News about Culture of Peace

Like all great social movements, there is no central authority for the Global Movement for a Culture of Peace, and no single source of news about its development. As described in the sections on historical perspective and main actors, there are many different actors in the Movement, each with their own authority and news.

It can be said that the Movement was launched from UNESCO with the campaign for the Manifesto 2000 during the International Year for the Culture of Peace which involved more than 75 million people and thousands of institutions and organizations. We developed a UNESCO website to provide news of the Movement at that time, which grew to include 1,188 actors (218 international organizations and 970 national/local organizations), 75,846,833 signatures collected on the Manifesto 2000, including details by country, 1,361 events, and 253 projects for a culture of peace. Although the United Nations General Assembly in its annual resolutions continues to request UNESCO to maintain the website, UNESCO has failed to adequately fund its further development.

At the midpoint of the Culture of Peace Decade in 2005, overviews were presented to the United Nations of the activity of Member States the United Nations, and Civil Society. However, as we stated in the Summary Report of the Civil Society Report:

This information is only the tip of the iceberg, since there are many other organizations promoting a culture of peace that were not contacted or did not respond to the questionnaire for this report, as indicated by the many partnerships listed by participating organizations. They number in the many thousands, corresponding to the call for partnerships for a culture of peace in General Assembly Resolution A/53/243 [the UN Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace].

As of 2010 the Civil Society Report was submitted to the United Nations (and recognized in its debate and annual resolution for the Decade). At that point, the website for the Report was frozen.

A search of the Internet reveals other sites that have been less successful in providing ongoing news of the Global Movement, including one system that I began developing while still at UNESCO, called the Culture of Peace News Network.

We know that as of 2005, the Global Movement is continuing to grow, even though its news has not been reported in the mass media. Most of the 700 organizations contributing to the Civil Society Report to the United Nations have stated that they have seen progress during the first half of the Decade. This is not widely known, however, because, as many organizations state, the mass media have failed to provide news of this progress, and so far they have more an obstacle than a help to the Movement's development.

No doubt, the self-consciousness of a Movement is very important for its development, in other words, the more the participants are aware that others are doing similar work, the more inspired they become to intensify their own work for the cause of the movement. For this reason, it is of great strategic importance to advance the news of the Global Movement for a Culture of Peace in as many ways as possible. For one thing, we can continue to press the commercial media to provide news of the Movement, both directly, and indirectly, as described here in the section on media.

The most important task, however, remains for the Movement itself, the development of partnerships and exchange of information as has been recognized by the United Nations in its Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace:

6. Partnerships between and among the various actors as set out in the Declaration should be encouraged and strengthened for a global movement for a culture of peace.

7. A culture of peace could be promoted through sharing of information among actors on their initiatives in this regard.

Issues

Index

News about Culture of Peace

Historical Perspective

Seville Statement on Violence

National Programmes for a Culture of Peace

Definition of Culture of Peace

UN Declaration and Programme of Action

International Year and Manifesto 2000

Decade and Midterm Report

Main Actors for a Culture of Peace

Role of Mass Media