UNITED NATIONS

General Assembly

 

Distr.

GENERAL

A/RES/53/243

6 October 1999

Fifty-third session

Agenda item 31

RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

[without reference to a Main Committee (A/53/L.79)]

 

53/243. Declaration and Programme of Action o­n a Culture of Peace

 

A

 

DECLARATION o­n A CULTURE OF PEACE

 

The General Assembly,

Recalling the Charter of the United Nations, including the purposes and principles embodied therein,

Recalling also the Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which states that “since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed”,

Recalling further the Universal Declaration of Human Rights1 and other relevant international

instruments of the United Nations system,

Recognizing that peace not o­nly is the absence of conflict, but also requires a positive, dynamic

participatory process where dialogue is encouraged and conflicts are solved in a spirit of mutual

understanding and cooperation,

Recognizing also that the end of the cold war has widened possibilities for strengthening a culture

of peace,

Expressing deep concern about the persistence and proliferation of violence and conflict in various

parts of the world,

Recognizing the need to eliminate all forms of discrimination and intolerance, including those based

on race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin,

property, disability, birth or other status,

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”,

Recognizing the important role that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization continues to play in the promotion of a culture of peace,

Solemnly proclaims the present Declaration o­n a Culture of Peace to the end that Governments,

international organizations and civil society may be guided in their activity by its provisions to promote and strengthen a culture of peace in the new millennium:

 

Article 1

A culture of peace is a set of values, attitudes, traditions and modes of behaviour and ways of life

based o­n:

(a) Respect for life, ending of violence and promotion and practice of non-violence through

education, dialogue and cooperation;

(b) Full respect for the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of

States and non-intervention in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any State, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and international law;

(c) Full respect for and promotion of all human rights and fundamental freedoms;

(d) Commitment to peaceful settlement of conflicts;

(e) Efforts to meet the developmental and environmental needs of present and future generations;

(f) Respect for and promotion of the right to development;

(g) Respect for and promotion of equal rights and opportunities for women and men;

(h) Respect for and promotion of the right of everyone to freedom of expression, opinion and

information;

(i) 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.

 

Article 2

Progress in the fuller development of a culture of peace comes about through values, attitudes, modes of behaviour and ways of life conducive to the promotion of peace among individuals, groups and nations.

 

Article 3

The fuller development of a culture of peace is integrally linked to:

(a) Promoting peaceful settlement of conflicts, mutual respect and understanding and international

cooperation;

(b) Complying with international obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and

international law;

(c) Promoting democracy, development and universal respect for and observance of all human rights

and fundamental freedoms;

(d) Enabling people at all levels to develop skills of dialogue, negotiation, consensus-building and

peaceful resolution of differences;

(e) Strengthening democratic institutions and ensuring full participation in the development process;

(f) Eradicating poverty and illiteracy and reducing inequalities within and among nations;

(g) Promoting sustainable economic and social development;

(h) Eliminating all forms of discrimination against women through their empowerment and equal

representation at all levels of decision-making;

(i) Ensuring respect for and promotion and protection of the rights of children;

(j) Ensuring free flow of information at all levels and enhancing access thereto;

(k) Increasing transparency and accountability in governance;

(l) Eliminating all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance;

 

(m) Advancing understanding, tolerance and solidarity among all civilizations, peoples and cultures,

including towards ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities;

(n) Realizing fully the right of all peoples, including those living under colonial or other forms of

alien domination or foreign occupation, to self-determination enshrined in the Charter of the United

Nations and embodied in the International Covenants o­n Human Rights,2 as well as in the Declaration o­n the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples contained in General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960.

 

Article 4

Education at all levels is o­ne of the principal means to build a culture of peace. In this context,

human rights education is of particular importance.

 

Article 5

Governments have an essential role in promoting and strengthening a culture of peace.

 

Article 6

Civil society needs to be fully engaged in fuller development of a culture of peace.

 

Article 7

The educative and informative role of the media contributes to the promotion of a culture of peace.

 

Article 8

A key role in the promotion of a culture of peace belongs to parents, teachers, politicians, journalists, religious bodies and groups, intellectuals, those engaged in scientific, philosophical and creative and artistic activities, health and humanitarian workers, social workers, managers at various levels as well as to non-governmental organizations.

 

Article 9

The United Nations should continue to play a critical role in the promotion and strengthening of a

culture of peace worldwide.

 

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 Democracy 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 consensusbuilding;

(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);

(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, 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 decisionmaking;

(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 nonformal 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.

 

107th plenary meeting

13 September 1999

/...

 

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For the Interim Report to the UN o­n the

present the following report, subscribed to by the website co-authors listed below

Toward a New Culture of Peace from Social Harmony in an Information Age

The central idea of our report is that transition to the social requirements of an Information Age will compel transition to a New Culture of Peace. Global (information) society and peace in it can be o­nly harmonious, or they will be established never. In the Industrial Age of recent centuries, traditional societies formed cultures of peace that were not capable of preventing a repeating cycle of wars. These cultures resulted, for some, in weak restrictions o­n war. Peace, for these societies, consisted of a break between wars while preparing for new wars. We believe that a new, global society will create a new culture of peace that will seek to prevent wars, terror, poverty and affronts to human dignity. A new, global culture of peace, in our opinion, will be founded o­n an inherent social order that, when cultural information is freely exchanged, is harmonious by nature. Such a culture will prioritize children and the social groups involved in their development as future citizens, which together comprise a majority of the population. These groups are basically peace-loving, and provide the social foundation for a harmonious, new culture of peace that is capable of preventing wars, terror, poverty and affronts to human dignity. Thus, a harmonious, global culture of peace differs qualitatively from traditional cultures of peace. At the same time, this new culture of peace does not weaken local and regional cultures of peace, but strengthens them. Therefore, the mission of our website is, briefly: "To build a harmonious, new culture of peace, and to strengthen its social foundation".

Our international, multicultural, interdisciplinary and pluralistic website "A New Culture of Peace from Harmony" is devoted to various institutes and other means of creating harmonious peace, to ways of strengthening it, and also to sharing different opinions about it and different approaches to understanding it. Currently, the website includes the works of more than 60 authors (including five children), from 14 countries, in four languages: Russian, English, Esperanto and Portuguese. Further, six more languages are to be added. The website gets more 100 hits per day.

All of this makes it a worthy place for friendly meetings, and for dialogs among different cultures, languages and civilizations in search of finding ways to work together, to achieve harmonious peace. This website is created as a collective, multilingual, living and growing "how to" book for a new culture of peace from harmony. Our website is a daughter website to the International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace: IFLAC PAVE PEACE: www.iflac.com, www.iflac.com/ada

Today, the prospect of harmonious peace might seem Utopian. But its urgency grows more and more with the increasing tendency towards globalization of information, economic and other forms of interactions within the international community. Therefore tomorrow it can become, in many ways, and for many reasons, a practical achievement of the world community.

Our Report "Toward a New Culture of Peace from Social Harmony in an Information Age" is generated by the diverse content of our international website.

1. PROGRESS.

We believe that becoming an information society, and building a new culture of peace that is adequate to it, requires, first of all, social consciousness and scientific understanding. Therefore, we see progress toward a new culture of peace in our mission statement, in our theoretical models, and in our discussions of its problems. For this purpose we have submitted, o­n our website, various innovative models of this new culture of peace and various approaches to its numerous aspects. Theoretical models include three: a multicultural model (Ada Aharoni), an equal human dignity model (Evelin Lindner) and a four sphere, tetrasociological model (Leo Semashko). These models do not exclude but supplement each other. Among various aspects of this culture we note parental (Rose Lord and Lynn Comerford), civilizational (Tarek Heggy, Salim Mansur, Dmitry Ivashintsov, Ananta Giri, Lia Diskin), value (Reimon Bachika), poetry and art (Ada Aharoni, Maria Azcona, Hilarie Roseman, Francisco Matos, RamKrishna Singh), political-psychological (Alexander Yuriev), socio-psychological (Evelin Lindner), confessional (Rudolf Siebert), educational (Henry Skvortsov), ecological (Victor Gaidai), sociological (Martha Ross DeWitt), sociocybernetic (Bernd Hornung, Bernard Scott), linguistic (Francisco Matos), psychoanalytical (Mikhail Reshetnikov), web (Bernard Phillips), socionic (Valerie Isaev), communication (T.Galushko), philosophical (Grigory Toulchinsky), military (German Vitruk), political and socio-harmonious (Leo Semashko). Statements and discussion of these and other models, approaches and aspects of a new culture of peace, from our point of view, provide our basic contribution to its progress.

However, our website is not limited to the academic sphere. o­n its pages various work with children in different countries will be submitted, and also children's drawings. A youth competition is open o­n the website, (first of all students') essays o­n the topic "Youth to speak out about the opportunity for harmonious peace in an information society." We believe that in the UN Decade for a culture of peace our primary attention should be given to children and youth.

2. OBSTACLES.

The main obstacle to our progress in promoting a new culture of peace is an absence of funding. The primary work of our site consists of text translations of languages, so that people of different cultures can begin to really understand o­ne another. o­nly then can deep and intelligent dialog among them begin. Language differences separate and alienate people, cultures and civilizations. The English language, although prevalent, cannot ensure linguistic and information equality among people and cultures. Qualitative, mutual understanding requires mutual translation of all texts, or an acceptance of o­ne language that is common for everyone, whether artificial or an already existing language. (On our site, an attempt is made to include such a language - Esperanto. Unfortunately, while it is used by over two million people, world-wide, its use or lack of use also reflects linguistic inequality and discrimination). Today we have a handful of enthusiastic people who are doing all the groundwork for establishing an intercultural dialogue as well as mutual translation of the texts but international financing is not adequate for the purposes.

Lack of funding also limits us in developing a broad theoretical and empirical program, including, first of all, survey research of world and regional public opinion. Large samples and large numbers of questions are required for such research. Among the studies we would include the following: attitudes of parents and policy makers toward children's suffrage, in which parents vote in place of their minor children; feelings about meeting the health and educational needs of children in different regions; attitudes of parents toward teaching children Esperanto, social tolerance, and a culture of peace and cooperation; ideas o­n ways to ensure a positive social environment for children, ways to overcome discrimination against children, and many more.

One more obstacle to developing a culture of peace is conservatism of political and economic organizations, including international institutes within the UN and its structures. Conservatism and the short-sightedness of the power elite, concerned primarily with financial profit, conduct to the overdue and inadequate decisions. They aggravate situations in the world that provoke wars, terrorism, humiliation and a deepening gap between rich and poor. All of this undermines traditional cultures of peace, makes them fragile and contradicts the established UN Concept of sustainable development.

The preservation and intensity of enmity among people, cultures and civilizations, along with military preparations that favor many nations economically, undermine the efforts of civil society to build harmonious relations o­n which to build a lasting culture of peace. The short-term interests of the states and TNCs are more attractive to them. They are not able, or do not want to build long-term and harmonious relationships. The current obstacles to developing and strengthening a culture of peace, from our point of view, are lack of system financing for the already existing international information resources and political conservatism.

At the international level, the forces of war have been dominant over the forces of peace. They are obviously in an unequal economic and political situation. This can o­nly change when a global majority is empowered by free and open exchange of information during an Information Age.

• Ada Aharoni. The Necessity of a New Multicultural Peace Culture. Peace Culture, Literature and the Arts. And many her other scientific works and verses.
• Martha Ross DeWitt. Understanding the Origins of Terrorism.
• Rose Lord. Women Peacemakers of the World. A project of Global Coalition for Peace
• Evelin Lindner. Mission of organization "Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies".
• Tarek Heggy. The Arab Mind. Tolerant and Intolerant Islam.
• Lia Diskin. Brazilian " Association   Palace Athena".
• Lynn Comerford. Troubling "Mother Reproduction" in the Family
• Maria Abolskaya.Esperanto as a language of dialog between cultures
• Henry Skvortsov. Creating technology of education.
• Ananta Giri. Book: Reflections and Mobilization: Dialogues with Movements and Voluntary Organizations.
• Francisco Matos. Applying the pedagogy of positiveness to diplomatic communication.
• Mikhail Reshetnikov. Clinical approach to investigation and solution of international conflicts.
• Grigory Toulchinsky. Rationality of harmony and responsibility.
• Tamara Galushko. The intercultural communications and dialogue of cultures in the age of globalization.
• Alexander Yuriev. Political psychology of harmonious peace.
• Rudolf Siebert. Religion: Jus Talionis - or the Golden Rule?
• Andrei Stolyarov. Twilight of the Gods. The war already began.
• German Vitruk. Is harmonious development of a military system possible?
• Nicolas Gudskov. Antinomy of national development: the requirement of a new cultural ideology and Esperanto.
• Victor Gaidai. The social-ecological International project "Opening of the world".
• Sergey Egorov. Fifteen Years of Parliamentarism in St.-Petersburg.
• Bernard Phillips and Louis Johnston. Can Social Science Save Us?
• March "Free Muslims Against Terrorisms ", Washington , May 14, 2005
• Arab Feminists: Cats and Dogs Have More Rights than Women in the Arab and Muslim World
• Hilarie Roseman. About Women and the Small Business in Australia .
• Leo Semashko. Books and articles devoted to tetrasociology as a theory of social harmony and harmonious peace.

The authors of these works actively present their ideas at various international and national congresses and conferences, and also in the mass media.

On the website are published many remarkable verses devoted to love, peace, harmony and also various other feelings. They include verses by Ada Aharoni, Maria Azcona, Francisco Matos, Hilarie Roseman, RamKrishna Singh, Dmitry Ivashintsov, Dmitry Baranov, and Andrey Lokiev.

Hilarie Roseman, an author and artist from Australia , created o­n the website a gallery of ten artistic images of harmonious peace. As the active correspondent of our website in Australia she sends good news about harmonious bridges between different cultures.

On the children's page are drawings devoted to the topics: "Peace" and "Harmony." There is also a page for work of the children's club of harmonious development of preschools "Umnitsa," headed by the known St. Petersburg bard Svetlana Vetrova and teacher Galina Vladimirova.

The most original definition of peace and harmony o­n the site is the picture and words of five-year-old Jessica Robson from Australia : "Peace and harmony is some girls singing into microphones together" (see page 5-10 o­n the site). The truth comes from the mouths of babes!

There is an o­n-site announcement, published in two languages, by the association "Free Muslims Against Terrorism" about the mass meeting in Washington .

4. PRIORITY DOMAINS OF ACTION.

Our work concerns all eight of your listed priorities, from which it is difficult for us to choose the most important. The list of priorities is not exhaustive. In it, for example, there are no priorities of children, social harmony, or overcoming poverty and humiliation as major factors in establishing a culture of peace. If, nevertheless, we try to make a choice from your submitted list of priorities, we would name the following two: education (of children) for a culture of peace, and the equality of women.

We give special importance to the priority of education.The solutions to existing global problems can o­nly be achieved through the use of innovative educational technologies influencing consciousness.The Roman Club agrees that influencing the consciouslness of mankind, focusing o­n its positive values, will be necessary for the survival of all.The two main sources for creating the right mentality are education and upbringing.For mastering new values of social harmony in an information society emphasis will have to be placed o­n the creativity of the school children.The site features two new, complementary, technology education developments: "Creating Technology of Education (CTE)" by Henry Skvortsov and "Technology of Harmonious Education" by Leo Semashko (site page 7-4). From our point of view o­nly similar technologies containing all necessary components of humanitarian, creative and developmental thinking will be adequate to resist the avalanche of consumerism, materialism and priority of money, which threatens to bury mankind. The similar educational technologies are the basic sociocultural resource for harmonization of human, society and a culture of peace in the future.

5. GEOGRAPHICAL PRIORITY.

The listed functions and Mission of our site, the list of its authors and variety of languages define its INTERNATIONAL character. But its source and initiator are of national and regional origin.

6. ADVICE.

We would like to suggest to the Secretary-General and to the General Assembly five ways in which to promote a culture of peace and nonviolence for the children of the world during the second half of the Decade (2006-2010):

• Achieve acceptance of the UN Resolution to recognize children's interests as a priority for the current Decade to promote a culture of peace devoted to children, and then extend it for the next decade. (It would be desirable to emphasize that the Decade is devoted to promoting a culture of peace and nonviolence for the children of the world. In the body of the Questionnaire, children, for the sake of which the Decade is established, are never mentioned).
• To add Article 6 of the UN Convention o­n the Rights of the Child by the priority right - right of the child to HARMONIOUS development in the following edition: 6 (1) State Parties must recognize that each child has the inalienable and PRIORITY right to life and HARMONIOUS DEVELOPMENT; 6 (2) State Parties provide, to the greatest possible degree, survival, healthy and HARMONIOUS development of the child.
• To coordinate the work of the NGOs o­n the development of a criteria for harmonious development of the world community, separate countries and regions.
• Increase in some way your financial support for nongovernmental peace organizations and other similarly focused groups of civil society. Create, for commercial organizations, the appropriate privileges and preferences for their sponsor's help.
• Sponsor an annual International Scientific-Practical Conference: "Creating a Peace Culture in an Information (Global) Society" o­n different continents, with funding for a minimum of o­ne thousand participants.

7. PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORKS.

Our site has established and expanded communications with several closely-related in purpose international organizations.

First, the "International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace (IFLAC)," which inspired us to create our site.

Secondly, the "Global Coalition for Peace," which has placed o­n our website o­ne of its projects: "Women Peacemakers of the World."

Thirdly, the international organization "Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies," with which we have exchanged information materials.

In - fourth, we have supported the association "Free Muslims Against Terror" in its mass meeting in Washington .

In - fifth, we have supported the petition of the International organization "Teach Kids Peace" about the necessity of teaching peace to children

Our future plans include many international organizations with which we hope to establish relations of cooperation. An incomplete list of these organizations and sites is submitted o­n our website page "Links."

8. PLANS (2006-2010).

Future plans for our site include:

Expand our linguistic space to ten languages: Russian, English, Esperanto, Portuguese, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Chinese and Arabian. (The first four are already open).

Conduct a number of International conferences o­n the Topic "Creating a New Culture of Peace from Social Harmony for an Information Age."

Considerably expand our site presence and participation of children, children's clubs and organizations assisting harmonious development of children and their education in a spirit of peace, tolerance and cooperation.

Considerably expand our site presence and participation of women, maternal and paternal clubs and parent organizations.

List of Report Co-authors:

• Ada Aharoni, Professor of Peace Studies; Founder and President: International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace (IFLAC), Haifa , Israel
• Alexander Yuriev, Psychology Dr, Professor, Chair, Department of Political Psychology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia
• Ananta Guri, Ph.D., Professor of sociology, Madras Institute of Development Studies, India
• Andrei Stolyarov, writer, St. Petersburg ,Russia
• Anne Butkevich, President of "Espero" society since 1992, Esperantist 20 years; St. Petersburg ,
• Araken Barbosa, Dr, Professor, Centre for Art and Communications, Federal   University of Pernambuco, Brazil
• Bernard Phillips, Retired Professor of Sociology, Boston   University , Founder and Coordinator, Sociological Imagination Group, USA
• Bernard Scott, Dr, Cranfield University Royal Military College of Science, Board Member, Research Committee 51 (on Sociocybernetics) of the International Sociological Association, UK
• Dmitry Baranov, Russian poet, translator, St.-Petersburg,
• Dmitry Ivashintsov, Dr., Professor, Cochairman-Coordinator, Vice-president of the Russian World Association,St.-Petersburg , Russia
• Francisco Matos, Dr, Professor, Centre for Art and Communications, Federal   University of Pernambuco, Brazil
• Galina Vladimirova, Teacher, chief of children's club "Umnitsa", St.-Petersburg , Russia
• German Vitruk, Captain in the reserve, Chairman, Association of Construction Development, Vladivostok , Russia
• Grigory Toulchinsky, Ph.D., Professor, St-Petersburg University of Culture andArts, Organizer, International Department (UNESCO) o­n Philosophy and Ethics in St-Petersburg, Russia
• Henry Skvortsov, D.Sc., author of Creating Technology o­n mathematics and physics, member of the International Academy of Fundamental Education, St.-Petersburg , Russia
• Hilarie Roseman, Master of Art, mother of eight children and grandmother of 12 Grandchildren, member of the Sociological Imagination Group.
• Leo Semashko, Ph.D., A/Professor, Director, Public Institute of Strategic Sphere (Tetrasociological) Studies, IFLAC Delegate, Member of the International Sociological Association, Advisory Board Member of the International organization "Human Dignity and Humiliation Research", Website Director, deputy of Lensovet/Petrosovet (1990-1993), St.-Petersburg, Russia
• Louis Johnston, M.D, Retired Professor of Medicine at the University of Illinois , Retired Director of Medical Education at Grant   Hospital , Chicago , Illinois , USA
• Lynn Comerford, Ph.D., Professor, California   University , Hayward , California .
• Maria Abolskaya, Esperanto teacher, Esperantist since 1956, St. Petersburg .
• Maria Azcona, Psychopedagogist-Family, Writer and Poetess, Translator, Director IFLAC in Argentina , Buenos Aires , Argentina
• Martha Ross DeWitt, Ph.D., Sociology, member of American Sociological Association, member of Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and the Life Sciences, member of Sociological Imagination Group, Social Theorist and Research Consultant, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
• Michael Lebedinsky, Independent philosopher, economist and sociologist. Moscow ,
• Mikhail Reshetnikov, Dr, Professor, Rector, East European Psychoanalytic Institute, St.-Petersburg,
• RamKrishna Singh, Professor of English, Technical   University ,Dhanbad , India
• Reimon Bachika, Professor of sociology, Bukkyo   University , President, ISA RC 07 Futures Research (International Sociological Association), Kyoto , Japan
• Rose Lord, Dr, Writer, IFLAC Delegate, Global Coalition for Peace, Pittsburg , USA
• Rudolf Siebert, Ph.D., Professor of Religion and Society , Western Michigan University, IUC Course Director, Director of the WMU Center for Humanistic Future Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
• Svetlana Vetrova, known St. Petersburg bard, chief of children's club "Umnitsa",Russia
• Tamara Galushko, Dr of philological sciences, Professor, Chief, Department of German Language, State Pedagogical University by A.I.Gertsen, St-Petersburg, Russia
• Victor Gaidai, Professor, Ecologist, St. Petersburg , Russia
• Vladimir Kavtorin, writer, St. Petersburg , Russia

All the Report coauthors are 32

WORLD REPORT o­n THE CULTURE OF PEACE

Your organization is invited to contribute to the midterm report from civil society to the UN General Assembly for the International Decade. Information received from you by April 2005 will be included in the report sent to the UN Secretary-General in accordance with operative paragraph 10 of General Assembly Resolution A-58-11. It will then figure in the plenary session of the UN General Assembly devoted to the culture of peace in Fall, 2005.

This report provides a unique opportunity to assess the progress (or lack of progress) toward a culture of peace in the world today. The Fundacion Cultura de Paz is proud to take part in preparation of the report, and invites you to enter your contribution o­n this website.

Your involvement will strengthen the global movement for a culture of peace. The questionnaire is designed in view of the Programme of Action o­n a Culture of Peace, adopted in 1999 by the UN General Assembly as Resolution A/53/243. In paragraphs 7-8, the Programme of Action encourages and calls for the strengthening of "partnerships between and among the various actors ... for a global movement for a culture of peace. A culture of peace could be promoted through sharing of information among actors o­n their initiatives in this regard."

The Registration Page is in three languages. If you do not register, all other pages of the site are in English. If you register and choose French or Spanish, all other pages will be in the language chosen, and you may change language later via your control panel.

To know more about the questionnaire, click here.To enter information for an organization, please click here to go to the registration page. Be sure to enter the name of your organization.

To go directly to the Information Board in English, click here.

Thank you for the good news about your website.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could put a prominent link o­n the website to our website for the World Report o­n the Culture of Peace: http://decade-culture-of-peace.org.

Also, if you have any listserves of organizations in Russia or the CIS countries, we would greatly appreciate it if you could inform them about the Report.

Although we are getting good response from Africa and Latin America , we are concerned that we are getting very little information from Russia and the CIS countries.Therefore, we would appreciate any publicity that we can get.

In the long run, I look forward to collaborating with you o­n other aspects of the culture of peace, but for the moment, the priority for me is this World Report, because there is a deadline of April 30 for information to be included in the Report to the United Nations.

Thank you for your understanding.

Peace,

David Adams