International Day of Conscience

Within the United Nations system , the Focal Point on Youth aims to build an awareness of the global situation of young people , as well as promote their rights and aspirations. The Focal Point also works towards greater participation of young people in decision-making as a means of achieving peace and development. The Focal Point on Youth works to: Enhance awareness of the global situation of youth and increase recognition of the rights and aspirations of youth; Promote national youth policies , national youth coordinating mechanisms and national youth programmes of action as integral parts of social and economic development, in cooperation with both governmental and non-governmental organizations; and Strengthen the participation of youth in decision-making processes at all levels in order to increase their impact on national development and international cooperation. Many countries have established youth policies, using the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Yea...

  What is peace education? The essence of peace education is to teach people of the world how to work together and collaborate to solve challenges. It should not be restricted by political, economic or cultural boundaries. Today’s young people make friends and work with each other very easily. This is what peace education should be based on – a culture of peace instead of political conditions. We have fought and suffered from wars in the 19th and 20th centuries. Now it is the 21st century, and we must think of the future we want. There has been a lot of job-oriented education that is driven by professional activities that focus on how to make money. However, to me peace education is about what kind of human beings we want to become, the concept of well-being, and the thinking process that leads to decision-making in the right directions. When it comes to peace education, we must move beyond the definitions in social science textbooks. Peace is a mental state that should be concept...

                                          The concept of a culture of peace emerged from the International Congress on Peace in the Minds of Men , organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Côte d'Ivoire in July 1989. Since then the promotion of a culture of peace has increasingly been seen as a worthwhile objective of the international community. The evolving concept has inspired activities at so many levels and in so many regions with the full participation of civil society that the culture of peace is gradually taking on the characteristics of a global movement. Within the United Nations system, the concept dates back to the Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), adopted more than 50 years ago, wherein that organization is called upon to construct the defences of pe...

Social inclusion  is defined as the process of improving the terms of participation in  society , particularly for people who are disadvantaged, through enhancing opportunities, access to resources, voice and respect for rights. Identifying social inclusion and exclusion . Key messages • Social exclusion is a multidimensional phenomenon not limited to material deprivation; poverty is an important dimension of exclusion, albeit only one dimension. Accordingly, social inclusion processes involve more than improving access to economic resources. • Social inclusion is defined as the process of improving the terms of participation in society, particularly for people who are disadvantaged, through enhancing opportunities, access to resources, voice and respect for rights. • Measuring social exclusion is challenging due to its multidimensional nature and the lack of standard data sources across countries and for all social groups at highest risk of being left behind. Despite limitat...

The task of constructing a culture of peace requires comprehensive educational, cultural, social and civic action , in which each person has something to learn and something to give and share. It addresses all ages and all groups; it is an open-minded global strategy with a specific purpose, namely, to make a culture of peace inseparable from culture per se and to take root in people's hearts and minds. Peace is not only the absence of differences and conflicts. It is a positive, dynamic, participatory process linked intrinsically to democracy, justice and development for all by which differences are respected, dialogue is encouraged and conflicts are constantly transformed by non-violent means into new avenues of cooperation. Based on this broadest and most positive meaning of peace , a culture of peace is a set of values, attitudes, traditions and customs, modes of behaviour and ways of life that reflect and are directed towards respect for life, for human beings and their...

 Is peaceful coexistence possible after polarization? The diversity among human beings and the diversity of cultural expressions of our humanity is the most important heritage that must be cared for. This assumption requires developing societies that care for the “other”, in particular the “other” who lives and thinks differently. Such care is the indispensable step for generating a type of public culture that privileges a form of social interaction that can be called “learning in difference.” It is not enough to tolerate, a word that carries a sense of distance and closure in the face of the ideas and practices of the “other.” A society is culturally poorer if the possibility of dialogue, of sharing and learning from those who are different, is closed off. The recognition of the other as an interlocutor and the openness toward his or her reasons become necessary practices. How can they be achieved in societies polarized by conflict? How can we find points of encounter when differe...

The Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on September 13, 1999. This occurred after ten months of negotiations in the context of preparations for the International Year for the Culture of Peace. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations play an important role in fostering the intercultural dialogue . They conduct activities related to the culture of peace and non-violence and make efforts in promoting a culture of peace through a number of practical projects in the areas of youth, education, media and migration, in collaboration with governments, international organizations , foundations and civil society groups, as well as the media and the private sector. Culture of Peace in Africa Culture of Peace in Eastern Europe Culture of Peace in Central America Culture in peace in Asia.