UNESCO’s Projects for Culture of Peace

According to the UNESCO document “53/243 A. Declaration on a Culture of Peace” (UNESCO, Article 1, 1999) there are nine principles consisting of attitudes, values, and forms of behaviors, traditions, and ways of life, for a universal culture of peace. These consist of, firstly, a respect for all life, the stopping of violence and the practice and promotion of nonviolence through dialogue, education and cooperation; secondly, a respect for the underlying foundations of territorial integrity, political independence and sovereignty of states, additionally, non-intervention in concerns that within the jurisdiction of a state; thirdly, respect for fundamental freedoms and the promotion and respect of human rights; fourthly, a commitment to a process of peaceful settlement of any conflicts; fifthly, a strong effort to address the environmental and developmental needs of both future and current generations; sixthly, the promotion and respect of the human right to development; seventhly, promotion and respect of equal opportunities and rights for both men and women; eighthly, promotion and respect of the right of every individual to freedom of opinion, information and expression; finally, adherence to the principles of freedom, justice, democracy, tolerance, solidarity, cooperation, pluralism, cultural diversity, dialogue and understanding at all levels of society and among nations; and fostered by an enabling national and international environment conducive to peace.

In 1999 the ‘Programme of Action’ on a culture of peace was adopted. This involved eight areas namely:

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‘education for peace, the promotion of sustainable economic and social development, respect for human rights, equality between women and men, democratic participation, tolerance, the free flow of information and of disarmament’ (Adams, 2005, n. p.), [and the promotion of international peace and security].

Stemming from the 1998 UN resolution on the culture of peace these eight actions has been proposed as an ‘alternative to the culture of war and violence’. The following table illustrates the differentiation of a culture of war and violence from a culture of peace:

Table 2.3.1.4

Differentiation between Culture of War and Violence from Culture of Peace

Culture of War and Violence Culture of Peace and Non-Violence Belief in power that is based on force Education for a culture of peace

Having an enemy Understanding, tolerance and solidarity

Authoritarian governance Democratic participation

Secrecy and propaganda Free flow of information

Armament Disarmament

Exploitation of people Human rights

Exploitation of nature Sustainable development

Male domination Equality of women and men

Note: Adopted from Adams (2005)

The members of the UNESCO (1994) meeting in Barcelona on religions influence, on the culture of peace agreed that “peace lies at the heart of all religions, seen in their true spirit” (1994, p.6) and this spirit could be taught to children. The members of the meeting gave their commitment to teach the importance and value of dignity, humanity, to ensure the relations between individuals are based on love and all individuals can live in a harmonious and respectful manner. Consequently, importance was placed on behavior displaying compassion, generosity, wisdom, charity, solidarity and the choice of responsibility and freedom.

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The culture of peace proposed by UNESCO proposed an education that advocates a respect for all life, the stopping of violence and the practice and promotion of nonviolence through dialogue, education and cooperation. Building peace stems from children’s education and the awareness of those committing harmful activities and realizing that those harmful activities have negative impact on those receiving the outcome of the harmful activities. The path to peace is the acknowledgement of harmful activities and the creation of a positive peace culture.

2.3.1.4.1 Truth and Reconciliation

According to the United Nations Education and Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) it is possible to “promote individual responsibility for serious crimes” (UNESCO, 2006, p.2) through the principles of truth and reconciliation. The UNESCO notion of truth and reconciliation has been used by the ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC)’ (unesco.ca, 2016) in a dialogue to improve the relations between Canadians and the indigenous people of Canada.

They hope to publish a report that details the relevance of truth and reconciliation between these two groups of people. As demonstrated in the following two statements by the TRC:

Show Canadians the complex truth about the history and ongoing legacy of residential schools in a way that fully documents the individual and collective harms perpetrated against indigenous peoples and honors their resilience and courage; and

Guide and inspire a process of truth and healing, leading toward reconciliation within Indigenous families and between indigenous peoples and non-indigenous communities, churches, governments, and Canadians generally (unesco.ca, 2016).

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Similarly, South Africa used their TRC to deal with the problems of apartheid. The TRC process ensured peace could be resolved through a ‘truth for amnesty’ (Dieltiens, 2005). And this involved the granting of amnesty to the initiators of violence associated with apartheid. It saved the lives of many people who would have been killed in continued conflict.

2.3.1.4.2 The Sustainable Development Goal 4 – SDG4 on Culture of Peace

Because of the finite resources of planet earth, compounded by the alarming growth of human population with unabated demands on nature to produce resources for man’s survival, man has set the world on a precarious cliff steadily edging towards a spiral into anarchy. The exploitation of the earth beyond its elastic limit has resulted into poverty and environmental devastation etc. which have consequently heralded disasters of unimaginable proportions and globally palpable implications. To keep natures destructive tendencies at bay, emphasis now is on sustainable development which is a design for development which takes care of the socio-economic needs of today without jeopardizing the environment for future generations to support economic viability.

Sustainable development has been designed into 17 goals with political, economic and social implications designed with emphasis towards securing the future. An important component of the SDG, particularly goal 4 focuses on “quality education: ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all, (UNESCO, 2017).

The objectives of this goal includes “delivering education as a public good, a global common good, a fundamental human right; which guarantees the promotion of other human rights (UNESCO, 2017); promoting culture in education as a tool for achieving sustainability and promote education as a means for achieving a sustainable, equitable and peaceful world (UNESCO, 2017); promote

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gender equality through education, provide a behavioral guide from which students will draw from all through their lives to guide them through everyday situations and promote sustainable development, (UNESCO, 2017). It is clear that the goal of SGD is to build peace, justice and inclusive societies that create equal access to social justice without bias and with respect for human rights, effective rule of law and good governance reflected in transparent, effective and accountable institutions (UNESCO, 2017). Importantly, education has been called upon to champion this course.

The objectives of the SDG4 clearly resonates with the pursuits of RE. RE, at its core, is a commitment to the protection of the right to association without prejudice, right to expression, thought and practice, (Awang and Abdul, 2017). It ensures the transcendence of culture, particularly, the religious dimension, from generation to generation, (Chandra, 1984); promotes peace and understanding, and equips students with knowledge on behavioral patterns for unity and cooperation, (Chandra, 1984). RE therefore, since it already embodies ideals of SDG4 and already has a design for achieving these ideals, becomes a vital component of the education design for SDG4. It will ensure inclusiveness and religious equity which will promote cooperation and peaceful coexistence. It will ensure an all rounded knowledge of religions and a genuine appreciation of even the mundane practices of religions leading to tolerance and understanding.

since religions are set in particular culture, it will provide a spring board for launching into the cultural uniqueness of societies and an appreciation of their differences. SDG4, armed with RE in pursuit of these lofty ideals, would therefore achieve inclusiveness, cooperation, unity, understanding, as well as a unique behavioral pattern, sensitive to differences and similarities and thirsty for peace.

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2.3.1.4.3 Building Negative Peace versus Building Positive Peace

For seven decades the United Nations (UN) have been long contributors or supporters of negative peace-building that is the absence of war. Many nations have benefited from the different UN Peacekeeping Missions, including Haiti. The good news is that there is an ongoing effort and a shift towards positive peace building, such as, social Christianity. Social Christianity is the movement that convey the Christian gospel as one that needed to relate the here-and-now problems of industrial society. In his 1995 article, Industrial Society and Its Future, Theodore Kaczynski discussed several social problems attached to the change in people living conditions. These changes generated conflict and frustration among individuals in the society. In many cases, in their quest for freedom or peace, people respond to conflict and frustration violently. Religion can train people on peaceful conflict resolution.

Peace will not and cannot result from violence, indeed, as Johan Galtung the founder of academic peace research continues to point out: security grows from peace-not the other way around. A vivid example that violence cannot result in peace is the continuing struggle between of the Israelite-Palestinian conflict. For security to be established in the Middle East, especially between Israel and Palestine peace agreements need to be made by both engaging with security related issues and resolving security-related issues. A similar logic was employed by the Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1979: By signing a peace treaty with Egypt, Israel could launch Operation Peace to the Galilee in 1982 and evict the Palestine Liberation Organization from Lebanon, without fearing a military reprisal from Cairo on its southern border. The name of the peace treaty reflected the fact that the breakthrough between the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and the Israeli Prime

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Minister Menachem Begin, took place in September 1978 at the U.S. presidential retreat, at Camp David.

2.3.1.4.4 Building Positive Peace

Building Positive Peace however, entails educating children on dignity and humanity and the importance of having good relations with others. RE from a peace building perspective can result in the opening of peoples’ eyes about their harmful deeds, which may in turn enhance humanitarian principles. For instances, teaching RE to build peace can train students in effective conflict resolution, such as, restitution. Restitution skill is one of the important biblical concepts. This principle is found in the book of Numbers 5: 7, and it applies to the situation of when a person has injured someone else, God stated that he “must confess the sin he has committed… and make full restriction for his wrong” (as cited in Sande, 2004, Appendix). The main point to this is that Bible lessons can be used to train citizens on how to restore relationships in justice, forgiveness and fairness. Forgiveness can be considered as a good thing but it is more effective when it is supported by actions.