[31.10.2001]
- FIRST MEETING OF
HIGH LEVEL GROUP ON EDUCATION FOR ALL
The
High level Group on Education for All (EFA)
which met for the first time on October 29
and 30 at UNESCO yesterday evening issued
a communiqué stressing that: “EFA goals
must be pursued as part and parcel of
national poverty reduction strategies, and
education plans developed and implemented
in the context of macro-economic
frameworks and policy reform. Strategic
alliances with the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) are
crucial in this regard.”
Continue
[29.10.2001]
-
PROTECTING
UNDERWATER HERITAGE FROM TREASURE HUNTERS
The pillage and destruction of ancient
shipwrecks and sunken archaeological sites
by treasure hunters seeking gold and other
valuables may be outlawed under the terms
of an international treaty under discussion
as of this morning by UNESCO’s 188 Member
States.
Continue
[27.10.2001]
- ELECTION OF
29 MEMBERS TO EXECUTIVE BOARD
UNESCO’s
Member States, assembled for the 31st
session of the General Conference,
UNESCO’s supreme ruling body, today
elected 29 members to the 58-member
Executive Board, the other governing body
of the Organization, in one round of
voting.
Continue
[26.10.2001]
-
32
COUNTRIES RISK FAILING EDUCATION PLEDGE
Thirty-two countries are at grave risk of
failing to enrol all children in primary
schools by 2015. In 15 of these countries,
less than half of children are attending
school.
This warning is contained in a
monitoring report released today on
Education For All (EFA), a global compact
that commits countries to achieve
universal primary school enrolment,
establish full gender equality in primary
and secondary enrolment, and cut adult
illiteracy levels in half, all by 2015.
This report – prepared by UNESCO with
inputs from partner organizations – has
been released to coincide with the first
annual High-level Meeting on Education for
All (October 29-30) at UNESCO
Headquarters, part of the follow-up to the
World Education Forum held in Dakar,
Senegal, in April 2000. Continue
[25.10.2001]
- WORLD
NETWORK OF BIOSPHERE RESERVES RECEIVES
PRINCE OF ASTURIAS PRIZE FOR CONCORD 2001
The World
Network of Biosphere Reserves –
presently 411 sites in 94 countries –
will receive the prestigious Prince of
Asturias Prize for Concord, during a
ceremony on Friday, October 26, in Oviedo,
Spain. The Prize is awarded to persons or
institutions that have contributed to the
brotherhood of mankind, to the defense of
freedom, or to the conservation and
protection of the heritage of humanity. Continue
[25.10.2001]
- UNESCO
CULTURE PRIZES AWARDED
UNESC0 Director-General Koïchiro
Matsuura will present the first Sharjah
Prize for Arab Culture and this year’s
UNESCO-Greece Melina Mercouri
International Prize for the Safeguarding
and Management of Cultural Landscapes at
Headquarters on Thursday, October 25. In a
ceremony on Friday, Mr Matsuura will
present four new intangible
heritage prizes to their laureates. Continue
[24.10.2001]
- SCIENCE
MINISTERS MEETING AT UNESCO STRESS THAT
BIOETHICS IS A KEY HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE
Fifty-two science ministers met Monday
and Tuesday at UNESCO to discuss
bioethics. They adopted the following
communiqué: Continue
[20.10.2001]
- UNESCO
GENERAL CONFERENCE AFFIRMS THAT NO MOTIVES
CAN JUSTIFY ACTS OF TERRORISM
UNESCO’s General Conference,
convened in Paris for its 31st session,
today adopted by acclamation a resolution
on terrorism expressing its “sorrow and
indignation at the tragic events of 11
September 2001 in the United States of
America” and affirming that “acts of
terrorism can never be justified whatever
the motives”. Continue
[19.10.2001]
- CHALLENGES
OF BIOETHICS
Is
everything that is technically possible
ethically acceptable? This question,
raised by a great many scientific
discoveries, is more pressing than ever in
view of humanity’s newly acquired
ability to influence the very process of
life and its capacity to impact the future
of its own species, as well as of other
species. This leads to a wide range of
questions regarding not only human cloning
but also the use of transgenic technology
in agriculture for the production of
genetically modified organisms (GMO), and
genetic engineering in stockbreeding. Continue
[19.10.2001]
- PRESIDENT OF
LITHUANIA STRESSES UNESCO’S ROLE AS A
FORUM FOR DIALOGUE
President Valdas Adamkus of
Lithuania today stressed the importance of
UNESCO’s role as a forum for dialogue in
the light of the attacks on New York and
Washington on September 11, in an address
to the 31st session of the
Organization’s supreme governing body,
the General Conference. Continue
[17.10.2001]
- RUSSIA
AND UNESCO SIGN AGREEMENT ON CO-OPERATION
IN EDUCATION FOR CHECHEN REPUBLIC
Russian Vice-Prime Minister Valentina
Matvienko and UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro
Matsuura on Tuesday signed a co-operation
agreement for the rehabilitation of the
educational system in the Chechen
Republic. Continue
[17.10.2001]
-
UNESCO AWARDS ITS SCIENCE PRIZES
Director-General Koïchiro
Matsuura will present UNESCO’s six
science prizes for 2001 on October 19 at
UNESCO Headquarters (6:30 p.m., Room XII),
including the Great Man-Made River
International Water Prize, which is
awarded this year for the first time. Continue
[16.10.2001]
- KOICHIRO MATSUURA
PROPOSES OPERATION TO SAFEGUARD THE
HERITAGE OF JERUSALEM
Opening the general policy debate of
the 31st session of UNESCO’s General
Conference today, Director-General Koïchiro
Matsuura called
for the launch, under the auspices of
UNESCO, of “international effort in
favour of the safeguarding of the heritage
of the Old City of Jerusalem.” Continue
[15.10.2001]
- AHMAD JALALI OF IRAN TO
PRESIDE OVER GENERAL CONFERENCE
UNESCO’s General Conference,
currently holding its 31st session, has
chosen Ahmad Jalali, Ambassador and
Permanent Delegate of the Islamic Republic
of Iran, as its President. Continue
[15.10.2001]
- PRESIDENT CHIRAC OF
FRANCE HIGHLIGHTS POLITICAL RESPONSIBILITY
TO GIVE GLOBALIZATION A HUMAN FACE
President Jacques Chirac of France
today advocated dialogue among cultures
and declared that cultural diversity is
“based on the conviction that each
people has a specific message to the
world, that each people can enrich
humanity by contributing its share of
beauty and truth”. Continue
[15.10.2001]
- NIGERIAN PRESIDENT
OLUSEGUN OBASANJO CALLS FOR REINFORCED
NORTH-SOUTH CO-OPERATION
“UNESCO’s agenda has suddenly
become part of the agenda of the highest
political order in the world,” President
Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria declared,
referring to the attacks of September 11
in the United States, as he addressed
UNESCO’s General Conference in Paris
this morning. Continue
[12.10.2001]
- GENERAL CONFERENCE TO
FOCUS ON CULTURAL DIVERSITY, BIOETHICS AND
EDUCATION FOR ALL
A new legal instrument designed to
safeguard cultural diversity in the age of
globalization, the preparation of new
legal instruments on ethical issues
relating to the gene revolution and the
international drive to provide universal
access to quality basic education will be
among the principal items on the agenda of
the upcoming 31st session of the General
Conference, UNESCO’s supreme governing
body, October 15 to November 3. Continue
[05.10.2001]
- ARAB GULF DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMME (AGFUND) AND UNESCO TO LAUNCH
ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY
An Arab Open University, designed to
meet a shortage in university places in
the Arab region and improve women’s
access to higher education, is to start
operating in October 2002. Continue
[04.10.2001]
- WORLD
TEACHERS' DAY 5 OCTOBER 2001 - 15 MILLION
NEW TEACHERS NEEDED
Unless an estimated 15 million more
teachers are hired over the coming
decade, numerous countries will fail to
achieve universal basic education by 2015
as solemnly pledged by more than 180
governments a year ago. This warning, by
UNESCO Assistant Director-General John
Daniel, comes on the eve of World
Teachers’ Day celebrated around the
world on 5 October. Continue
[03.10.2001]
- UNESCO DIRECTOR-GENERAL
CONCERNED OVER THE MURDER OF NORTHERN
IRELAND JOURNALIST
UNESCO Director-General, Koïchiro
Matsuura, today expressed his sadness and
consternation about the murder in Northern
Ireland on September 28 of Martin
O’Hagan, a journalist of the newspaper
“The Sunday World”. Continue
[01.10.2001]
- UNESCO EXECUTIVE BOARD TO
EXAMINE NEW MEASURES FOR THE PROTECTION OF
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
A draft Declaration on Cultural
Diversity - the first international
instrument designed to safeguard cultural
diversity in the context of globalization
- will be among the subjects to be
examined by UNESCO’s Executive Board
during its forthcoming session, October 2
to 12. Continue