Roundtable on UNESCO’s pursuit for sustainable peace

On the occasion of International Day of Peace on 21 September, UNESCO will organize a roundtable discussion on “Building Just and Peaceful Societies: UNESCO’s contribution to a Culture of Prevention”. It will examine the complex but intrinsic relationship between human rights and sustainable peace.

 The roundtable event will take place at UNESCO Headquarters, in Room IV (10 am – 12 am). Lakhdar Brahimi, former Algerian Foreign Minister, United Nations and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria, Ambassador and Chair of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, will open the debate together with UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences Nada Al-Nashif,.

 Panellists will include:

• Professor Priyankar Upadhyaya, UNESCO Chair of the Malaviya Centre for Peace Research at the Banaras Hindu University;
• Mark Goodale, anthropologist, professor at the University of Lausanne;
• Doudou Diene, former United Nations Special rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance; and,
• Cécile Coudriou, President of Amnesty International France.

 The event will also reflect on UNESCO’s recently released “Long walk of peace: Towards a Culture of Prevention”, launched in May 2018 at the Library of the United Nations in Geneva. The publication, which is the result of a partnership between UNESCO and the Abat Oliba CEU University (Barcelona, Spain), includes an analysis and overview of the conceptual and strategic development of the UN’s peace work, written by leading peace researchers from India and Norway. The study is based on accounts by 32 different UN entities on their contributions to the UN’s work for peace and their accomplishments, challenges, lessons learnt and perspectives for the future.

The publication key’s messages and policy recommendations range from the need for better data, a stronger focus on prevention and deep involvement in efforts to include women, youth and other marginalized groups in the process of peace as well as finding innovative solutions to global challenges such as climate change.

 The publication and theme of the International Day of Peace this year, the “Right to Peace”, are part of UNESCO’s yearlong observance of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which will be celebrated in December.

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Media contact: Laetitia Kaci, UNESCO Media Services, +33(0)145681772, l.kaci@unesco.org