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| SHSviews 15 |
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| UNESCO Social and Human Sciences Sector Magazine |
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| Dossier: The battle for peace / Ethics: COMEST meets in Africa for the first time / Interview: Alain Caillé – December 2006-February 2007 (English | Français | Русский) |
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 A better world is possible
One may not like it, but every new year is an opportunity to take stock. The mood may vary: one may look on accomplishments with satisfaction or, on the contrary, regret what could not be done or failed to work as planned. It is always, however, a time to look ahead. As it opens, each year bears the promise of renewal.
At this time last year the UNESCO Sector for Social and Human Sciences could be satisfied with the adoption by the General Conference of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights. The international community had, thereby, made a further step towards putting scientific and technological progress to work for the benefit of human beings, and in particular of the most vulnerable among them.
In the meantime, months have passed and a year has come to a close. In every continent, many countries have committed themselves to carrying forward the Declaration that their own efforts helped to produce. In the process, they have no doubt become more concerned than they were about emerging ethical challenges.
Here are just some of the challenges that we currently face: equal access to health for all, the struggle against discrimination, urban development, the eradication of poverty, gender equality, international migration. Every day, every week, every month of the year, new challenges spring up and new emergencies intrude. They require responses which call for constant reinvention. For the world does not stand still, even for a moment. It is the task of the social and human sciences to register that ceaseless movement, to offer a sharper focus on the world as it is and to anticipate what it might become.
Foresight into risks and threats, on the basis of research, normative action and advancement of human rights, is the raison d’être of the UNESCO Sector for Social and Human Sciences. That is why we swore that in 2006 we would dare to invent.
We did so when, in February, we organized the first International Forum on the Social Science – Policy Nexus in four cities in Argentina and Uruguay. UNESCO’s initiative helped establish a new space for dialogue, exchange of experience and collective development among those who do social science and those who design and implement policies.
The path we opened in 2006 will continue to be explored in 2007. In January, an international conference will be held concurrently with the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya. It will be followed by regional forums in Latin America, in Africa, in Asia and, for the first time, in the Arab States. These events will bring together men and women from research and from policy who will seek to sharpen the new tools designed to make a practical contribution to turning the world into a better, and achievable, one.
Even before they meet, I wish to thank them for their efforts. Every participant, with his or her distinctive identity, will be taking part in the renewal of what the 44th session of the International Conference on Education, meeting in Geneva in October 1994, defined as the culture of peace: “a process of non-violent social development linked to justice, human rights, democracy and development, which can be built only by the participation of individuals at all levels”.
May the year 2007 find us ever more numerous in working together to build a world of peace.
Pierre Sané
Assistant Director-General
for Social and Human Sciences
The main articles of SHSviews cover topical issues from December 2006 to February 2007:- DOSSIER: The battle for peace
Building peace for the world is a struggle. UNESCO’s Social and Human Sciences Sector (SHS) renews that fight each day in striving to build a culture of peace. From human rights education to conflict prevention, through the Organization’s activities for the promotion of democracy and local governance, UNESCO’s fight for peace is laid down in the preamble to its Constitution: ‘building the defences of peace in the minds of men’. SHS also attacks the root causes of hatred by trying to bring together social science research findings with policy makers so as to contribute to the development of public policies better suited to today’s world. Although it would have been pertinent to feature the full range of SHS activities in this dossier on peace, only a few programmes are highlighted here, to open up new lines of reflection for 2007 to become a year in the service of peace.
- INTERVIEW: Alain Caillé “the world and the social sciences have become fragmented”
The fact that several thousand community activists, researchers and decision-makers will be gathering in Nairobi, Kenya, from 20 to 25 January 2007, to take part in the seventh World Social Forum (WSF) to reaffirm that ‘another world is possible’, led SHS Views to interview French economist and sociologist, Alain Caillé, on whether he thought the present state of the world was conducive to such a possibility. (also available in HTML format)
- ETHICS: COMEST meets in Africa for the first time
For the first time since it was established in 1998, the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST) will meet on the African continent. COMEST’s 5th session is being organized in Dakar, Senegal, from 6 to 9 December 2006. Ethical issues concerning science and technology in the Africa region will be discussed, including the problem of toxic waste.
BIOETHICSHUMAN RIGHTSSOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONSJUST PUBLISHEDNEWS and CALENDAR
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