THE SEVILLE STATEMENT ON VIOLENCE

"The same species who invented war is capable of inventing peace"

Support Network, c/o Riitta Wahlstrom

Institute for Educational Research, Univ. of Jyvaskyla
P.O. Box 35. SF-40351, Jyvaskyla, Finland

NEWSLETTER - VOLUME 8, NUMBER 2, DECEMBER, 1993

--- As you may have already noticed from the address above,
the Newsletter has a new editor beginning with the first
issue of 1994: research fellow and Seville signatory Riitta
Wahlstrom. Materials for future newsletters should be sent
directly to her. The Newsletter will be printed and mailed
from the headquarters of the International Peace Research
Association, of which she is a Council member. having
enjoyed this work for eight years, I will now devote myself
full time to the Culture of Peace Programme of UNESCO which,
in some ways, has developed out of the Seville statement on
Violence and the initiatives which you have undertaken
around it.

--- The Seville Statement on Violence and the Culture of
Peace Programme will play important: roles in the renewed
work of UNESCO to "construct the defences of peace in the
minds of men." The UNESCO General Conference, at its
twenty-seventh session last month in Paris, approved the
Action Programme to Promote a Culture of Peace (see
Newsletters of January and August 1993), and it re-elected
Seville signatory Federico Mayor to a second term as
Director-General.

--- In accepting re-election, Director-General Mayor
challenged UNESCO to play the leading role in the
construction of peace. Calling for a reorientation of the
United Nations system from peace-keeping to peace-building,
he said "we must give ourselves the means that will enable
us to set in motion, around the world, the actions that lead
to the prevention of war and the construction of peace."
Excerpts from his speech are enclosed.

--- The Seville Statement on violence was disseminated at a
colloquium in Cape Town, South Africa, devoted to
Alternatives to Violence (see April newsletter).
Information on the colloquium has been provided to us by
Martin Ramirez and Thierno Bah. whose letters are enclosed.
They also sent excellent clippings from the South African
press, and student commentaries on the Seville Statement,
both of which can be made available on request.

--- The Seville Statement continues to be recognized and
endorsed by additional international organizations. At the
urging of Jose Federico Westerkamp, the International Peace
Bureau, based in Geneva, is in the process of adhering to
the statement and using it in their work. And on the
initiative of Christopher Renner, Tesol - Italy (Teachers of
English to Speakers of Other Languages) is distributing the