as possible. The specific initiatives included the collection of some 75 million signatures worldwide in support of a culture of peace, with the Manifesto 2000 Project. Another initiative was the Culture of Peace News Network (CPNN), a plan to develop a world-wide network of locally-based websites reporting news in support of a culture of peace.

Assessment of the International Year

Opinion is divided as to how effective the International Year was. It is possible to argue that there was much rhetoric in the International Year, and yet often the impact of such events can only be discerned many years later.

Ongoing Commitment of the United Nations

The work of supporting and encouraging a culture of peace continues through the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World.

External links

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