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| Newsletter 02 |
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| The quarterly SHS Newsletter provides information on the work of UNESCO in the field of social and human sciences. |
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| Understanding and combating the different forms of racism - July 2003 (English | Français) |
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 It is my ambition to turn UNESCO into an unchallenged reference, I would even say into an intellectual, strategic, and ethical authority, in all fields pertaining to its competence.” These are the terms the Director-General used in launching his reform plan for UNESCO in July 2000. With regard to the Sector under my responsibility, it is probably most evident in the field of bioethics that we can see this wish for the Organization to take up its unique role of intellectual and ethical authority within the United Nations system, a role recently upheld by United Nations Secretary General Kofi; Annan. The work of the International Bioethics Committee (IBC) is progressing (see page 4) and now, we will be able to discuss the draft international instrument on genetic data at the coming session of the General Conference.
As I write these lines, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families has at last entered into force, 13 years after its adoption by the United Nations General Assembly. UNESCO was continuously involved in the movement of all the intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations that had launched the ratification campaign of what will now be a major instrument of protection for the 175 million migrant workers currently charted worldwide. But our work does not stop there. We now have to get this Convention – probably the least known of all international instruments – promoted, known and, above all, applied. For our part, the work has already begun and on page 8 of this Newsletter you can read about the information kit we have prepared.
I wanted to devote the dossier of this Newsletter to the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination which unesco celebrated for the second time on 21 March this year. Two years ago, the Durban World Conference had assigned a specific role to UNESCO in its action plan and so we wanted to remind people in a forceful, visible way that although racism and discrimination are the lot of millions of men, women and children throughout the world, it is up to everyone – United Nations Agencies, governments and civil society organizations – to play fully the role assigned to them to prevent or put a stop to what the young people gathered at unesco Headquarters on 21 March 2003 called “hatred reacting to fear” (see page 10).
Bioethics, international migration, racism and discrimination, and extreme poverty, are issues shared among the Agencies and Organizations of the United Nations system. There is no competition or rivalry in this division of labour. And that is the raison d’être of the new agreement signed by the Director-General of unesco and Sergio Vieira de Mello, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, reminding us that the sharing of tasks is the best way of avoiding unproductive duplication of work.
We received many positive reactions as well as a few criticisms to the publication of the first issue of our Newsletter which is good: it means you read about us and that’s the main thing. My aim, with this publication, is in fact to inform you, to encourage discussion and the sharing of knowledge on the subjects covered by the work of the Social and Human Sciences Sector. Don’t hesitate, do keep reacting, because when there is no reaction on the part of the readership, a newsletter loses its vitality.
Pierre Sané
Assistant Director-General
for Social and Human Sciences
p.3 Ethics The Ethics of Freshwater Use / p.5 Interview Emil Shufani / p.8 Social transformations A kit to increase awareness about international migrants • China: 140 million internal migrants / p.10 Dossier Discrimination International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination • 21 March: Day out at unesco • Expressions of Racism / p.17 Democracy, Governance Intellectuals, the Great Lakes region and a Culture of Peace • International Conference on Democracy and Peace / p.20 Social Sciences Taking a new look at the links between town planning and society • Cities, Environment and Gender Relations / p.23 UNESCO Prize The Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science / p.24 News • Calendar
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