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UNESCO launches consultations with Member States to revise the 1974 Recommendation
UNESCO launched the final phase of the revision of the 1974 UNESCO Recommendation Concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which involves formally consulting with Member States.
The decision to revise the instrument was taken by UNESCO’s Member States during the 2021 session of UNESCO’s General Conference (41 C/Resolution 17), as they recognized an urgent need to revive and update the instrument in view of the evolving educational landscape and emerging new threats to global peace and human survival.
The first draft of the revised 1974 Recommendation was sent to all Member States for their written comments and observations by 23 December 2022, along with a Preliminary Report (CL/4401) outlining the work undertaken by UNESCO to elaborate the revisions to the text.
It is a critical moment for UNESCO’s Member States to review the proposed revisions to ensure that the document addresses their needs and provides their governments, as well as the educational community, with clear recommendations on how to advance global peace, promote human rights and sustainable development through education – at all levels and throughout life.
From January 2023, UNESCO will integrate the comments made by Member States and prepare a second draft of the revised Recommendation, which will be discussed at an intergovernmental Special Committee scheduled to take place between 30 May and 2 June 2023 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. Once approved, the final draft will be submitted to the 42nd session of the General Conference in November 2023 for eventual adoption.
For an overview of the global and regional consultations undertaken between March and June 2022 to elaborate the first draft of the revised 1974 Recommendation, visit the dedicated webpage.
The revision of the 1974 Recommendation provides the international community with the opportunity to strengthen the instrument so that it can support the design and implementation of effective educational policies and programmes, which can put the world on a pathway to lasting peace and sustainable development for all, in line with the requirements of the 2030 Agenda and the body of international legal norms adopted since 1974.
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