UNESCO. Executive Board; 145th session; Report by the ...unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0009/000988/098878eo.pdf · protection and in promoting attitudes of tolerance and mutual understanding

145 EXDNF.3 Part I PARIS, 6 October 1994 English & French only

UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION

EXECUTIVE BOARD

Hundred and forty-fifth Session

Item 5.1 of the urovisional ap&

REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION SINCE THE 144th SESSION

PART I

General policy

SUMMARY

The purpose of this document is to inform the members of the Executive Board about the activities of the Organization since the 144th session of the Board and to facilitate the discussion of item 5.1 of the Board’s provisional agenda. Part I of this document concerns the Organization’s general policy.

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UNESCO IN THE INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION SYSTEM

The Agenda for Development

World Summit for Social Development

International Conference on Population and Development

Fourth World Conference on Women

Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States

Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government

The PROCEED programme

Consultations for Africa

UNESCO’s contribution to international co-operation for development

Humanitarian assistance and peace-building

United Nations Year for Tolerance

Fiftieth anniversary of UNESCO

FUNCTIONING OF THE ORGANIZATION

Improvements in institutional functioning

Organization and methods of work of the Secretariat

Budgetary and financial matters

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1. One of the high points of the 145th session of the Executive Board will be, without any doubt, the debate on the lines of emphasis for the medium-term planning of the Organization - an important debate indeed because it will lay the foundations of the UNESCO of the twenty- first century. The preliminary proposals that I am submitting to the Executive Board to that end (145 EX/5, Part II) focus on our Organization’s place within the international co-operation system and, more particularly, on UNESCO’s own specific contribution to the attainment of the two objectives pursued by the entire United Nations system, namely development and peace.

2. As a starting-point for your debate I felt it might be useful, in this general policy document, to report on a number of intelnational events in which UNESCO has taken part or which it has organized itself, and which throw a new light on the major trends in international co-operation. The following paragraphs focus mainly on new directions in reflection and action for development. The Agenda for Development currently being prepared and the preparation of the forthcoming World Summit for Social Development make this a key concern at the international level at the moment. The Organization’s efforts to strengthen its contribution to the United Nations system’s overall peace effort have been dealt with at some length in my previous reports on activities between Board sessions.

UNESCO IN THE INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION SYSTEM

The Agenda for Development

3. A draft report 011 the Agenda for Development was submitted by the Secretary-General of the United Nations in May 1994 to the forty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly (A/48/935). This draft was the main working document for the ‘hearings on development’ held by the General Assembly (New York, 6-10 June 1994) on the initiative of its President Mr S.R. Insanally and of the High-Level Segment of the substantive session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) which was devoted to this theme (27-29 June 1994). At the request of the Secretary-General, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mr James G. Speth, carried out extensive consultations, in August 1994, with all members of ACC concerning the Agenda fur Development. The Agenda will also be discussed at the next ACC meeting (New York, 21-22 September 1994). On the basis of these discussions and consultations, the Secretary-General will submit his conclusions and recommendations on an Agenda for Development to the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session.

4. The purpose of the Agenda for Development is to propose a new framework for international co-operation for development in which the United Nations would have a major role to play. In this context, the United Nations assets and strengths and, correspondingly, the appropriate areas of the United Nations focus, emphasis and contribution, must be clearly defined, as well as the way to establish effective complementarity with the Bretton Woods institutions and others. These questions must be addressed in the context of a changing international economic environment, including globalization and the need for appropriate development strategies in all countries.

5. Needless to say, the Secretary-General’s report to the General Assembly will be of paramount importance for all the Specialized Agencies of the United Nations system, and UNESCO has consequently been closely involved in the consultations and debates concerning an Agenda for Development. It must be pointed out, in this connection, that there is a growing convergence of analyses and attitudes within the United Nations system that development

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must, fist and foremost, involve an awakening of the full potential of those who are both its initial protagonists and its ultimate targets: human beings - and not only those alive today but also those who will live on earth tomorrow. This is reflected in such important documents as the 1994 UNDP World Report on Human Development, as well as in statements such as the address of the President of the World Bank, Mr Louis T. Preston, to the Bretton Woods Commission Conference (Washington, D.C., 2 July 1994), in which he emphasized that ‘human resources are the foundation of development’ and stressed the need to expand ‘the programmes for education, health, family planning and support for the role of women in development’ and make them more effective.

6. I am glad to be able to say that we are beginning to reap the benefits of the Jomtien initiative and that education is increasingly recognized as being at the very heart of any agenda for development. For education - accessible to all members of society, including girls and women, employing all the resources of modern technology to ‘reach the unreachable’, varied in its forms and methods in order to respond to diverse social needs and providing opportunities for the continuous upgrading and extension of knowledge - is the key to realizing the unique potential of each individual and tackling the problem of underdevelopment at its source. It is also a crucial factor in mastering runaway population growth, in fostering environmental protection and in promoting attitudes of tolerance and mutual understanding conducive to democracy and peace within and between nations.

7. That was the main message I conveyed to the High-Level Segment of the substantive session of ECOSOC: in UNESCO’s view, an agenda for development needs to place the greatest emphasis on the generation and transfer of knowledge, on the promotion of human development and endogenous capacity-building through lifelong, intensive and diversified education. The objectives of the medium-term action of UNESCO presented in my preliminary proposals concerning the main lines of emphasis of documents 28 C/4 and 28 C/5 (145 EX/5, Part II, paras. 9-l 1) are based on these principles.

World Summit for Social Development

8. The same principles underlay the position paper that UNESCO has sent to all involved in the preparation of the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, March 1995). That paper sets out, in a few pages, UNESCO’s perception of social development; it stresses the need for:

(0 endogenous capacity-building;

(ii) people’s participation in social development:

(iii) recognition of the importance of cultural factors for balanced development strategies;

(iv) the promotion of a new vision of employment and work within the broader concept of ‘active life’;

(v) the improvement of the quality of life of rural populations;

(vi) the generation of environmental awareness;

(vii) better use of science and technology resources including advances in the field of communication and information; and

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(viii) .the building of social science infrastructures to promote endogenous skills in social policy-making, evaluation and management of social transformations.

9. Part II of the paper gives information on UNESCO’s action in the field of social development and Part III, ‘Priority targets for action’, provides a ready reckoner of actions that deserve priority in the proposed Declaration and Programme of Action of the Summit, based on the analysis presented in the previous parts of the position paper. Copies of this position paper can be provided to any members of the Executive Board who may wish to distribute it - as widely as possible, I hope - to their national authorities and intellectual communities.

10. Still with a view to the World Summit for Social Development and on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Bretton Woods Agreements, UNESCO held a symposium at Headquarters on 18 and 19 June 1994 entitled What happened to development?‘. Before an audience of intellectuals, experts and diplomats, President Francois Mitterrand and myself appealed for a definition of development no longer based on a ‘purely economic approach to growth’ but more on peace and democracy. Stressing the need for a new international code of ethics and the interdependence between economic progress and effective democracy, President Mitterrand made the following proposals: official development aid should be raised to 0.7 per cent of donor countries’ GNP, an objective set as long ago as 1970; ‘peace dividends’ accruing from cutbacks in military expenditure should be used to combat poverty; the International Monetary Fund, on the initiative of the group of seven industrialized countries, should allocate a minimum of $50 thousand million in special drawing rights. The symposium also underscored the links between democracy and development and the need to ‘update’ the concept of development, which implies a review of the activities of the institutions established at the Bretton Woods Conference that laid the foundations in 1944 for the reconstruction of the post- war world.

11. It was also by way of preparation for the Copenhagen ‘Summit’ that a round table on the theme ‘Change: Social conflict or harmony?’ was organized in Stockholm from 22 to 24 July 1994 by UNDP, with the assistance of the Swedish Government. The round table brought together government ministers and former ministers, heads of institutions and international programmes, academics, experts and journalists. At one of the plenary meetings, I presented a paper entitled ‘Prospects for Global Human Security’, which I am making available to the members of the Executive Board and in which I welcome the emphasis placed by UNDP ‘on specialized partnerships within the United Nations system for upstream joint ventures and the rapprochement between UNDP and the Bretton Woods institutions in this regard’. As I have so often emphasized, ‘the management of our global interdependence will not be achieved without a real coherence of response on the part of the international community’.

12. A number of international meetings and symposia are also planned as part of UNESCO’s preparations for the World Summit for Social Development. These meetings are focused on the three themes of the Social Summit: the struggle against poverty; fostering social integration; and increasing productive employment. The international Conference on ‘The struggle against poverty, unemployment and social exclusion: public policies, popular action and social development’ (Bologna, Italy, 2-3 December 1994) will provide an opportunity for the exchange of information and policy-makers’ experience of approaches being tried out in different countries or regions of the world in tackling various forms and processes of exclusion. It is organized jointly by UNESCO, the University of Bologna and the City of Bologna. The international seminar on science and technology for social development (New Delhi, India, 12-14 December 1994), jointly organized by UNESCO and the National Institute for Science, Technology and Development Studies of India (NISTADS) will facilitate the

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identification of science and technology strategies that are consistent with the goals of the Social Summit. The international symposium on social disparities and the international economic order (Copenhagen, Denmark, March 1995), jointly organized by UNESCO/MOST and the University of Roskilde, Copenhagen, will cover a wide range of issues and concerns related to the emerging international trends towards globalization and their effects on societies and economies in various countries and regions of the world.

13. UNESCO also intends to outline prospects for social development in the different regions. A summary of five studies carried out in Africa was submitted at a regional symposium held jointly in September 1994 in Dakar by UNESCO, CODESRIA and the Third World Forum. The proceedings of the symposium will be published towards the end of December 1994. Another Conference is scheduled to take place at Caracas, Venezuela, from 19 to 22 December 1994, immediately after the General Assembly of CLACSO. It will be attended by a critical mass of decision-makers and representatives of IGOs and NGOs and will help to identify MOST priorities in the Latin America region. A regional symposium will also be organized on core issues for the World Summit on Social Development in co-operation with AASSREC from 12 to 18 October, preceding the Asian and Pacific Ministerial Conference to be organized by ESCAP in Manila, Philippines, during the same period.

International Conference on Population and Development

14. The Intemational Conference on Population and Development, which was held in Cairo from 5 to 13 September last, was another landmark in the definition of the international community’s objectives for development. UNESCO took an active part in its preparation, not only by organizing the Istanbul Congress on Population Education and Development (1993), but also by attending inter-agency meetings organized by the United Nations Population Fund. To facilitate the formulation of the Conference’s objectives, UNESCO prepared a report entitled ‘Trends and projections of enrolment by level of education’. UNESCO’s contribution was reflected in the ‘UNFPA Background Note on Goals for the International Conference on Population and Development’ and in numerous paragraphs in documents for the Conference, notably in the ‘Fourth Review and Appraisal of the World Population Plan of Action’ (AKONF. 17 i/PC/3).

15. In recognition of the growing importance attached to education in general, and to women’s education in particular, at the third session of the Preparatory Committee which was held in New York from 4 to 22 April 1994, a new chapter, ‘Chapter XI: Population, Development and Education’ was added to the draft Population Programme Action. It includes the following subchapters: A: Education, population and sustainable development; B. Population information, education and communication. In my address to the Conference, I myself strongly reiterated that whatever the social and cultural context, increased education for women means lower fertility rates, as well as reduced mortality levels; it is therefore essential that an adequate share of public expenditure be allocated to the educational sector, particularly to women’s education.

16. Several publications and documents prepared for the Cairo Conference - issue No. 141 of the International Social Science Journal (August 1994), Education for All: Status and Trends (1994), Focus: Education, Population and Development, EFA 2000 Bulletin (July 1994), Trends and Projections of Enrolment by Level of Education, by Age and Sex (1960- 2025) (Jolly 1994) - were widely distributed among participants. UNESCO also organized a display of posters, graphs, video films and books on themes related to the Conference: Women, population, environment, basic education, population movements, etc. The Istanbul


Declaration and Action Framework for Population Education were made available in four languages - English, French, Spanish and Arabic - together with a leaflet entitled ‘Education, Population and Development’ and a pamphlet entitled ‘Environment and Population Education and Information for Human Development’, which describes the Organization’s objectives in this field.

17. Altogether, around 11,000 people took part in the Cairo Conference, including 3,750 official delegates from 183 countries, around 1,500 representatives of NGOs and some 3,300 representatives of the media and journalists. A 113-page Programme of Action to stabilize world population growth and achieve sustainable development by addressing education and reproductive health needs, rights and responsibilities of men and women was adopted without a vote. This 16-chapter strategy sets the international community quantitative objectives in complementary areas that are of crucial importance for the achievement of other important objectives involving population and development: education, particularly for girls; the reduction of infantile and juvenile mortality and of deaths in childbirth; and access for all to family planning services. Notwithstanding controversies, the recommendations for action were made in a spirit of consensus and international co-operation, recognizing that the formulation and implementation of population policies is the responsibility of each country and should take into account the economic, social, environmental and cultural diversity of conditions in each country, including religious beliefs and ethical values.

18. Proposals concerning gender equality, equity and the empowerment of women are dealt with in Chapter IV. It states that actions to improve the status of women and enhance their decision-making capacity are essential for the long-term success of population programmes. Education is critical to empowering women: beyond the achievement of the goal of universal primary education, all countries are urged to ensure the widest and earliest possible access by girls and women to secondary and higher levels of education.

19. The General Assembly was called on to organize a regular review of the implementation of the Programme of Action. With the Economic and Social Council, the General Assembly should review the roles, responsibilities, mandates and comparative advantages of both the intergovernmental bodies and the organs of the United Nations system addressing population and development, with a view to ensuring clear recognition of the interrelationships among policy guidance, research, standard-setting and operational activities for population and development, as well as the division of labour between the bodies concerned. The General Assembly is also called on to promote an integrated approach in providing system-wide co- ordination and guidance in the monitoring of the implementation of the Programme of Action as well as giving consideration to the establishment of a separate Executive Board for UNFPA.

20. The 1994 Conference was given a broader mandate on development issues than previous population conferences, reflecting the need for an integrated and global approach to demographic issues, education, economic growth and sustainable development. At the end of the Cairo Conference one thing was apparent: the link between efforts to eradicate poverty, the improvement of living conditions (in particular in the areas of education and health) and a drop in fertility has now been clearly established. It may thus be hoped that, little by little, international aid will be redirected towards a more comprehensive approach to population policies and a less stereotyped vision of demographic change.

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Fourth World Conference on Women

21. By highlighting the urgency of the need to improve the status of women, the Cairo Conference was looking ahead, as UNESCO felt it should, to the next World Conference on Women.

22. The Organization has continued to participate actively in the preparatory work for the Beijing Conference since the last Board session. Besides its contribution to the of&&l documents of the Conference (World Survey on the Role of Women in Development, for which we drafted the chapters entitled ‘Education’ and ‘Communication’, and The World’s Women: Trends and Statistics}, UNESCO is involved in the conceptual preparation of the Platform for Action to be submitted at Beijing. For this purpose it is participating in various inter-agency meetings and preparatory regional conferences, for which it is drafting reports regarding the situation of education for girls and women in the region. The regional platforms for action prepared for these conferences to a large extent reflect the concerns of UNESCO. For example, the Jakarta declaration on the advancement of women in Asia and the Pacific stresses that ‘Formal, non-formal as well as informal education are essential for empowering women with knowledge, skills and self-confidence for full participation in development’.

23. We are in addition receiving a great many requests from National Commissions and non- governmental institutions and organizations requesting UNESCO’s support in their preparations for the Beijing Conference. We are doing our utmost to meet these requests for assistance. For example, we provided technical and financial assistance for the organization of a subregional consultation of English-speaking African countries aimed at preparing a common platform for Beijing (Harare, 4-8 July).

24. A number of other activities are in preparation, the results of which will be presented at Beijing: development of a global plan of action for the education of girls and women; the Toronto symposium on ‘Women and the media, access to expression and decision’ (see 145 EX/INF.3, Part II, para. 140); an international consultation of government experts and decision-makers in application of 27 C/Resolution 11, to be focused on ‘the contribution of women to the culture of peace’ (May/June 1995); a symposium on the sexual exploitation of human beings (April/May 1995, Seoul); publication of a work describing UNESCO’s activities in favour of women since the Nairobi Conference in 1985, etc. I should also mention that, at the invitation of the Chinese Government, the prize-giving ceremony for the 1995 Literacy Prizes will be held in Beijing on 8 September, that is, during the Conference. An information document giving details of UNESCO’s contribution to the World Conference on Women may be obtained from the Secretariat of the Consultative Committee on Women, as can the first issue of the newsletter entitled ‘Priority: Women’, whose purpose is to inform all UNESCO’s partners about preparations for the Conference.

25. In that process the Consultative Committee on Women has an important role to play. The first session of the Committee, which was as you know held on 21 and 22 April last, just before the 144th session of the Executive Board, was very well attended: besides the members of the Committee (individuals sitting in a personal capacity, representatives of permanent delegations, representatives of non-governmental organizations), various members of the Executive Board, NationaI Commissions and permanent delegations, not to mention the President of the General Conference and the Chairperson of the Executive Board, made valuable contributions to a free and open exchange of ideas between government and non- governmental partners and partners inside and outside UNESCO. A detailed report on the


proceedings of this first session has been widely circulated. Among the principal recommendations it contains, mention may be made of the following:

enhancement of the role of women as actors in cultural life and more particularly as instruments of change and peace-building;

priority to the most disadvantaged women, the silent majority in a great many countries, especially in the field of education and training;

closer involvement of men in the process of improving the status of women;

struggle against the persistence of stereotypes that impede girls’ and women’s access to scientific and technological knowledge;

mobilization of the media against sexist stereotypes;

continued action against the various forms of violence against women;

lastly, establishment within the Participation Programme of a special fund earmarked for women and representing 25 per cent of the overall budget of the Participation Programme.

26. Since this initial meeting, the Consultative Committee has held intersessional meetings of its members living in Paris, and working subgroups have been set up for more detailed study of more specific items. The second session of the Consultative Committee will take place on 13 and 14 October next.

Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States

27. A Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States took place in Barbados from 25 April to 6 May 1994. UNESCO participated in its intellectual preparation and published, specifically for this event, a publication entitled ‘UNESCO - Island Agenda’ which was highly appreciated. With regard to the follow-up to the Conference, all sectors whose programmes are directly involved with small island States have been instructed to carefully analyse the Barbados Programme of Action and its implication for UNESCO’s work. An interdisciplinary project on coastal zones (including small islands) is proposed within the framework of the Draft Programme and Budget for 1996-1997.

28. In conformity with the wishes expressed at the Global Conference, a feasibility study is being carried out by the United Nations for the establishment of a Network for Small Island Developing States (SIDSNET). This network is to facilitate interchange between small island developing States, inter alia, in the fields of communication, distance learning and research. UNESCO is participating in the ongoing discussions through the co-ordinating unit established in BRX. With a view to ensuring effective and expedient support from UNESCO to small island States as well as sustainable intersectoral projects of a national and subregional nature, UNESCO, at the invitation of the Education Ministers of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), undertook a consultation with the relevant countries to ascertain both their immediate and long-term priorities. Similar consultations with other regions are envisaged. An action plan will be drawn up on an intersectoral basis, so as to establish a balance between the specific needs of small island States in respect of UNESCO’s fields of competence.

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29. As a follow-up to the recommendations of the Praia meeting (which UNESCO convened during the preparatory process), the Organization is co-operating with the Commission for the Indian Ocean and Seychelles to advance the preparatory planning towards the establishment of a University for the Indian Ocean. At this stage, the discussions are centred around academic planning and an appropriate delivery system. In accordance with the same recommendations, UNESCO has taken measures to strengthen the relationship between the Portuguese-speaking small island States and other Portuguese-speaking countries.

Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government

30. The fourth Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government was held in Cartagena de las Indias (Colombia) on 14 and 15 June 1994. UNESCO contributed to the preparation of the summit by collaborating with the Colombian Government in organizing the second ‘Visi6n Iberoamericana 2000’ Forum in Cartagena itself from 16 to 18 March 1994. The forum was inaugurated by Mr D. Cesar Gaviria Trujillo, President of the Republic of Colombia, Mr Belisario Betancur, that country’s former President, Mr Miguel de la Madrid, the former President of Mexico, Mr Gabriel Garcia Mtiquez, the Nobel Literature Prize laureate, and myself. As their contribution to the summit’s theme - the integration of Latin America - the participants in the forum focused their discussions on five points: the convergence of the different integration processes; the key role played by knowledge in the integration process; competitivity in the economic field; integration in a pluri-ethnic and pluri-cultural context; and political integration as a Utopia or a real prospect. At the conclusion of a most rewarding exchange of ideas, the forum put forward a variety of recommendations on these themes, and they were officially communicated to the summit.

3 1. The Final Declaration of the Cartagena Summit contains a number of recommendations directly concerning the Organization’s fields of competence, particularly in connection with the environment, education and science and technology. In this regard, I should like to stress the importance attached to education in the recommendations to the summit, and in particular to ‘the training of human beings as subjects of development right from childhood’ (as opposed to being objects subordinated to economic interests). The summit invited the relevant international organizations (in particular UNESCO, UNDP and the World Bank) to co-operate with governments with a view to ‘drawing up a comprehensive proposal for Ibero-American education systems along those lines’. I should also like, in this context, to mention the special number of the review Didlogo devoted to the International Year of the Family, which proved a great success at the Ibero-American Summit. This UNESCO regional review, published by our regional information officer for Latin America and the Caribbean, is a good example of the quality of the services rendered by many of our field units, which are very often operating on very small budgets.

32. The Organization has provided significant financial and technical support for several activities in the region connected with the preparation of the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, which will commence on 10 December 1994 and whose importance for the region was underscored by the summit. The first of these was the Preparatory Meeting of Latin America and the Caribbean for the Decade, which was convened by the Government of Bolivia and held at Cochabamba (Bolivia) from 30 May to 1 June 1994. The meeting, which was inaugurated by the Vice-President of Bolivia, Mr Victor Hugo Cardenas, and Ms Rigoberta Mench6, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and was attended by representatives of governments of 13 countries of the region and of the indigenous peoples concerned, put forward a wide range of recommendations directly concerning the Organization’s fields of competence. The UNESCO Office in La Paz worked closely with the

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Bolivian authorities to ensure the success of the meeting. The First National Congress on Maya Education, which was held at Quetzaltenango (Guatemala) from 8 to 11 August 1994, at the instigation of the Council for Maya Education of Guatemala, and was inaugurated by the President of Guatemala, Mr Ramiro LCon Carpio, and Ms Rigoberta Menchti, opened up hitherto unexplored prospects in education not only for the indigenous peoples themselves but for all societies generally, inasmuch as spiritual features are set to be integrated into a new concept of education that is responsive to the modern world but is at the same time deeply rooted in the age-old knowledge of which the indigenous peoples are the custodians. UNESCO gave its support to the organization of the congress under its ‘Maya World’ project.

33. In an endeavour to strengthen the Organization’s action in this area in close partnership with the representative organizations of the indigenous peoples, on 29 July 1994 UNESCO signed a set of co-operation agreements with the ‘Rigoberta Mench6 Turn’ Centre for Life and Peace, for the purpose of promoting, among other things, educational and consciousness- raising activities on behalf of peace and of contributing to the development of a culture of peace and tolerance and to sustainable development.

The PROCEED programme

34. In April 1994, under the PROCEED programme, a mission composed of representatives of the five sectors undertook a joint mission to Central Asia. It visited Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, in order to study the priority needs of these new Member States. The question of UNESCO’s representation in Central Asia was also discussed on that occasion.

35. Since UNESCO has already provided these new counties with assistance for developing their media - in which the emphasis has been placed on media independence and pluralism - the mission endeavoured to associate them with UNESCO’s activities connected with the establishment of networks for information and archives, informatics and electronics. The countries of Central Asia are having to contend with serious ecological problems due, among other things, to the declining water-level of the Aral Sea and to industrial and military pollution. UNESCO will be co-operating with other international and regional organizations in tackling these problems. The mission briefed the Member States of Central Asia on UNESCO’s programmes for the reconstruction of education systems and the management of social transformations (the MOST programme), which are particularly relevant to these countries. In connection with the reform of their education systems, the mission had discussions on the possibility of upstream sectoral studies with four of these countries, and an IIEP regional consultation on the evaluation of the need for training in education planning, administration and management is planned for September 1994. Although these countries are only newly created, they are also ancient societies deeply concerned at preserving their cultural identity and safeguarding their national cultural heritage. At the present time, only one site from all these countries is included in the World Heritage List, but the mission was informed of ten or more other sites that are likely to be submitted for inclusion in the List.

36. As a result of the mission’s recommendations, I have allocated an amount of $100,000, with the aim of launching a number of activities without delay. These activities, which are co- ordinated by PROCEED and will be carried out by the relevant sectors, provide, among other things, for a subregional meeting in Turkmenistan in November 1994 on the development of social science curricula for secondary schools; a subregional meeting, in co-operation with the MOST programme, scheduled to be held in Kyrgyzstan in October 1994; and a consultation on the establishment of an International Institute on Central Asian Studies in

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Samarkand in September 1994. In addition, the preparatory work is already well in hand for the introductory course on the CDS/ISIS software for specialists from Central Asia, which is due to be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in October 1994.

37. An important step forward in our co-operation with the Russian Federation was taken on 23 June, with the opening of UNESCO’s Office in Moscow. During the official visit I made to the Russian Federation from 20 to 23 June 1994, I was received by President Yeltsin and the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Alexis II and had discussions with several senior representatives of the parliament and government. The task of the UNESCO Office is to contribute to strengthening and broadening co-operation with the Russian Federation.

Consultations for Africa

38. As part of the preparations for the Consultations for Africa, I convened the Consultative Group on Africa on 6 June to seek its views. The Group confirmed the utility of a meeting of that kind, declaring that its main aim should be to assimilate the diagnoses, analyses and proposals produced by the many consultations and confer& already held on the subject of the continent’s problems in order to decide how they could be operationalized, that is to say, translated into action programmes in the fields of competence of the Organization. The Group proposed that the main theme of the Consultations should be ‘human resources development and utilization’. The Group’s recommendation reinforced my intention to hold the Consultations, especially as the socio-economic development of Africa is now on the agenda of most large international meetings. The United Nations General Assembly, for example, will be examining at its next session the Revised United Nations System-Wide Plan of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development in the 1990s and the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination (ACC) has decided to hold an in-depth discussion on Africa leading to practical proposals for action, choosing as its central theme ‘human resources, economic growth, equity and sustainable development’. UNESCO has played an important part in the preparations of these meetings, agreeing to draft the chapter in the revised Plan of Action on ‘the development of human resources and institutional capabilities’ and to play the role of lead agency in the application of this chapter for the United Nations system.

39. The Consultations will thus be held - probably at the Headquarters of the Organization - from 6 to 10 February 1995. Invitations will be sent to the African Heads of State and their representatives, multilateral and bilateral donors, the organizations of the United Nations system - in particular ECA, the Organization of African Unity and the African Development Bank and also to some 80 independent figures, giving a total of roughly 250 participants including observers. The great majority of the participants will be African but it would seem sensible to bring in the skilled advice of those (individuals and also public, private and non- governmental institutions) who are committed to Africa or have financial, intellectual, scientific or emotional stakes in the continent. The Consultations will thus constitute an advisory body within which governments, the educational, scientific and cultural community and civil society will all be represented, matching the hopes expressed by some of UNESCO’s founding fathers.

40. The theme of the Consultations will be ‘Social development: the priorities of Africa’. Five subthemes will be dealt with in commissions:

Schools and universities for Africa tomorrow. The sharing of knowledge

Science, technology and sustainable development: Africa and the world

Regionalization and development


Communication and development in rural areas

Democratization in everyday life and development: the culture of peace.

41. As the aim of the meeting is to let the Organization hear directly from the Africans themselves and those working with them, these five themes will provide an open framework which may be amended during the run-up to the meeting. A basic document will provide an introduction to the general problems of development in Africa, drawing on the themes and proposals raised by the Consultative Group and the Working Group of African Permanent Delegates.

42. The Consultations should be the time and the place where we can listen as Africans themselves define the most appropriate strategies for the development of their continent. The idea is to formulate a policy for endogenous development, pinpointing what only Africa itself can do and what, on the other hand, requires the assistance of the international community; in other words, to establish the terms of a moral contract which could help to define the basis of a new partnership between Africa and the international community. The conclusions of the Consultations will naturally be taken into account in the formulation and execution of UNESCO’s next Medium-Telm Plan (1996-2001). They will provide the terms of reference for priority activities for which the ground will be prepared during the 1996-1997 biennium. If Africa manages to define its plans for human development clearly and to identify the priorities, then its international partners should be asked whether they are prepared to commit themselves to a major aid plan for the continent in the fields of education, science, culture and communication.

43. In order to consult the National Commissions of the Africa region on various aspects of the Priority: Africa programme a questionnaire was prepared and sent to the Secretaries- General of the National Commissions for UNESCO of all the African Member States. Replies to the questionnaire have so far been received from more than half of the States. Meetings of select groups have also been organized within the framework of the subregional consultations on the fourth Medium-Term Plan to hear the comments and suggestions of the Secretaries- General on the Priority: Africa programme. An in-depth analysis of the replies to the questionnaires and of the consultations with the Secretaries-General will help us gauge more accurately the impact of the various activities carried out in the region under ‘Priority: Afi-ica’. The findings of both exercises will be presented at the Consultations for Africa.

UNESCO’s contribution to international co-operation for development

44. A major conclusion that one can draw from our recent experience in co-operation for development, the details of which are presented in document 145 EX/25, is that we are making steady progress towards building a ‘united thrust’ of multilateral assistance in favour of human resource development, which is increasingly recognized as an essential component of social development. Since 1990, collaboration with our Jomtien partners (UNDP, UNICEF and the World Bank) has extended to other areas and other institu@ons such as UNFPA, UNEP, etc. For example, UNICEF, which co-sponsored the New Delhi EFA Summit, has actively contributed to the Regional Conferences of Ministers of Education in Asia, Latin America and, more recently, in the Arab States. It is currently co-operating with UNESCO and other agencies in elaborating a joint programme of educational assistance in Africa, and is conducting, jointly with IIEP, a series of subregional educational policy seminars. Co- operation with UNEP has been intensified under the International Environmental Education Programme, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the Man and the Biosphere programme and activities in earth sciences and biotechnologies. UNDP has recently approved a

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two-year co-operative programme for the implementation of the interdisciplinary project: Environment and population education and information for human development’. In addition, over the last year, UNDP has encouraged the participation of Specialized Agencies in the advisory groups chaired by the World Bank. As a result, UNESCO has been involved in the preparation of some ten advisory groups.

45. This trend is also noticeable in the World Bank. Following my meeting with the President and the Vice-Presidents of the World Bank in Washington, in March 1994, new areas of partnership between the two organizations are currently being developed, centred on education statistics and indicators, environment, joint contributions to the World Summit for Social Development and the Consultations for Africa. Thus, at a meeting between the officials of the two organizations held in Paris (15-16 September 1994), the World Bank and UNESCO agreed to co-operate in preparing an International Action Plan for the improvement of education statistics. The International Academy of Education has also offered to co-operate in this project. The World Bank has sought UNESCO’s views on its education policy paper which is in preparation. A working session on this paper was held in Paris in September between the officials of the two organizations. The paper lays increased emphasis on basic education for all and on outcomes and learning achievements rather than on inputs and spending categories, thus indicating a noticeable shift of emphasis from current practice.

46. Co-operation with regional banks and other regional intergovernmental organizations has also improved. For instance, several initiatives have been taken to strengthen co-operation with the Asian Development Bank. While the Bank has already entrusted to UNESCO a study on basic education in Hebei Province in China and a review of secondary education in Asia, discussions are under way to launch three other initiatives relating to: educational statistics and indicators in Asia; use of distance education in support of basic education, especially of women and girls, in the nine high-population countries; and the assessment of the cause of the damage to the Taj Mahal in India.

47. At the African Development Bank-UNESCO co-ordination meeting, held in Paris (7-8 July 1994), further areas of co-operation were explored, including new thematic areas linked to social development and the implementation of Agenda 21 as well as UNESCO’s participation in reviewing and updating the AfDB Group Education Policy document. Besides, under the AfDB-UNESCO Co-operative Programme, the Bank is considering the approval, under its 1994 lending programme, of loans and grants amounting to over $240 million for projects in education and training identified and/or prepared by UNESCO. They are expected to be approved in the first half of 1995, on the basis of the resources available to it at that time.

48. As far as the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) is concerned, a major step towards long-term co-operative action is the drafting of a joint statement centred on education and social development for submission to the World Summit for Social Development at Copenhagen. The paper, which is being fmalized, identifies a number of areas for possible joint action in the coming years. Currently UNESCO has been collaborating with IADB in preparing and implementing a large-scale technical education project in Uruguay, in conducting education system reviews in Peru and Chile and in participating in missions under the Bank’s task force on social sectors (in Bolivia, Peru, Guyana and Honduras). Most recently and for the first time, the Bank has entrusted to UNESCO the execution of a project in the area of culture: the rehabilitation of the historical centre of the city of Quito for which an allocation of $41 million has been approved.


49. With a view to facilitating closer co-operation with the Commission of the European Community, negotiations are under way for harmonizing the administrative and financial procedures of the two bodies. Similarly, discussions are in progress for developing a co- operative programme with the OPEC Fund for International Development, allowing the joint preparation of activities on an annual basis.

50. As far as the execution of projects financed from extra-budgetary sources is concerned, it may be noted, on the basis of an analysis of the execution for the frst eight months of the 1994-1995 biennium compared to the corresponding period during the 1992-1993 biennium, that the level of annual allocations has increased by 10 per cent (from $102.7 million to $113.3 million). However, the trends which were singled out in previous reports are still in evidence: a reduction in allocations in respect of UNDP- and UNFPA-financed projects (UNDP-financed projects show a $8 million decline, while UNFPA funding has declined by $0.7 million); an increase in respect of extra-budgetary projects funded by other sources: for example, donated funds-in-trust have increased by 31 per cent (from $13.9 million in 1992- 1993 to $18.2 million in 1994-1995); associate experts, special accounts and voluntary contributions by 20 per cent (from $10.1 million to $12.1 million) and technical assistance projects financed by the regional banks by over 300 per cent from $0.8 million to $3.8 million.

51. The decrease in allocations received from United Nations funds and programmes can be attributed to two factors. The first is related to the new UNDP programming cycle and the new successor arrangements applicable from 1 January 1992, which place significant emphasis on national execution. The second concerns the lo-20 per cent decline in the contributions received in 1993 by UNDP, UNFPA, as well as UNICEF and WFP.

52. The significant diminution in the overall availability of funding for the United Nations system’s operational activities was commented upon at length during the Operational Segment of ECOSOC last session. In 1993, voluntary contributions to UNDP amounted to $910 million, a reduction of 15 per cent on the 1992 level, forcing it to restrict commitments to only 70 per cent of indicative planning figures. UNICEF and UNFPA also suffered, with reductions of 22 per cent and 8 per cent respectively. Only slightly more than half of the target of $1.5 billion established for the World Food Programme in its 1993-1994 biennium has been reached. The remarkable increase in the share of resources provided for humanitarian emergencies under overall United Nations assistance (which jumped from 25 per cent in 1988 to 45 per cent in 1992) contrasts with the serious decline in Official Development Aid (8 per cent between’ 1992 and 1993). The ECOSOC debates, as well as those currently going on at the General Assembly, show a growing concern about the diversion of development resources towards emergency relief.

53. This is a point I have repeatedly stated: peace-keeping and humanitarian assistance are overshadowing the central purpose of the United Nations - development for peace in justice and equity. While conflict prevention is essential, peace-building is even more essen&al. Peace- building involves a process of development based on equity, justice and freedom. Development has to be recognized as the prerequisite of peace, just as humanitarian assistance has to be placed within a longer term developmental framework. To have any meaning, humanitarian action must aim at the development of endogenous capabilities and at the training of local human resources. Radical changes are urgently required in our approach to peace-keeping and peace-building. Innovative ways must be found of achieving a better balance between the two functions - including the adaptation of military capacity and facilities for the empowering of civil society and the reduction of present asymmetries. These are also the basic principles

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which have inspired my preliminary proposals concerning our next medium-term planning exercise.

Humanitarian assistance and peace-building

54. I do not intend to dwell at length on the activities carried out by UNESCO since the last session in connection with its contribution to the Agenda for Peace. Detailed information on this subject is provided in Part II of document 145 EX0NF.3 (Programme execution) and in a number of other documents relating to various items of the Board’s agenda: 145 EX/9 concerning our work for Palestine; 145 EX/15 on the Culture of Peace programme; 145 EX/16 on UNESCO’s follow-up to the International Conference for the Protection of War Victims; 145 EX/35 concerning our support for Haiti; 145 EX/36 on the situation of the cultural and architectural heritage and of educational and cultural institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina: and, lastly, document 145 EX/37 concerning our work in Rwanda.

55. I should simply like to provide some additional points of information. In relation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, aside from the emergency action in the fields of education and culture, made possible by the recent relatively calm spell, it is worth noting the excellent co- operation that has been established, firstly with the Council of Europe, which will be joining forces with UNESCO on all matters relating to the safeguarding and rehabilitation of the cultural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina; and, secondly, with the United Nations Special Co-ordinator for Sarajevo, Mr Eagleton, who has assigned to UNESCO responsibility for all questions relating to education and culture within the United Nations Special Co-ordinating Group. But it goes without saying that’ one of the essential conditions for effective co- operation with Bosnia and Herzegovina is UNESCO’s presence in the country. That is why I have transferred an official from Headquarters to the post of UNESCO Head of Office in Sarajevo. The Bureau’s work, carried out in co-operation with several Specialized Agencies of the United Nations system, will initially focus on the reconstruction of the education system, the restoration of the cultural monuments and the promotion of cultural exchanges. You will recall, in this connection, that UNESCO succeeded last April, for the first time since the start of the conflict, in bringing out of Sarajevo a group of artists and representatives of the government. Since then, the Organization, working in close collaboration with UNPROFOR, has managed to provide travel from and to Sarajevo in a ‘cultural air lift for some 60 artists and intellectuals, enabling them to organize performances and take part in meetings, conferences and seminars.

56. On 10 May 1994, UNESCO also established regular links with the new Government of South Africa. Following an initiative by the South African Embassy in Paris, an information mission travelled to Pretoria on 8 July 1994 in order to conduct a broad exchange of views with senior officials in the ministries of foreign affairs, education, culture, science and technology. My special representative in South Africa, who took up his duties in July 1994, addressed members of Parliament when the last session opened in Cape Town, providing them with detailed information on UNESCO’s programmes. At the invitation of the University of Cape Town, a mission went to Durban from 4 to 7 July 1994 to participate in the National Conference on Primary School Curriculum Initiatives and to consider, together with the meeting’s South African organizers and participants, the forms that co-operation with UNESCO might assume. The Organization is also actively involved in the preparations for the Conference on Human Resource Development in South Africa that is to be ‘held in Cape Town from 11 to 14 October 1994 in order to consider ways and means of funding the programme for the reconstruction and development of South Africa. From the time the idea of the Conference was first mooted, UNESCO has in fact been entrusted with the role of lead agency

145 EXDNF.3 - page 15

in the field of education. The International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) is working with the South Africans on the preparation of certain files. The information received from several sources suggests that the Republic of South Africa will soon return to UNESCO as it is gradually returning to the United Nations system, a process which I heartily welcome.

57. In the context of the culture of peace programmes, a donor support meeting was held in San Salvudor on 26 May 1994, at which a first group of about ten projects - for an amount of approximately $9 million - was identified by a number of countries. As a follow-up, the UNESCO Office in El Salvador, which has recently been established, organized a wide consultation, in August 1994, of all interested parties for the elaboration of the project documents. These detailed documents are now being submitted to donors for funding. Requests for the development of culture of peace programme activities have also been received from Belize, Nicaragua and Guatemala. An initial programme preparation mission has already been sent to Guatemala and a similar one is planned for Nicaragua in November 1994.

58. In Mozambique, the fEst phase of implementation of a programme which supported the training of women in culture of peace activities and the development of teaching materials based on traditional conflict mediation methodology has been completed and the evaluation is now being made (the relevant project document has been distributed to the Executive Board). Project documents for the second phase are in preparation. A UNESCO representative has been appointed and an office opened.

59. In the Colzgo, a national forum on the culture of peace is being planned for the second half of November, while in Burundi a culture of peace programme is to be developed within the context of a UNESCO House of Culture.

60. As mentioned in document 145 EX/15, the first consultative meeting on the Culture of Peace programme will take place in September 1994 at UNESCO Headquarters. The objective of the meeting is to contribute to the clarification of the concept of the culture of peace and to make some proposals for actions which UNESCO might undertake alone or with partners. Fifteen participants and a number of observers from Member States and non-governmental organizations have been invited to attend the consultation. The ideas and proposals advanced at this meeting will be given full consideration in the elaboration of document 28 C/4.

United Nations Year for Tolerance

61. A number of activities relating to the celebration of the United Nations Year for Tolerance have been organized since the last Board session: a Regional Conference on ‘Tolerance in Latin America and the Caribbean’, in co-operation with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, 12-16 September 1994); an international meeting which coincided with the first anniversary of the peace accords between the Israelies and the Palestinians, entitled: ‘Tolerance and the inadmissible’, organized in co-operation with the Association of Friends of the Monthly Journal ‘Passages’ (Headquarters, 12-13 September 1994); various activities financed under the Participation Programme and implemented on the initiative of Member States: a study mission to Israel, entitled ‘Tolerance and pluralism’, in co-operation with B’nai B’rith International (NGO) (5-18 June 1994); a round table on ‘Living together in cultural diversity’, in co-operation with the German National Commission for UNESCO (Lisbon, Portugal, 27-28 July 1994); an International Conference entitled ‘Ethnic tolerance and inter-ethnic conflicts’, in which some 130 scientists participated (Russian Federation, September 1994). The book entitled La tole’runce - Essai d’anthologie, which was published by UNESCO in 1975, has been reissued in French and translated into Spanish; a Gelman version of the book is being prepared.


62. UNESCO has prepared a report for the forty-ninth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, in compliance with resolution 48/126, adopted at its forty-eighth session. This report deals with the co-ordination work carried out by UNESCO pursuant to the mandate conferred on it by the General Assembly of the United Nations. It recalls the principles for action adopted by UNESCO for the United Nations Year for Tolerance, gives details of the form such action should take, and finally reviews co-operation between the various officials responsible for projects for the Year. The Plan of Action for the United Nations Year for Tolerance has two main thrusts: a campaign to mobilize public opinion, and the promotion of education for tolerance.

63. The key partners in the campaign to mobilize public opinion are governmental and non- governmental cultural institutions, and in particular the National Commissions for UNESCO. The announcement of the preparation of the Year elicited a large number of proposals for seminars, meetings and conferences, of which some 30 have been adopted to date. At all these meetings, a draft declaration on the principles of tolerance will be discussed, prior to its submission to the twenty-eighth session of the General Conference. Furthermore, UNESCO will devote particular attention to publications planned for the United Nations Year for Tolerance. Some of these publications will make concrete recommendations for follow-up on action for tolerance. Others will consist of translations of classic works highlighting the foundations of a spirit of tolerance in various cultures. A ‘UNESCO Children’s Book Prize’ will be awarded in 1995 to the best work embodying the principles of the United Nations Year for Tolerance. The 29 UNESCO goodwill ambassadors, who have a broad following among various sectors of the public, will also be key figures of the Year. Every effort will be made to ensure widespread media coverage of ever&s planned for 1995. Promotion activities will also include the use of ordinary everyday objects: a range of products (posters, T-shirts, flags, etc.) bearing the United Nations Year for Tolerance logo will be on offer at the various events of the Year.

64. One day during the Year (1995), possibly 16 November, the date of the adoption of the Constitution of UNESCO, will be proposed as a ‘Day for Tolerance’, to be celebrated in all schools, vocational and technical training establishments and other institutions which come within UNESCO’s spheres of competence.

65. A Programme of Action on Tolerance has also been established to create or strengthen indepetident media structures which are able to give populations concerned by conflicts an unbiased view of the situation. A number of professional media organizations, such as the International Federation of Journalists, the International Federation of Newspaper Publish&s or Reporters sans front&es, as well as regional organizations, will co-operate with UNESCO on this programme.

66. In the medium and long term, the United Nations Plan of Action contains provisions for a whole series of educational and training activities. Education for tolerance should form an integral part of education for peace, human rights and democracy. A debate is planned for the 44th session of the International Conference on Education (which is to examine an Integrated Framework of Action in this area) on the theme of ‘education for mutual understanding and tolerance’. Several other studies relating to the United Nations Year for Tolerance are being undertaken by the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century. These studies will be made available to the Member States with a view to guiding ‘their action in the field of education for tolerance.


67. During the Year, the focus will be on the production of teaching materials, such as manuals, brochures and guides. The most comprehensive work on the subject is without a doubt the teachers’ guide entitled ‘Tolerance: The Threshold of Peace. A Teaching/Learning Guide for Education for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy’, which will be presented to the public for the first time at the 44th session of the International Conference on Education.

68. Young people are the real target of the Programme of Action. By organizing various special events, such as travelling exhibitions and international youth festivals, UNESCO hopes to encourage young people to participate in this worldwide mobilization. It is in this spirit that the ‘Day for Tolerance’ is being proposed, as well as the international children’s drawing competition and the programme of festivals for a culture of peace, which are being organized within the framework of the Associated Schools. To date, seven subregional festivals are planned, with a grand closing festival in India, linked with the Gandhi commemorations in the autumn of 1995. Finally, in view of the fact that the United Nations Year for Tolerance coincides with the centenary of the invention of the cinema, UNESCO has designed a brochure lo promote the use in schools of a selection of archive footage and cinema classics as the special vehicles of a message of peace and tolerance.

Fiftieth anniversary of UNESCO

69. It is no coincidence that the United Nations Year for Tolerance is being held in the year that marks the fiftieth anniversary of UNESCO. The Year should give the celebrations a greater scope and impact than could be achieved by a mere commemoration. The preparatory work for the celebrations has been in hand since the 144th session, following the approach and the framework set out in document 144 EX/28 which were approved by the Board. Three major types of activity were defined in the document: activities of ‘substance’ which would make it possible to approach certain major issues of the future in our fields of competence; ‘celebration’ activities to sustain a wide-ranging information, awareness-raising and mobilization campaign; and, lastly, the activities undertaken by the Organization’s Member States and other partners to mark the anniversary.

70. Several of our activities of ‘substance’ are already well under way. They include: the symposium Science and culture: Common path for the future, which is to be organized in conjunction with the United Nations University in Tokyo, Japan, in September 1995; the International Congress of Engineering Deans and Industrial Leaders (UNESCO Headquarters, July 1996), which will seek to discover new forms of co-operation between universities, industry and research institutes so that innovations resulting from the progress of scientific research can be harnessed more effectively to benefit the population at large; the first meeting of the UNESCO Philosophy Forum, to be held in March 1995, also at Headquarters, on the subject of What we know and what we don’t know’, the purpose of which is to look at the various obstacles to the advancement of knowledge, the ways in which news of discoveries is currently exchanged between different fields and brought to the attention of the public, and also to speculate about the forms and consequences, including the social and political consequences, of ignorance itself.

7 1. A series of round tables is also to be organized in a number of countries, on the initiative of various international student federations and associations, on the theme of The University of the Twenty-First Century (especially its links with the world of work). The findings of these seminars could be considered in 1996 at an international forum of students, held to prepare for an International Congress on Higher Education that could take place in 1997. Mention should also be made of the Young People’s World Heritage Forum (Bergen, Norway, June 1995) to


be organized in connection with the second General Assembly of the Organization of towns and cities belonging to the world heritage for the purpose of launching a major campaign of mobilization for education in school and out of school on the world heritage.

72. In connection with the project for a World Survey on Youth on the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century, a prototype survey guide is currently under preparation. The guide, which focuses on the needs, aspirations and attitudes of young people from underprivileged groups and a wide variety of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, will be pre-tested in the first half of 1995 before consideration is given to extending its range.

73. Several proposals for activities concerning ‘Science and Ethics’ and the new information technologies are currently being looked at and could be executed in conjunction with interested Member States. I should also like to draw the attention of the members of the Executive Board to the proposals contained in document 145 EX/41 regarding the procedure that could be adopted for the preparation of a Bill of Rights of Future Generations.

74. Most of the ‘celebration activities’ mentioned in paragraphs 25 to 28 of document 145 EX/28 are now being prepared: an information kit consisting of data sheets and photographic, audio and video material; educational material (in particular, two brochures produced within the framework of the Associated Schools Project: World concerns and the United Nations (coproduced with the United Nations) and What young people should know about UNESCO and the United Nations; an interactive CD-ROM on The 400 Wonders of the World); reference works on UNESCO (including a multimedia CD-ROM based on the work Chronique de Z’UNESCO); exhibitions (including an exhibition of photographs on the theme of human dignity, which would be shown in the underground in various capital cities); a commemorative coin programme; various musical events worldwide, including a concert by vety young choristers, organized jointly with the city. of Hiroshima and the NHK television channel, which would be preceded by an international song competition on the theme of peace. In the run-up to the twenty-eighth session of the General Conference, I shall be submitting to the Executive Board at its next session proposals concerning the organization of the commemorative events to be held on 16 November 1995 in order to ensure that they will have the requisite impact and dignity.

75. The partners who are beginning to mobilize for this anniversary - National Commissions, non-governmental organizations, institutions and individuals - are highly diverse. Take, for example, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which will be holding a special conference at the Organization’s Headquarters in 1996 to investigate new forms of co-operation between UNESCO and parliamentary circles; on a different plane, we have the coming polar expedition of Professor Swann (October 1995-February 1996) in connection with which UNESCO will be involved in various scientific, educational and media events.

76. A description of all of the activities planned in connection with the fiftieth anniversary will be distributed shortly to the permanent delegations and the National Commissions. I should like to say once again that the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of UNESCO should be, first and foremost, a matter for the Member States. That is the spirit of 27 C/Resolution 15, which invites the Member States to celebrate the anniversary by means of initiatives in the Organization’s fields of competence and to mobilize for that purpose the educational, scientific and cultural communities, young people and civil society in general. Some 20 Member States have so far sent me a list of the ‘celebration’ activities which they propose to carry out in 1995-1996. These varied activities are proof of a genuine mobilization. The Secretariat, and especially the steering group for the fiftieth anniversary which I have set up, will be working


closely with these Member States, helping to make the events that they have planned a great success. A list of the activities undertaken by our various partners will be circulated when a sufficient number of replies has been received.


Improvements in institutional functioning

77. Key features of the Organization’s work since the last session have been the process of reflection and the consultative meetings organized to prepare the next C/4 and C/5 documents. These activities are described in detail in document 145 EX/5, Part I. At this point I would just like to emphasize the innovative nature of this method of consultation - ten regional or subregional meetings and one interregional meeting have enabled us to obtain the views of the National Commissions of 159 Member States out of the 182 in the Organization at present. This approach was designed to strengthen Member States’ participation in the programming process by establishing direct, in-depth dialogue between the Secretariat and the National Commissions, and could certainly be used again, in whatever way seems most appropriate.

78. A special effort was made to furnish the National Commissions - at this stage of the consultation process - with all the available sources of information and evaluation: a provisional version of the Report of the Director-General on the Activities of the Organization in 1992-1993 (28 C/3) - which was only published in the middle of September 1994 - was made available for the regional consultations as early as May 1994, that is, six months before its usual distribution date. Still on the subject of evaluation, it may be added that the external evaluations on technical and vocational education in Africa, social and human sciences in Africa, and training activities in the basic and engineering sciences have been completed. Their results were incorporated in document 28 C/3, and will be presented in greater detail in the synoptic document on the results of the evaluation activities to be submitted to the 146th session of the Executive Board. In compliance with 144 EX/Decision 3.3, an evaluation mission to the UNESCO Office in Bangkok has been undertaken and its findings are presented in document 145 EX/38. The new UNESCO manual for programme evaluation, after having been tested during the training seminar on evaluation and used for some of the ongoing evaluations, has been published in English and French (a Spanish version is also being finalized).

79. These are examples of our efforts to improve programming and evaluation by strengthening both their interaction and Member States’ involvement in their implementation. This is but one aspect of a much broader issue, that of improving the way the Organization functions as an institution. I welcome the Executive Board’s decision at its 144th session to raise once again the admittedly complex issue of the methods of work of the governing bodies. Document 145 EX/39 contains a number of proposals in that connection - which are perhaps possibilities more than proposals - for greater participation by the Member States in preparing and finalizing the programme, and for strengthening the General Conference’s role in reflection and decision-making.

80. A further step in that direction could be taken by publishing the report on activities which I submit every session to the Executive Board in the six working languages of the General Conference from now on. This report - which usually comprises three parts (general policy; programme implementation; management chart for programme execution) - is at the moment only distributed in two languages (English and French) as an information document. It ties the different agenda items together (dealing with some directly and simply introducing others) but


it also constitutes one of the main sources of information needed by the Board to discharge the responsibility assigned to it by the Constitution of taking ‘all necessary measures to ensure the effective and rational execution of the programme by the Director-General’.

81. Several delegates have told me that they would like to have a copy of this report in one or another of the General Conference’s working languages so as to be able to draw it to the attention of their government agencies. I would like to put that proposal to the Executive Board for evaluation. In order to ensure that the report continues to be up to date it could still be distributed about two weeks before the beginning of the session but in six languages instead of two. To publish it in six languages (translation, composition, printing) would cost about $45,000, according to estimates produced by my staff, that is an additional cost of $30,000 per session (the current cost of publishing the English and French versions being approximately $15,000). Th’s f 1 lgure must be looked at in relation to the overall cost of producing documents for the Executive Board. At the 144th session, 90 documents were submitted to the Board in the six working languages, added to which were the reports of the Board’s commissions, which alone required the translation, composition and printing of 860 pages at a cost of around $340,000.

Organization and methods of work of the Secretariat

82. In my report to the 144th session of the Executive Board, I made reference to a number of adjustments made to the Secretariat’s structure with a view to improving and modernizing the functioning of the Organization. Since then, I have taken further measures in line with the indications given to the Board in its private session. First of all, in order to enhance the Secretariat’s capacity to foresee the course of events across the world and to redirect, as appropriate, its strategies and actions, I have decided on a redistribution of responsibilities within the Directorate. In June, I created the Office of Assistant Director-General for the Directorate (ADG/DRG). Responsible for harmonizing actions that address the three priority target groups (women, Africa and least-developed countries) and for all operations relating to emergency situations, the Assistant Director-General for the Directorate, in direct liaison with me, follows the progress of interdisciplinary activities, in particular the Organization’s contribution to the major world conferences and international years, and is also responsible for ensuring the implementation of my guidelines relating to the PROCEED programme and the programmes in South Africa, Portuguese-speaking countries, Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Palestine, Burundi, etc. While the Director of the Executive Office of the Director-General (DIR/CAB) will continue to assist the Director-General and the Deputy Director-General in the performance of their duties, the Director of the renovated secretariat of the Directorate (DIIVDIGE) is responsible for ensuring the preparation of the meetings of the Directorate and of collective consultations with permanent delegates, as well as the follow-up to the resolutions of the General Conference and the decisions of the Executive Board.

83. In addition, as of July, I have set up a five-member team of senior special advisers, each representing a region, to keep me regularly informed of the evolution of the situation and the impact of UNESCO’s action in the countries of their respective regions, so as to suggest appropriate responses to events which may have an effect on the action taken by the Organization in its fields of competence. For this purpose, the senior special advisers, who are not staff members, will keep abreast of UNESCO’s activities in their regions, examine important issues and recommend actions to be taken, provide collective advice on problems and actions of global interest, undertake missions to Member States on my behalf and, when necessay, represent me at meetings.


84. I have also decided to group together, with effect from 1 October 1994, a number of central services with a view to improving the co-ordination of their activities and to enhancing the quality of their contribution towards more efficient implementation of programmes. Thus, the Bureau of Personnel (PER) and the Bureau of the Comptroller (BOC), the Bureau of Documentation, Informatics Services and Telecommunications (DIT) and the Bureau of Programme Support (BPS) will now function under the responsibility of a new Assistant Director-General for Management and Administration (ADG/MA) who is responsible to me and, by delegation, to the Deputy Director-General. In addition to these direct supervisory functions, all administrative units, both at Headquarters and in the field, are also placed under his administrative authority. This new organizational structure should contribute to further improvements in the management of the Organization, notably through increased computerization, optimum use of human resources and a reinforcement of the process of decentralization.

85. Concerning staff matters in particular, I have regularly reported to the Executive Board on the implementation of the long-term personnel policy of the Organization as defined in early 1990, in close consultation with the goveining bodies, especially the Executive Board. Two important aspects of this general policy relate to the achievement of more equitable geographical distribution and to the improvement in the women/men ratio in the Secretariat. On this last point, it may be recalled that, in 1987, by 24 C/Resolution 14.1, the General Conference requested that the Director-General take practical measures to increase the representation of women in the Professional category and above, so that they represent at least 30 per cent of the Professional staff members by 1995. While this objective has already been achieved (31.14 per cent in July 1991, 32.4 per cent in July 1993), I intend to further improve the representation of women, especially at the senior level in the Professional category and above. Since this cannot be achieved without the co-operation of all Member States, I addressed, in September 1994, a circular letter to all Member States urging them to submit, whenever possible, a greater number of qualified women candidates for vacant posts.

86. A specific item (item 7.6) of the provisional agenda of the present session is devoted to the question of geographical distribution. I shall therefore only stress that I will continue to spare no efforts to reduce the number of non- and under-represented Member States. Here again, it is only with the assistance and support of those Member States that some significant improvements could be achieved in this connection.

87. I consider the Young Professionals Programme essential at the present juncture, since its aim is to contribute substantially not only to improving geographical distribution, but also to the rejuvenation of the Secretariat. As regards the year 1994, seven young professionals took up their duties on 22 August 1994, their training programme being scheduled for the forthcoming six months. For the year 1995, we have received 226 applications from 47 countries, an increase of 52 applicants over 1993. Since 1989, 31 young profess\ionals have become staff members, which has made a significant impact on both the age structure and the geographical distribution of the Organization.

88. III the area of reforms, mention should be made of the following: the introduction of a new promotion system based on merit (administrative circular No. 1917 of March 1994); the continuous monitoring of the management of posts and recruitment with foresight, taking into account staff cost implications, through the Standing Committee set up for that purpose; and further improvements to the staff performance assessment system. In addition a number of studies have been initiated, in particular: preparation of a strategic plan for human resource


development and utilization for 1996-2002; preparation of a pluri-annual training plan; and establishment of a network of internal and external expertise based on a computerized file.

89. It may be recalled that a Senior Advisory Group (composed of Mr L.C. Sharma, Mr K. Hammarskjiild and Mr J. Fobes) was set up in February 1994 to periodically review the status of implementation of various reform measures and to make suggestions and proposals for further reforms. This Group conducted one such review in Paris from 22 to 24 June, and held wide-ranging discussions within the Secretariat, as well as with some of the Board members and, finally, with me. In its report, while identifying some areas where progress needs to be speeded up, the Group expressed satisfaction both with the progress achieved so far and the internal mechanisms set up to follbw up the reform process. It is expected to conduct the next review before the end of this year.

90. One of the areas of reform which in my opinion deserves particular attention is that of the development of the Organization’s informution system. It should provide users at Headquarters and in the field with on the one hand the widest possible access to information available in the world, and on the other hand - as far as possible - the tools to design, set up and manage their own information bases locally, the central information services only intervening, eventually, to co-ordinate and assist. The structures established in February 1994 to formulate measures to make this possible are now fully operational: they are the Committee for Information Resources Development (CIRD), to monitor the implementation of the designated priority projects for the 1994-1995 budget period and assess the productivity and quality gains achieved, and the Technological Innovations Panel (TIP) to recommend technological solutions which could be uskd to speed up the modernization of our information system. The work of the two groups has touched on, for example:

The connection of UNESCO to Internet.

The extension of the telecommunications system to field units, using the United Nations network or the SITA network when the former is unavailable. At the moment 26 links have been established, most recently with the Offices in Bucharest and Beijing; the SITA contract has been renegotiated with a considerable reduction in costs and the network could now cover the National Commissions.

A policy for standardizing and harmonizing purchases of computer equipment, including a global negotiation of licensing contracts for software used.

The extension of the communication infrastructure (cable) needed to set up new Local Area Networks (LAN).

The study of the various options for developing the Organization’s central computer applications, to bring them in line with recent technological advances, and at the same time to optimize operating costs.

91. As for public information, UNESCOPRESS is continuing to develop its distribution network and has restarted production of the weekly bulletin intended not only for the press but also for the National Commissions and non-governmental organizations. OPI has also gone back to producing a monthly press review. With Radio France Internationale and 15 African stations the radio service produced two one-hour programmes on the symposium ‘What happened to development?‘. In addition to the production of a film in Spanish on the World Science Report and its participation in CNN’s World Report, the Organization is working together with TV5 Afrique, notably in launching a scientific news bulletin. A fLm has also been


made on bioethics and reports on UNESCO projects in Mali and Senegal illustrated with photographs.

92. The Office of Public Information has also organized specific activities on the occasion of:

International Press Freedom Day (3 May 1994): a written and televised message by the Director-General was distributed throughout the world and some 100 journalists from the French and international press based in Paris covered the event at Headquarters; a radio programme on the media was also distributed (in four languages) to 320 radio stations.

World Conference on Naturul Disaster Reduction (Yokohama, 23-27 May 1994): a press kit and poster were produced for the event, in English and French, to present UNESCO’s activities; the Federation of UNESCO Clubs and Associations of Japan was responsible for producing the Japanese version of the kit.

The presentution of the Fe’lix HouphoMt-Boigny Peace Price (6 July 1994): OPI accredited over 300 journalists for the occasion, including the representatives of 40 television stations and companies, 36 radio stations and 29 photo agencies; it also made a 26-minute film. The event received worldwide coverage.

International Literacy Day (8 September 1994): a written and broadcast message from the Director-General was widely distributed; a video-conference was held in conjunction with the International Reading Association and broadcast throughout the United States and in some cities in Europe.

93. Also worthy of mention are the concert given at Headquarters by a choir of street children from Ecuador, the organization of the ‘Shalom-&lam’ concert in Oslo to celebrate the first anniversary of the signing in Washington of the Israeli-Palestinian accord, and exhibitions of tapestries, photographs, paintings and sculptures organized in co-operation with permanent delegations and museums.

94. Editorial improvements are being introduced into the UNESCO Courier, taking into account the results of the two surveys carried out among the subscribers to its English and French editions and the views expressed by certain delegations at the last General Conference. The improvements, to be introduced progressively from September 1994 onwards, will concentrate on developing more readable articles, a better layout and in-depth treatment of a broader spectrum of articles - particularly those on co-operation and the United Nations system. Particular attention is also being given to a careful selection of themes linked to major world events during 1995: social development, women, fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations and UNESCO, centenary of cinema, culture of peace, etc. Special efforts will be made to promote readership among high school and university students. Negotiations arelunder way with several comparable magazines for the exchange of information and the insertion of promotional material designed to reach large sections of the potential readership of the UNESCO Courier. Launched in March 1994 with a view to widening the readership of UNESCO publications through a mail order service, the UNESCO Readers’ Club is already beginning to bear fruit. Promoted for the first time in the March issue of the UNESCO Courier, by 20 April 1994 448 orders had been registered for 631 publications under this scheme.

95. Progress has been made in the development of the UNESCO I;ellowship Bank scheme. The ongoing sponsored fellowships administered under this scheme include: the Hirayama Silk


Roads fellowships, for which $100,000 are received annually; the Republic of Korea/IPDC fellowships offering 15 fellowships each year for candidates from developing countries to train in the Republic of Korea in television production; and the China/UNESCO fellowships offering ten one-year fellowships in the fields of science, technology and culture. UNESCO is also negotiating with the Government of the Netherlands on the terms of reference for the continuation, in 1995, of the sponsored fellowships programme, which goes back to 1947. In addition, UNESCO is processing applications for the award of new fellowships offered for the first time by the Republic of Korea (eight fellowships of one month’s duration in the field of technical and vocational education); the International Co-operation of Graduates of former Soviet educational institutions - INCORVUZ (eight fellowships for postgraduate study or research in the field of science and technology in the Russian Federation) and the European Commission (36 fellowships within the framework of the PEDDRO project, which aims to create a network of information on the prevention of drug abuse through education). It is hoped that these fellowships will be continued in coming years. To further expand the UNESCO Fellowship Bank scheme, I personally addressed a letter (CL/3357 dated 28 June 1994) to all Member States and to over 40 private bodies soliciting either f~lancial contributions or offers in the form of sponsored fellowships.

96. Within the framework of the Participation Programme, under which $1 million has been eallnarked for the Fellowship Bank scheme, so far some 45 requests have been received. These are being either processed or implemented. It may be mentioned in this context that, out of this $1 million, a sum of $150,000 has been reserved for the purpose of entering into cost-sharing arrangements with donors of jointly sponsored fellowship programmes. .

97. With respect to the Participation Programme, the Board may be interested to note that, as of 21 September, of a total of 2,497 requests received, 1,111 have been approved for an amouilt of $20,272,458 (or 81 per cent of the total provision), thus leaving a balance of $4,727,542. Of this approved amount, $12,633,091, or 50.5 per cent of the total provision, have so far been obligated. The requests received included 41 registered under the Emergency Fund, of which 40 were approved for an amount of $1,618,170. More detailed information requested by the Board on this important programme is being submitted in document 145 EX/26 and its addendum.

Budgetary and financial matters

98. The Management Chart in Part III of this document provides the most significant budget and administrative information concerning the implementation of activities under the regular programme from January to August 1994. On the whole, programme implementation is progressing satisfactorily, as 32.8 per cent of the total appropriation for 1994-1995 (Parts I-VI of the budget) had been obligated at 31 August 1994, compared to 34.2 per cent at the same time in 1992.

99. As regards the cash flow situation, efforts have continued to collect assessed contributions and ‘outstanding arrears through personal representation and telephone calls. Reminder letters signed individually by me were sent to all Member States on 5 July 1994. As far as the assessed contributions for 1994 are concerned, they are being paid at a satisfactory pace: 52.58 per cent of contributions due for this year had been received by 31 August 1994. Over the months of April and May, the cash flow was such that only internal borrowing was required. Towards the end of June, however, external borrowing of some $8.8 million became necessary for about two weeks, and at the end of August, external borrowing of some $2.6 million was again required, due to the level of arrears for 1993 and previous years which


amounted, at this date, to $67.5 million. To cope with this situation, allotments have continued to be scheduled in accordance with the contingency planning mechanism: allocations are made on a quarterly basis (except for staff costs and the field offices’ running costs, which are allotted on an annual basis). Likewise, the budget of certain items of expenditure has been reduced - staff travel by 30 per cent, meetings of a general nature and resources for reports and studies by 50 per cent. Decisions on release of allotments are being taken in the light of reports on budgetary implementation, with reference also to monthly reports on the cash situation and cash-flow prospects. I shall continue to monitor all aspects of the financial situation and to make reports thereon to members of the Executive Board on a monthly basis up to the 146th session.

100. I wish to thank all Member States that have responded to my appeal for payment of contributions since the last session of the Board. They are reported individually in document 145 EX/30 on the cash situation of the Organization. I would appeal to Member States in arrears to make every effort to settle at an early date the amounts remaining due, so that the approved programme can be implemented to the fullest extent possible and that borrowing can be kept to the strict minimum.

101. I would like also to draw the attention of the Board to the issue of staff costs. The constraints imposed by the 5 per cent lapse factor - which means that only 95 per cent of the total staff costs requirement is available -, imply that an average of 109 posts per month must remain vacant. Given the fact that staff establishment has already been reduced by 85 posts in comparison to the 1992-1993 biennium, this is proving more and more to be almost impossible. At a time when the Organization is experiencing severe budgetary constraints and is called upon to respond more effectively to the growing and often urgent demands placed upon it by the world situation, the application of the 5 per cent lapse factor is putting a heavy strain on existing staff in their efforts to meet the Organization’s programme and work-load requirements. The staff must be renewed if the Organization is to respond with resilience and vitality to its tasks. The Executive Board, which was informed of this difficulty at the 144th session, requested me to present a report on the lapse factor to this session. The report, which is included in document 145 EX/5, Part III, explains the lapse factor technique in detail, the problems arising from its application and compares the practice in UNESCO with that in other United Nations Specialized Agencies. In light of this report and of the findings of a very recent Joint Inspection Unit study on this matter, the Board is invited to consider the desirability of discontinuing the 5 per cent lapse factor technique during 1996- 1997.

145 EXANF.3 Part II PARIS, 30 September 1994 English & French only


EXECUTIVE BOARD


Item 5.1 of the provisional a&

REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION SINCE THE 144th SESSION

PART II

Programme implementation

SUMMARY

The purpose of this document is to inform members of the Executive Board about the activities of the Organization since the 144th session of the Board and to provide material for the discussion of item 5.1 of the provisional agenda. Part II deals with the most noteworthy aspects of programme implementation since the 144th session.

145 EX/INF.3

MAJOR PROGRAMME AREA I

Towards basic education for all (EFA)

1. As a follow-up to the EFA Summit of the nine high-population developing countries, a meeting was held in Islamabad, in September 1994, between the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Director-General of UNESCO, the Executive Director of UNICEF and senior representatives of UNDP, UNFPA and the World Bank during which the Prime Minister signed the Declaration of Leaders of the Nine High-Population Countries signalling her government’s commitment to significantly step up efforts in basic education and particularly the education of women and girls. The United Nations agencies present undertook to strengthen their technical and financial assistance to basic education and human development in Pakistan. A Conference was held in Brasilia (29 August-2 September 1994) on a National Ten-Year Plan for Education for All. This Conference was the culmination of meetings and workshops held in every State at the level of the municipalities and the 45,000 schools of the country; the conference document represented therefore the consensus of views of the country as a whole. In addition, representatives of the other eight of the nine high-population countries were invited to the Conference in order to share and learn from each other’s experience in pursuing education for all (27 C/5, para. 01106).

2. Within the framework of the joint initiative on distance education recommended by the Delhi Summit, expert missions were carried out in the countries involved. Needs assessments are being undertaken in each of the nine high-population countries. National activities as well as collaborative projects were initiated with the support of Australia and the Asian Development Bank. A South Asia forum on distance education for development was established, with a view to promoting education for all and economic development of rural areas in the countries of the subregion. These activities which transcend national and cultural boundaries, may correspond to the orientations of the Learning without frontiers proposal made by the Executive Board’s ad hoc Forum for Reflection. The shared development by the five African countries with Portuguese as an official language of interactive radio instruction within the framework of the lRI/PALOP project, currently in progress in Cape Verde and financially supported by the Netherlands, could also be considered as a contribution to this proposal (27 C/5, para. 01106).

3. The second regional workshop on planning and management of literacy and continuing education was organized in Islamabad from 24 March to 2 April 1994 to identify and discuss issues, and provide practical experience in the planning, management and monitoring for literacy and continuing education. A subregional mobile workshop on literacy was organized in co-operation with the Asia-Pacific Bureau of Adult Education in New Delhi in July 1994. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan participated in the workshop. The second regional workshop on continuing education for development held in Shijiazung city, China, in May 1994, brought together 37 participants from 17 countries (27 C/5, paras. 01106-01107).

4. As a follow-up to the Pan-African Conference on the Education of Girls and Women (Ouagadowgou, March 1993), UNESCO assisted, through contractual arrangements with National Commissions, several countries to complete programme outlines for the introduction of guidance and counselling in teacher-training institutions and schools and for use by appropriate community institutions. The participating countries are in two categories: individual countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana and Mali); groups of countries (Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles; Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia). Some southern African countries are field testing


the materials. A joint UNESCO/UNICEF consultation on the promotion of community involvement in the basic education of girls was organized in Nairobi (April 1994) for the eastern and southern States of Africa (27 C/5, para. 01109).

5. UNESCO submitted its contribution to the preparation of the World Survey on Women, 1994, being conducted by the United Nations. It also prepared contributions for the African and European preparatory meetings which reviewed the status of the education of girls and women in the respective regions (27 C/5, para. 01110).

6. The Educate to empower manual produced by a UNESCO regional workshop in Asia and providing practical guidance on preparing materials for women’s empowerment, was disseminated to relevant organizations and NGOs, translated into 11 regional languages and used in seven countries as a guidebook in national training workshops. The UNESCO Office in Bangkok is providing technical assistance to four other Member States in developing gender- sensitive learning materials on the basis of this manual (27 C/5, para. 01129).

7. More than 300 participants representing 92 governments and 25 international organizations met in Salamanca, Spain, in June 1994, to further the objective of education for all by considering the fundamental policy shifts required to enable schools to serve all children, particularly those with special educational needs. Organized by the Government of Spain in co- operation with UNESCO, the Conference adopted the Salamanca Statement on principles, policy and practice in special needs education and a framework for action (27 C/5, para. 01112).

8. In July 1994, an intersectoral programme on street and working children, co-ordinated by the Education Sector, was launched with a view to carrying out basic education activities related to the problems of drug abuse, the urban habitat, the prevention of AIDS and other aspects which affect the lives and well-being of street children; these activities will be implemented in close co-operation with grass-root NGOs and the mayors of important cities (27 C/5, para. 01109).

9. UNESCO’s work in basic education has been most effectively supported by fund-raising efforts of civil society in several countries, including notably Germany. Thanks to the exemplary efforts of UNESCO’s Good Will Ambassador, Ms Ute-Henriette Ohoven, close to $4million have been collected to date. These funds support educational emergency programmes for refugee education in Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Rwanda and Somalia They also help to provide basic education for street children in such countries as Guatemala, Mexico, Romania, Senegal or Viet Nam. Two pilot projects on increasing street children’s access to basic education are being implemented in the Philippines and Thailand (27 C/5, para. 01111).

10. As one of the outcomes of the April 1994 meeting of the UNESCO-UNICEF Joint Committee on Education, the two agencies agreed to ensure that the world leaders attending the Social Summit will be fully informed about the current situation of education in the world and especially in the least-developed countries. In this connection, the Executive Director of UNICEF and the Director-General of UNESCO have addressed a joint letter to all ministers of education requesting their good offices in having the most recent educational statistics sent promptly to the Secretariat. The regular UNESCO statistics questionnaire was dispatched two months earlier this year, and the UNESCO and UNICEF field offices were instructed to assist national authorities in this regard. UNESCO and UNICEF also sponsored a pilot survey on the conditions of primary schools in the least-developed countries to collect data on actual classroom conditions, the results of which will be communicated to the Social Summit, as well


as to the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, September 1995), and will be used in the mid-decade review of progress towards education for all (27 C/5, para. 01115).

11. A project to promote innovations in basic education carried out with the support of Germany, UNICEF, and UNDP, has made considerable strides since the 144th session of the Executive Board. It identified in a large number of developing countries, successful and affordable new approaches in primary education and non-formal programmes, especially for girls and women, which are adapted to local needs and offer solutions to the chronic problems of formal schooling in poor developing countries. These innovations are presented in a series of UNESCO documents entitled Education fur All: Making it Work, which are available in English, French and Arabic (27 C/5, para. 01134).

12. A second issue of Education for All: Status and Trends was published in September 1994 for the Secretariat of the International Consultative Forum on Education for All, the inter-agency mechanism established to promote and monitor Jomtien follow-up activities. This issue is part of UNESCO’s contribution to the Cairo Conference on Population and Development (September 1994) and to the World Summit on Social Development (Copenhagen, March 1995). The French and English versions were distributed to all Permanent Delegations and National Commissions, as well as to our partner organizations in the Jomtien alliance (27 C/5, para. 01115).

13. On International Literacy Day, 8 September 1994, three international literacy prizes were awarded to two governmental institutions and one school in recognition of their efforts to promote literacy. These were the National Centre for Literacy and Adult Education of Malawi and the IJnion nationale des femmes tunisiennes (UNFT), and the Loreto Day School at Sealdah, in the region of Calcutta (India), which was submitted by the Catholic International Education Office. I should particularly like to thank two of the sponsors, the International Reading Association and the Japanese publishing house Kodansha Ltd. (which funds the Noma Prize), for having increased the amount of their respective prizes from $10,000 to $15,000. The King Sejong Prize, which is sponsored by the Government of the Republic of Korea, still stands at $30,000 (27 C/5, para. 01115).

14. To mark the International Year of the Family, 1994, UNESCO organized a world symposium on family literacy at Headquarters (in October 1994) to review and strengthen family literacy work in different regions and settings. Sponsored by Gateway Education Products Ltd., the symposium brought together some 50 policy-makers, organizers of literacy programmes, and teachers and learners engaged in family literacy activities in all regions of the world (27 C/5, para. 01135).

15. The first session of the Advisory Committee for Regional Co-operation in Education in Africa was held in Dakar in March 1994. The Committee examined issues relating to Recommendations of MINEDAF VI, in particular literacy and basic education; renewal of science and technology education and project 2000+; problems, perspectives and role of higher education in Africa; and the preparatory work for the 44th session of the International Conference on Education (27 C/5, para. 01275).

16. UNESCO provided support to, and participated in, two subregional meetings of ministers of education: Consultation Meeting of Ministers of Education from Central and Eastern European Countries held in Sinaia (Romania) in June 1994 and Meeting of Ministers of Education from Portuguese-Speaking Countries held in Brasilia in August 1994 (27 C/5, para. 01275).


17. The second session of the Regional Programme for the Universalization and Renewal of Primary Education and the Eradication of Illiteracy in the Arab States was convened in Cairo in June 1994 immediately before the fifth Conference of Ministers of Education in the Arab States (MINEDARAB V), hosted by the Government of Egypt in Cairo in June 1994, with the co-operation of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO). Nineteen delegations, comprising 97 participants, led by ministers or ministerial representatives from the Arab States as well as 83 representatives and observers from the United Nations, Palestine, the Holy See, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and foundations attended the Conference which adopted a declaration including a number of recommendations to reach two priority objectives: the eradication of illiteracy with emphasis on the education of women and girls, and the inhabitants of remote rural and desert areas; and the improvement of quality of education. The Conference also reaffirmed the importance attached by Arab States to the education of the Palestinian people and the Arab inhabitants of the occupied Arab territories and welcomed UNESCO’s action in support of the Palestinian education system (27 C/5, para. 01108).

Education for the twenty-first century

18. Within the framework project 2000+: scientific and technological literacy for all, the following meetings were held: a regional expert meeting on science and technology education in Damascus, in May 1994 (organized by the UNESCO Office in Amman); a regional orientation seminar organized by the UNESCO Office in Dakar, in June 1994; an international meeting on the Schola Ludus: science and the public, in Bratislava, in June 1994; and an international symposium in San Juan (Puerto Rico), in August 1994, with the collaboration of the International Council of Associations for Science Education. A case-study on the promotion of scientific and environmental literacy through waste management in an urban community: a multimedia approach, was conducted in the Philippines between December 1993 and May 1994 (27 C/5, paras. 01212 and 01213).

19. Within the framework of the UNEVOC project, several case-studies on the role of technical and vocational education in the education systems were undertaken. A regional meeting was organized in Adelaide (Australia) in June 1994 on entrepreneurial skills for small business: exemplar curriculum documents. A first version of the UNEVOC Directory of national centres taking part in this network is ready for publication (27 C/5, para. 01223).

20. As a follow-up to the UNESCO regional planning seminar on AIDS and education, held in New Delhi in January 1994, during which national action plans in school-based AIDS education for the 12 participating countries (Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam) were developed. Technical assistance is provided to refine the national programmes and encourage their efficient implementation. UNESCO also provided assistance in the production and use of pedagogical materials (poster-exhibition kit, theatre performance, film festival, video film, slide-show projects) for the prevention of AIDS, emphasizing the socio-cultural aspects and cultural dimensions of AIDS prevention; the co-production of a pedagogical video film on school-based education, intended for Bulgarian schools; a slide-show for Tunisian youth health clubs; and the organization of a youth trainers workshop on AIDS prevention, in September 1994, in Lusaka, Zambia, to promote the involvement of youth in planning and implementing AIDS prevention programmes directed towards young people in both formal and non-formal settings. The following publications are currently under press: The impact of HIV/AIDS on the education system (a review of literature and experience intended for educational planners);

145 EXmVF.3 - page 5

AIDS - The relationship between substance abuse and increased risk of HIV infection: implications for education of young people in formal and non-formal settings (background document for educational planners and practitioners); School health education to prevent AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (a joint WHO/UNESCO resource package for curriculum planners).

Higher education

21. The UNITWIN project and UNESCO chairs scheme comprise at present 70 chairs and 21 networks, linking some 700 higher-education institutions and research centres, in over 70 Member States. The number of requests has grown from 129 to 145 since the last session of the Executive Board. A more balanced geographical distribution of projects was achieved as well as a broader coverage of fields, through the involvement and support of more sectors and units at Headquarters and in the field, including the extension of the network of UNESCO chairs of the Santander Group to Africa, the elaboration of project proposals by the NATURA group of agricultural universities for Africa, the establishment of the ORBICOM network of UNESCO chairs in communication, and the establishment of a network for biological sciences in Arab universities (27 C/5, par-a. 01236).

22. National Commissions are taking an active part in the initiation, support and evaluation of projects. Thus, the Australian National Commission initiated a regional conference devoted to support for a UNITWIN network in the Asia/Pacific region (August 1994, Sydney); the French National Commission set up a committee to examine and make recommendations concerning the project proposals submitted by the French higher-education institutions. Regular evaluation meetings are also held with the NGOs of higher education. The computerized data base for monitoring and evaluating the UNITWIN project continues to be updated and upgraded.

23. The fourth UNESCO/NGO Collective Consultation on Higher Education (September 1994) focused on higher education and capacity-building for the twenty-first century. Co- hosted by the United Nations University and attended by some 130 specialists from higher education worldwide including IGOs (such as the European Union, OECD, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth of Learning), the meeting examined the principal societal and economic issues related to advanced training and research, and their implications for the capacity-building process. The results will be made available to the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century and included in UNESCO’s contribution to the World Social Summit (27 C/5, para. 01238).

24. The International Recommendation on the Recognition of Studies and Qualifications in Higher Education, adopted at the twenty-seventh session of the General Conference, was disseminated to Member States. At the same time an appeal was addressed to those Member States which have not yet done so, to join the UNESCO Regional Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees in Higher Education. The total number of States having ratified the six UNESCO conventions in this field reached 113. The statutory meetings of the regional committees set up for the application of the above conventions to take place this biennium started with a meeting of the European Committee, organized by CEPES in Budapest in June 1994. Two more States, Azerbaijan and Lithuania, joined the above European Convention. A first draft of the Recommendation on the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel was elaborated by the Secretariat with the assistance of the Canadian National Commission for UNESCO, and was sent for consultation to IL0 and various NGOs of the teaching profession and to university associations (27 C/5, para. 02139).

.__ - l._._l_. ..--- l_ll_. .-.-_ . ..-.-.._-.- -. . ..-_.


25. The sixth ordinary session of the Joint ILOAJNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers (CEART) took place at ILO, Geneva, in July 1994. CEART’s attention was drawn to the decisions of the Executive Board (decision 5.2.3) and the General Conference (27 C/Resolution 1.16) requesting it to examine under its agenda item 5 (Consideration of recent trends and contemporary issues affecting education and teachers and their implications for the Recommendation) ways and means of updating and further implementing the 1966 Recommendation. The CEART’s report to the governing bodies of the two organizations will be submitted with the comments of the Director-General to the Executive Board at its 146th session (27 C/5, para. 01243).

World Education Report

26. The World Education Report 1993 has continued to receive favourable attention from the international community and the world’s media. Since the last session of the Executive Board, the Spanish edition, co-published with Santillana SA de Ediciones of Madrid, has appeared, and Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese and Russian editions are in preparation. The main themes of the 1995 report will be the education of women and girls and education for international understanding, peace and human rights (27 C/5, para. 01260).

27. The brochure Worldwide Action in Education is now available in all official languages of the Organization. The Education Sector has started to disseminate certain data bases on CD- ROM and is negotiating co-operative agreements with several international firms to reinforce the exchange of information (27 C/5, para. 01259).

Reconstruction of education systems

28. Meetings were held with education authorities in the occupied Arab territories and South Africa with a view to defining UNESCO support to their initiatives to develop education systems that respond to new political situations. Programmes for technical co-operation are being developed (for Palestine, see item 5.2.1 of the provisional agenda, document 145 EX/9) (27 C/5, para. 01265).

29. Technical support was provided to improve the mechanism of educational financing in China and followed up with an in-depth survey of the rural financing of education with extra- budgetary funds (TSS- 1).

30. To strengthen UNESCO’s humanitarian assistance, a Unit of Educational Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (ED/RER) was created in March 1994 with responsibility for implementing UNESCO’s Scheme of Humanitarian Assistance for Refugee Education (SHARE). UNESCO’s most recent activities in humanitarian assistance relating to education are presented below.

31. In the former Yugoslavia, four schools in Mostar and a ‘school to repair schools’ in Sarajevo are being built in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A school textbook needs assessment mission was undertaken to provide secondary schoolchildren with common core curriculum materials. In co-operation with the German National Commission, UNESCO is assisting the Austrian HOPE ‘87 activities for the provision of psycho-therapeutical care and vocational education and training to the war-disabled young people and amputees in Sarajevo, as well as necessary equipment and supplies in pursuance of generating multiplier effects. In Slovenia and Croatia, educational projects for refugees and displaced persons are being carried out. In Croatia, an elementary school was renovated in Ojisek and a prefabricated school was installed in the Gasinci centre for refugees and displaced children; they were provided with textbooks and reading materials, vocational training and desktop publishing equipment and training.


32. As regards Rwanda, in co-operation with UNICEF, UNESCO has launched an appeal in favour of emergency assistance for basic education for survival and peace. Major objectives include access to basic primary education for 500,000 school-age children; increase of teachers’ technical capacity; assistance to schools, parents and communities in the use of the school as an opportunity for peace; and increase of AIDS awareness and HIV preventive behaviour among youth. In addition, over $600,000 were allocated from the regular budget for emergency education activities, the preparation of the rehabilitation stage of education and/or radio broadcasting. Furthermore, at the Pledging Conference for Rwanda organized by the Department of Humanitarian Assistance in Geneva in August 1994, specific proposals were submitted in teacher training, production of teaching materials, skill training for the injured youth, and rehabilitation of school buildings.

33. UNESCO has agreed to co-operate with the Amar Appeal in the execution of the project Iraqi refugees in south-western Iran, using the funding provided by AGFUND and other donors. The agreement was signed by the Amar Appeals Chairperson, Ms Emma Nicholson (United Kingdom), and the Director-General of UNESCO on 22 October 1993. UNESCO fielded a mission on the spot to prepare a project document in March 1994 and contributed $50,000 to cover partly the cost of teacher salaries in the Iraqi refugee camps in the Islamic Republic of Iran. AGFUND pledged to contribute $200,000 to the project.

34. In March 1994, UNESCO took part in the United Nations inter-agency mission to the Caucasus which prepared the United Nations Inter-Agency Appeal for the Caucasus. It also organized a national educational round table and the preparation of the educational policy report in Armenia, the findings of which were presented in UNESCO Headquarters by the Armenian Vice-Minister of Education.

35. In co-operation with the BBC World Service, UNESCO introduced in Afghanistan the soap opera ‘New Home New Life’ in the Dari and Pashto languages. The Afghan scenario writers and actors are trained to develop episodes to help Afghans, in particular returned refugees, to improve their quality of life. Afghan musicians are also participating in the radio programme broadcast five times a week from Peshawar, Pakistan, to cover major areas of Afghanistan. The episodes have strong messages on education, hygiene, child care, drug prevention, skill training, nutrition, etc., and enjoy a high rate of audience as this is the only entertainment programme they have (27 C/5, para. 01273).

Co-operation for development

36. Project identification missions were undertaken to Eritrea, Bahrain, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Palestine and, in the case of the latter, some 14 project proposals were prepared for submission to various donors. Three missions were undertaken to Liberia as part of an education sector review in preparation for a round table on donor assistance to that country. Support was given to a national workshop on the reconstruction and decentralization of the Minisuy of Education in Zambia. A further eight of the 33 foreseen upstream activities were completed, totalling 19, with the remainder due to be completed by the end of 1994 (27 C/5, paras. 01701 and 01702).

Interdisciplinary project: ‘Environment and population education and information for human development’ (EPD)

37. At the end of June 1994, a framework agreement between UNDP and UNESCO was signed in New York by the Director-General of the Organization and the Administrator of UNDP, with a view to joint development of the EPD project in all regions. A regional

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environment and development programme in Asia and the Pacific was also approved by UNDP. The first UNESCO/UNEP meeting on phase IX of the International Environmental Education Programme (IEEP), which was held in Paris on 8 and 9 August 1994, discussed the implementation of the IEEP work plan. Work has also been started on the production of teaching materials, in the form of films and textbooks, on the interrelationship between population and environment issues, and also on a reference book on environmental and population education and information for human development. At the regional level, four Regional Offices (Dakar, Harare, Bangkok and Amman) organized workshops and fora, with the aim of alerting public opinion to the advantages of adopting an interdisciplinary approach to population, environmental and development issues (27 C/5, paras. 01302, 01305 and 01318).

MAJOR PROGRAMME AREA II

Co-operation in basic and engineering sciences

38. The fourth meeting of the Commission of the European Communities (CEC)/UNESCO Joint Committee on Science was held on 15 April 1994 at Headquarters. The European Commission has now more possibilities of co-operating with developing countries and international organizations; the scope of some activities, such as the Co-operation on Science and Technology programme and the AVICENNE initiative, has been extended beyond the 12 member countries and now includes countries in transition. UNESCO will interact closely with CEC on these programmes, especially regarding countries in Eastern Europe and in the Mediterranean region. Co-operation will also be reinforced in oceanography, hydrology and remote sensing. New initiatives will concern the environment, the European Network for Research and Global Change (ENRICH), Human Capital and Mobility, and Targeted Socio- Economic Research (TSER). Technical follow-up meetings were organized in ecology, hydrology and remote sensing.

39. Over the last six months, the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) has carried out the implementation of its regular programme of grants, fellowships, lectureships and awards in full collaboration with UNESCO. It also made substantial progress in building up an endowment fund: over $1.1 million was contributed by the Governments of China, India, Kuwait and Pakistan, and 13 other governments promised support (27 C/5, para. 02115).

40. In mathematics, the first year undergraduate calculus project has been completed. A new non-traditional approach for calculus teaching has been developed with emphasis on the use of computers for instruction and computation. Thirteen participants from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan and Palestine attended a workshop on modernization of the first-year calculus course, held in Ismailia, Egypt, in April 1994, in co-operation with the Suez Canal University. In addition, research and advanced training activities included the organization of six advanced seminars and distribution of didactic and software material, partly in connection with the project ‘Applied Mathematics and Informatics for Developing Countries’, financed from extra- budgetary resources (27 C/5, para. 02105). Support was provided to the Latin American Centre on Mathematics and Informatics to carry out the XI Coloquio Latinoamericano de Algebra, held in Mendoza, Argentina, in August 1994.

41. As a contribution to the UNESCO-sponsored International Mathematical Year 2000 of the International Mathematical Union, a joint co-operation programme has been initiated with the Office of External Activities of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP, Trieste), the International Centre for Pure and Applied Mathematics (CIMPA, Nice) and the


International Centre for Mechanical Sciences (CISM, Udine), with a view to facilitating the creation of advanced mathematical research and documentation centres, with priority to Africa (27 C/5, para. 02107).

42. UNESCO, IAEA and the Government of Italy set up a search party to identify the new Director of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics; on its recommendations, the Directors-General of UNESCO and IAEA offered the post to Professor Praveen Chaudhary, who is expected to start his work in January 1995 (27 C/5, para. 02108).

43. The recently established Physics Action Council (PAC) met for the first time in April 1994 and set up three ad hoc working groups, which will be supported by the international physics societies. The working group on large physics facilities will make recommendations on the appropriate mechanisms for opening large physics facilities and programmes to international collaboration; the working group on communication networks for science will study means for enhancing communications among all physicists with particular attention to electronic networks; the working group on university physics education will suggest ways and means by which UNESCO could foster international co-operation, with special attention to the very difficult situation of universities in developing countries and to new opportunities at universities in Central and Eastern Europe and the Republics of the former Soviet Union (27 C/5, para. 02108).

44. The International Institute of Theoretical and Applied Physics @TAP) first planning workshop, held in April 1994 at Iowa State University, aimed to enlist the world’s great educational and technology centres to foster scientific infrastructure growth in developing countries. The workshop presented the commitment to work with UNESCO, and to provide linkages for the developing world to United States universities and national laboratories. One of the first priorities was to build an international network of scientists to address important scientific research and education issues and to bridge existing gaps in knowledge and cross- cultural communication. Another was to start with a strong programme of workshops covering such topics as modelling with large-scale facilities and distance education.

45. Under the Arab States Physics Education project, a new approach was developed for teaching first-year university physics, so as to motivate the introduction of physical concepts and also to provide an immediate sense of their applications and significance. A workshop on modernization of first-year physics courses, held in Ismailia, Egypt, in April 1994, in co- operation with the Suez Canal University, was attended by 31 participants from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and the United Arab Emirates; it approved the accommodation of the UNESCO physics course in some Egyptian and Arab universities. Within the project UNESCO University Foundation Course in Physics in Asia, a core unit of learning materials (including textbook, laboratory manual and guidance, video tapes and microcomputer software) and three modules (on chaos, the sun, lasers) have been completed. About 100 physics teachers from South-East Asia attended workshops on innovation in physics teaching, and about 400 physics teachers/students attended the Conference on Physics Education in the Philippines (27 C/5, para. 02105). Support was provided to the Latin American Physics Centre to carry out the IVth meeting on solid state physics and the physics exchange programme in Uruguay (27 C/5, para. 02 108).

46. Support was provided for the course on advanced molecular biology of parasitic protozoa, organized at the University of S%o Paulo, Brazil, in July 1994. The eighth Asian Symposium on Medicinal Plants and Spices in Melaka, Malaysia, co-sponsored by the UNESCO Office in Jakarta, attracted 270 participants from 32 countries. Meetings of the


Asian Co-ordinating Group for Chemistry and Botany 2000-Asia were held at the symposium venue (27 C/5, paras. 02109, 02110).

47. At the Executive Committee meeting of COSTED - International Biosciences Network, held in conjunction with a seminar on the role of science in food production in Africa (Accra, April 1994), a strategy was formulated for the development of basic sciences in close collaboration with the Grganization’s Offices in Asia, Africa, the Arab States, and Latin America and the Caribbean. A project on ‘Nitrogenase for Africa’ concerning biological nitrogen-futation is initiated in collaboration with ICSU and FA0 (27 C/5, paras. 021 lo- 02113).

48. The UNESCO Office in Cairo co-sponsored and participated in the workshop on agro- industrial utilization, organized in Damascus by FA0 in March 1994. Participants from Cyprus, Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic presented country papers and drafted a joint project document to be submitted to funding agencies (27 C/5, para. 02112).

49. For the January-August 1994 period and through the Biotechnology Action Council and the UNESCO Microbial Resources Centres (MIRCENs) network, a total of 70 short-term fellowships in microbial, plant, aquatic and environmental biotechnologies were awarded to young research scientists, including 12 women researchers, from all regions. Gifts of technical literature and laboratory manuals were made available to libraries in six developing countries and to biotechnological research institutes in 23 developing countries. The twelfth MIRCENs African regional meeting was held in September 1994, in Harare, Zimbabwe. A workshop on recombinant DNA techniques and its application in biotechnology, held at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Nairobi, in June 1994, was attended by 12 participants from Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda (paras. 02105, 0211 l- 02112).

50. Within the framework of the project on learning/teaching materials in engineering sciences, the first volume devoted to solar electricity was published and 11 other titles are in print to be available for developmental testing in universities of developing countries by the end of 1995. A review of programme activities in engineering, technology and informatics in the South-East Asia-Pacific region has been undertaken in order to reflect the rapid technological change taking place in this region, as well as the new needs and opportunities arising there (27 C/5, para. 02106).

5 1. The sixth summer school ‘Solar electricity for rural and remote areas’ was organized in July 1994 at Headquarters, in close co-operation with the Haut Conseil de la Francophonie, the French Agency for Environment and Energy, the National Commission, the National Council for Scientific Research and the French company, Service Ingenierie, Developpement et Formation, as well as with the General Directorates I, XII and XVII of the Commission of the European Communities. Thirty five experts and decision-makers from Algeria, Cambodia, Chad, France, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal and Tunisia improved their knowledge for prospects of renewable energies and paid technical visits to advanced French and Spanish industries. Three women specialists from the least-developed countries benefited from this course. A learning package was specifically designed and published in French as supporting material for the course (27 C/5, para. 02117).

52. An East-West European seminar on technology transfer from university to industry was jointly organized by the Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Educational Research and UNESCO at Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, in May 1994. Leading


engineering universities of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia were represented by their Rector or Vice-Rector. More than 60 participants attended and decided to create several university-industry partnership (UNISPAR) working groups in different regions.

53. By way of follow-up to the co-operation agreement signed in October 1983 with the National Confederation of Industry of Brazil (CNI) and the Confederation’s National Service for Industrial Apprenticeship, the International Centre for Education, Information and Technology Transfer was inaugurated in Rio de Janeiro in October 1994. The Organization should engage in active co-operation with this new centre.

54. The evaluation of the UNESCO Office in Nairobi training activities in maintenance of scientific equipment in educational and research institutions was completed and the relevant report fulalized (27 C/5, paras. 02105, 02114). The preparation for the first training course on R&D management and commercialization of research results of the Arab Regional Training Network for Science and Technology Management was completed after the meeting of the supervisory committee of the network which took place in Cairo, in April 1994. The training course will take place in Bahrain, in November 1994, with the financial support from the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (27 C/5, para. 02114). In Latin America, two UNESCO chairs were established: one on university-industry links, at the University of Buenos Aires, and the other on engineering evaluation, at the University of Santiago.

55. A meeting was organized in Monsaraz, Portugal, in June 1994, to reflect on the place in UNESCO’s programme of issues relating to science, technology and society, as a follow-up to resolution 2.1 of the twenty-seventh session of the General Conference. Jointly organized by UNESCO and the Portuguese National Commission, the participants came to the conclusion that a future programme should ‘assist in bringing to light policy options for the governance and management of science and technology systems in the new context (and) contribute to promote prospective thinking based on analyses and debate on future trends resulting from, or required by, science and technology advances’ (27 C/5, para. 02116).

56. Two missions (one in co-operation with UNIDO) were carried out in Zambia, with a view to strengthening the Department of Science and Technology and defining the national science and technology policy in this Member State.

57. A meeting on Thematic Scientific Networks in Latin America (COSTED-IBN) was organized in Santiago, Chile, in June 1994, by the Latin American Network of Biological Sciences and the Chilean Academy of Sciences with the UNESCO Office in Montevideo. Agreements were reached concerning the establishment and integration of networks, and the members of the provisional regional co-ordinating committee were elected (27 C/5, par-a. 02 105).

58. A workshop on efforts to relink expatriate Latin American scientists with their countries of origin was held in Santiago, Chile, in June 1994. Organized by the Chilean Academy of Sciences and the UNESCO Office in Montevideo, the workshop objectives were to compile information on the efforts made by Latin American countries to relink their scientists residing abroad and to promote their return; co-ordinate the policies of the various countries in order to enable the whole region to benefit from the experience and knowledge of a high number of expatriated Latin American scientists; promote regional policies aimed at identifying scientists working in developed countries, and relinking them to their countries of origin. The report of the expert meeting to discuss the draft national report ‘Brain drain in Russia: problems, perspectives and ways of regulation’ was officially presented in May 1994 to the Govemment


of the Russian Federation which was examining the urgent measures aimed at decreasing brain drain (27 C/5, para. 02116).

59. The first issue of the World Science Report was published in French in June 1994, joining the English version which was launched in February 1944, in Nairobi, at a specially convened symposium on science and technology in Africa. The Report is enjoying good sales over and above an extensive distribution of complimentary copies. Negotiations have proved successful for the publication by outside organizations of the Arabic, Chinese and Russian versions of the Report. A meeting of an ad hoc editorial group was held in July 1994 to advise the Secretariat on the content and preparation of the next issue of the Report, scheduled for publication in late 1995 (27 C/5, para. 02116).

60. A meeting of experts involved in the implementation of the national information initiative in the United States (known as ‘information superhighway’) took place in New York, in June 1994, and was invited by the Director-General to advise him on a ‘UNESCO Scientific Channel’ - a delivery system that could, through the use of modem communication means, alleviate the isolation of scientists from developing countries, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. UNESCO was advised to develop a global system of scientific communication, using INTERNET, CD-ROM, electronic publishing and archiving, tele-conferences.

61. The Scientific American Award Service of Science in the Cause of Man was presented to Dr Maurice Goldsmith, President of the International Science Policy Foundation, United Kingdom, in April 1994.

Environment and development

62. The Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States took place in Barbados from 25 April to 6 May 1994. It was addressed, among others, by 15 Heads of State or Government. The main result of the Conference is a Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States. In addition to its participation in all official meetings and to the preparation of briefings for conference delegates and journalists, the Secretariat presented three exhibits on: Environment and Development, UNESCO and the Oceans, and Education for Sustainable Living. The publication UNESCO- Island Agenda was prepared specifically for this event. The Director-General has decided that a comprehensive intersectoral plan of follow-up action to the Conference be prepared, based on a careful analysis of the Barbados Programme of Action by the relevant programme units (27 C/5, para. 02208).

63. The Secretariat also participated in the second session of the intergovernmental Commission on Sustainable Development - CSD (New York, 16-27 May 1994), which was attended by a large number of ministers, other high-level officials from governments and intemational organizations, as well as by a significant number of NGOs. It contributed to the preparation of reports by the Secretary-General to the 1994 session, the major topical focus being on the freshwater issue. CSD recommended that the activities of the United Nations system in this area be strengthened. It also requested that a global assessment of freshwater resources be prepared, with a view to determining the availability of these resources, making projections of future needs and identifying issues. While the overall responsibility for carrying out this global assessment of freshwater resources has been entrusted to the Administrative Co-ordination Committee (ACC) Subcommittee on Freshwater, UNESCO’s contribution will be particulxly significant (27 C/5, para. 02208).


64. The Secretariat participated in the fourth session of the Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development (IACSD), held in Geneva (14-16 June 1994) and focusing mainly on the United Nations system-wide arrangements for preparing the third session of CSD in 1995. As task manager for Chapter 35 of Agenda 21 entitled ‘Science for sustainable development’, UNESCO, in collaboration with other agencies concerned, is preparing elements for the Secretary-General’s report on this issue to the 1995 session. The UNESCO Office in Jakarta was the host of the fifth meeting of the Regional Inter-Agency Committee on Environment and Development for Asia and the Pacific chaired by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific - ESCAP (31 May-l June 1994), which focused on defining indicators for environmentally sound and sustainable development (27 C/5, para. 02209).

65. The fifth and final session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Convention to Combat Desertification took place at UNESCO Headquarters from 6 to 17 June 1994. The Committee reached consensus on a convention text. In addressing the Committee, the Director-General highlighted UNESCO’s long experience in arid lands research and expressed the Organization’s commitment to support fully the implementation of the Convention. Following the invitation by the French Government and UNESCO, the signing events of the Convention will take place at UNESCO Headquarters on 14 and 15 October 1994 (27 C/5, para. 02209).

66. Under the International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP) a review committee meeting took place in Germany in January 1994 to advise on the reordering of IGCP priorities in response to changes that had occurred in the earth sciences since the inception of the programme 22 years ago (27 C/5, para. 02213).

67. A regional IGCP meeting was held in Recife, Brazil, in August 1994, with the participation of representatives of national committees from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela. Support was provided to the 1994 meetings of IGCP projects ‘Andean lithosphere evolution’ and ‘Laurentian-Gondwanan connections’ (27 C/5, para. 02213).

68. The UNESCO Office in Nairobi contributed to the IGCP project ‘The Mozambique and related belts’. An international field conference was held in August 1994 in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, with 35 participants from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Ethiopia, Germany, Italy, Kenya, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe (27 C/5, para. 02213).

69. The UNESCO Offices in Cairo, Jakarta, Nairobi and Montevideo organized and/or co- sponsored 18 meetings or courses on environmental geology, natural hazard zonation, earthquake hazard assessment, remote sensing and land-use planning, and geoscientic information systems (27 C/5, para. 02216).

70. The first regional IGCP meeting was held in Cairo in May 1994, in co-operation with the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, the Ministry of Petroleum and the Geological Survey, and co-sponsored by the UNESCO Office in Cairo. It was attended by 82 participants from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Sudan, Tunisia and the United States (27 C/5, para. 02213).

7 1. The UNESCO Office in Cairo, in co-operation with the Egyptian Environmental and Remote Sensing Services Centre, organized a training course on geographic information system and remote sensing in Cairo, in March 1994, for 28 participants from Egypt. The main


training activities in earth sciences consisted in the preparation of five postgraduate courses, three of which have taken place. A training seminar and a meeting of experts were held in Oradea (Romania) on applications of geothermal energy (27 C/5, para. 02217).

72. The second version of the Directory of geoscience schools/departments of universities and national committees and focal points of the International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP): ktin America and the Caribbean, was published in August 1994. The dummies of the Tectonic Map of Europe have been finalized for printing in the Federation of Russia. Work continues for the preparation of the dummies of the Metamorphic Map of North America and of the Tectonic Map of Africa. The Symposium Geoprospective, organized with the Ecole nationale supCrieure des Mines de Paris and other scientific institutions, as well as the General Assembly of the Commission for the Geological Map of the World were held at UNESCO Headquarters (27 C/5, paras. 02214 and 02216).

73. A steering committee meeting of the UNESCO/IUGS programme ‘Geological Applications of Remote Sensing (GARS)’ was held in Manila, in May 1994. Within the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR), a regional training course for instructors of volcanological observers, held in September 1994 in Yogyakarta, was attended by participants from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines; the purpose of the course was to train the teachers of observers on how to react appropriately in case of a volcano eruption. Also within IDNDR, an investigation of deep lakes in volcanic areas of Indonesia was initiated at an international encounter of volcanologists, held in Bandung, in July 1994. The objective was to elucidate the probability of a lirnnic eruption with strong CO, release, like the one which occurred in 1986 in Lake Nyos, Cameroon, and killed over 1,700 people (27 C/5, para. 02218).

74. The international workshop on seismotectonics and seismic hazards in South-East Asia was held in Hanoi, in January-February 1994, as part of the UNESCOKJNDP project ‘Establishment of the seismic network in Viet Nam’, with support from the French Government and international scientific organizations. UNESCO co-sponsored and participated in a workshop on earthquake hazard assessment of the gulf of the Aqaba region in co-operation with the United States Geological Service and the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre. The workshop, held in Taba, Egypt, in April 1994, was attended by 20 participants from Egypt, France, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States, as well as Palestinians (27 C/5, para. 022 18). Support was provided for the attendance of participants from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, to the Regional Seismological Assembly in South America, organized by the Regional Centre of Seismology for South America, Brasilia, in August 1994 (27 C/5, para. 02219).

75. UNESCO participated in the World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction which was held in Yokohama, in May 1994. The Conference was convened by the United Nations under the theme ‘A safer world for the twenty-first century’ in order to mark the mid-term of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR, 1990-2000). The Conference adopted two documents: the Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action for a safer world: guidelines for natural disaster prevention, preparedness and mitigation; and the Yokohama Message. These documents reaffirm the need to develop a global culture of prevention and to shift emphasis from post-disaster reaction to pre-disaster action. The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) endorsed the Yokohama Plan of Action in July 1994 and recommended its adoption by the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session. UNESCO was one of the few United Nations organizations and Specialized Agencies which has been party to the process leading to, and including, the Conference. The Yokohama


message (disaster prevention is better than disaster response) is in line with UNESCO’s mission. The Organization could become a lead agency in the follow-up to Yokohama: the scientific study of natural hazards and of the mitigation of their effects should be pursued; the interdisciplinary initiatives on integrated natural disaster management could be spearheaded by UNESCO in co-operation with the United Nations and NGO partners under IDNDR, including the elaboration of information and educational materials (27 C/5, para. 02219).

76. ‘Activities regarding the preparation of the International Conference on Biosphere Reserves (Seville, March 1995) included the convening of an ad hoc programme committee; the preparation of draft statutes for the international network of biosphere reserves by a group of legal specialists; and a meeting of the Bureau of the MAB International Co-ordinating Council to discuss the draft Seville Action Plan for Biosphere Reserves. Regional meetings to prepare the Conference included: two meetings of the Latin American network under the Programu Iberoamericano de Ciencia y Tecnologia para el Desarollo in Guadalajara (Mexico) and Isla San And& (Colombia); two meetings for the Co-operative Study of the Biosphere Reserves of East Asia in Beijing and Changbaishan Biosphere Reserve (China); and the seminar for the managers of biosphere reserves in Europe held in the CCvennes Biosphere Reserve (France) (27 C/5, para. 02228).

77. A computer&d information network is being developed for biosphere reserves in Belarus, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine, in liaison with a World Bank project funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). UNESCO’s role in promoting the aims of the Convention on Biological Diversity has been emphasized through the support for the second meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Convention held in Nairobi, in June 1994, and its co-sponsorship with the French authorities and ICSU of the International Forum on biodiversity, science and development: towards a new partnership, organized by the International Union of Biological Sciences and held at UNESCO Headquarters in September 1994. For this forum, the exhibition prepared by the Secretariat included a series of prototype wall charts aimed at informing young people on issues relating to biodiversity. The Secretariat also participated in several technical meetings to prepare the UNEP Global Biodiversity Assessment funded under GEF (27 C/5, para. 02228).

78. Support was provided to the Executive Secretariat of the Association of Universities- Montevideo Group (AUGM) for the exchange programme of professors and researchers between universities in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay; the establishment of a UNESCO chair on environmental basic sciences at the University of Asuncion (Paraguay); and the first AUGM seminar on environment (Asuncion, June 1994) (27 C/5, para. 02105).

79. A study was carried out on sustainable development and management of biodiversity in the North of the Tropical Andes, with a view to analysing and evaluating the Merida Range as a case-study, thus culminating several years of intensive work in the Mountain Programme of the Venezuelan Centre of Ecological Research of the Tropical Andes (27 C/5, para. 02231). The fir-st phase of a research training programme for 1994-1995 was undertaken in the framework of the collaboration between the International Centre for Tropical Studies/Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research and UNESCO (27 C/5, paras. 02229 and 02231).

80. In order to consolidate the biosphere reserve network, a co-operative programme on East Asian biosphere reserves (including China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Japan and Mongolia) has been launched; two meetings of participating countries were organized in the Wolong and Changbaishan Biosphere Reserves in China, in


March and August 1994, respectively. The meetings addressed such important issues as tourism regulation in biosphere reserves and undertook field reviews of the two biosphere reserves mentioned (27 C/5, para. 02232). Support to building infrastructure and staff training was also made available to the Komodo National Park, a site recognized by UNESCO as a biosphere reserve and a world heritage site. With regard to the ‘People and plants’ initiative of MAB, the UNESCO Office in Jakarta and WWF-Indonesia launched a co-operative project to investigate the ‘Traditional plant resource use by indigenous people in the Kayan-Mentarang nature reserves, Kalimantan, Indonesia’. The project is expected to provide valuable ethnobotanical information applicable to strengthening the participation of local people in the management of the Kayan-Mentarang nature reserve, part of which would be proposed as a biosphere reserve (27 C/5, para. 02243). Other salient activities of the UNESCO Office in Jakarta included support for research and information dissemination activities on sustainable use of forests and environmental education in Papua New Guinea; publication of an annotated bibliography on rehabilitation of degraded forests in Asia and the Pacific; and the organization of an information synthesis workshop on the use of dipterocarps for the rehabilitation of degraded forest lands.

81. The regional seminar on geo-information for environmentally sound management of biosphere reserves, held in the Amboseli Biosphere Reserve, Kenya, in April 1994, brought together 40 participants from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda. The main results included demonstration of the Kenyan experience of using modern geo-information technologies in improving biosphere reserve management and the possibility of transfer of GIS techniques, with regional/country modifications, within the framework of a regional project on biosphere reserves for Anglophone Africa (27 C/5, para. 02232).

82. The fast regional training course for desertification control technicians from the Southern Africa Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC) countries was organized in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, in June 1994. The 22 participants from eight Member States (Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe) proposed to set up a pilot programme of ecological co-operation on arid and semi- arid lands, that will include a network of ecological data exchange and storage; establish with the assistance of UNESCO and donor agencies a regional integrated training course along the lines of the FAPIS project carried out in the Sahel region by UNESCO; prepare an annotated bibliography on desertification in SADCC; carry out an inventory of the work done so far in desertification control in SADCC; and review the overall training module developed for the course for wide dissemination. The meeting, to which UNEP contributed, also enabled the participants to present research activity reports (27 C/5, para. 02229).

83. The UNESCO Office in Brasilia has started to implement a co-operation project with the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of the Environment and Amazonia, and with the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Natural Resources. This project, which is funded by the Brazilian Government, is concerned with the implementation of sustainable development projects in humid and coastal tropical ecosystems.

84. The UNESCO Office in Doha, in co-operation with the Faculty of Science, University of Qatar, organized the Gulf symposium on environmental biology in May 1994. The meeting, attended by 32 participants from Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, adopted a set of recommendations for strengthening the awareness of environmental issues in the region. In addition, a national training workshop on environment and environmental awareness was organized, in co-operation with the Faculties of Science and Humanities of the University of Qatar, in May 1994. It was attended by 20 specialists from the


media, municipalities and ports, who were trained on dealing with environmental issues and on dissemination of environmental awareness through their work (27 C/5, paras. 02231 and 02233).

85. The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) produced a manual on nutrient analysis in tropical marine waters and three others on national information services. In the series UNESCO Reports in Marine Sciences, reports were issued on sandy coast monitoring, mud volcanism and ichtyoplankton studies. A book entitled Coastal zone space - Prelude to conflict? was also published (27 C/5, paras. 02243-02246).

86. Twelve research grants were awarded to young scientists from Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay in the areas of red tides, dynamics of coastal lagoons, estuaries and wetlands, relationships between coastal processes and global change, within the COMAR/COSALC VII Research Grant Programme for Young Scientists (27 C/5, paras. 02247-02250).

87. In June-July 1994, the ‘Floating University’ completed a series of four yearly training- through-research cruises to study the geological structure and history of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Discoveries made included gigantic fields of underwater mud volcanoes, one being named after UNESCO. Over the 1992-1994 period, more than 30 universities and research institutions from over 20 countries of Europe, Arab States and Latin America sent their professors and students to participate in this endeavour, co-sponsored by the European Science Foundation. In August 1994, the second ‘Baltic Floating University’ cruise studied environment degradation in the Gulf of Finland, this adding another geographical and subject dimension to the project. In addition, a training-through-research expedition took place in the coastal zone of the White Sea in July 1994 (COMAR-NORTH project).

88. The UNESCO Office in Doha, in co-operation with the Meteorology and Environmental Protection Administration, King Abdulaziz University, organized a symposium on the Red Sea marine environment in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in April 1994. The meeting attended by 118 participants from Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, included the presentation of scientific papers on the Red Sea environment, and new data and research methods; it adopted a set of recommendations aimed at fostering research work on the Red Sea and reviving activities of the regional organizations (27 C/5, paras. 02247-02250).

89. A consultant visited the countries of the Western Indian Ocean region (Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles and the United Republic of Tanzania) in order to discuss with the scientists in the respective countries the possible implementation of the Coastal Erosion Pilot Study Programme; assist national institutions in establishing an interdisciplinary national coastal erosion task team; and advise these countries on the identification and selection of suitable sites for the implementation of the respective projects (June-July 1994). Scientists and national authorities expressed serious concell about the threat of coastal erosion, particularly in relation to tourism-related investments and communication infrastructures; they showed keen interest in participating in the programme, subject to availability of external assistance (27 C/5, para. 0225 1).

90. The Director-General has continued the preparation of improved arrangements for IOC, so as to increase its ability to respond to the needs of its Member States. These arrangements are based on precedents established for the IBE and the IIEP. They have been endorsed by the IOC Executive Council. A trial period is planned for 1995, involving only the present IOC Trust Fund (27 C/5, paras. 0225 l-02256).

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91. The Bureau of the Intergovernmental Council of the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) held its twenty-first session at Headquarters in April 1994. It reviewed the stage of implementation of the projects of the present phase of IHP (1990- 1995) and considered the preparation of the fifth phase of MP (1996-2001). The Bureau adopted a report prepared by a UNESCO/WMO/ICSU task group related to the co-ordination of the hydrological programmes of the three organizations. The Bureau adopted the terms of reference of the external evaluation of IHP, decided by the twenty-seventh session of the General Conference and established the composition of the evaluation team, which met at UNESCO Headquarters in June 1994. A questionnaire was sent to all IHP National Committees, National Commissions for UNESCO and governmental and non-governmental organizations co-operating with UNESCO to request their evaluation of IHP by considering the last ten years. The replies to the questionnaire will contribute to the preparation of an evaluation report, a preliminary version of which would be considered at the eleventh session of the IHP Intergovernmental Council in January 1994 (27 C/5, para. 02273).

92. A major project was launched on the use of archival sources for climate history research; it is executed jointly with the International Council on Archives and WMO. The project was initiated in Central America with funding from Canada, after the successful completion of a pilot phase in Europe (27 C/5, para. 02267).

93. Within the (IHP) Humid Tropics Hydrology Programme, a workshop on Pacific water sector planning research and training was held in Honiara, Solomon Islands, in co-operation with the United Nations Department of Development Support and Management Services and the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission. The French and Australian authorities sponsored the workshop - the first event under the aegis of UNESCO in Honiara since the Solomon Islands joined the Organization in 1993. About 70 participants representing natural and social scientists, senior water resource specialists, water engineers and managers from 17 countries attended the workshop. The workshop requested UNESCO to co-ordinate applied research projects and training into key hydrology and water resource issues in the Pacific island nations (27 C/5, paras. 02268-02269).

94. The Danube Information System was set up and a training seminar in Croatia was held with financial support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF)/UNDP. The second four- month international training course on water-related information systems was designed for participants from developing countries, supported by the Belgian Ministry for Development and Co-operation, in collaboration with the University of Brussels. A similar training course was held at the Russian Institute ‘Typhoon’, and the bibliographic data base CHERN, installed in the same institute, will provide information and references on the impact of the Chernobyl accident on water quality. In co-operation with the Indonesian IHP National Committee and financial support from Japan, a training course on small islands and coastal hydrology was held in Bekasi, in October 1994. In co-operation with the Institute for Hydrospheric-Atmospheric Sciences, Nagoya University, Japan, the fourth IHP training course was organized in Nagoya, in August-September 1994, with funding from Japan (27 C/5, para. 02270).

95. A working group meeting on Geographical Information Systems (GIS) applications to water management was held in collaboration with the University of Cagliari, Italy, in order to work out standardized GIS methodologies in hydrology. A FAO/UNESCO programme aimed to develop a GIS-based tool for the assessment of water resources at continental scale, following the relevant decision of the Intergovernmental Commission on Sustainable Development at its second session; activities in 1994-1995 will focus on Africa. An international UNESCO symposium on water resources planning in a changing world was held


in Karlsruhe as a contribution to Agenda 21; its proceedings were edited by the IHP National Committee of Germany (27 C/5, para. 02270).

96. With the support of Italy an international conference on the bio-bio basin and marine coastal areas (Chile) was held. Another one was held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on the state- of-the-art of river engineering; the proceedings of this East-West encounter, the fast ever held in this area, were published in three volumes. Concurrently, a workshop on reservoir sedimentation was organized by the International Co-ordination Committee on Reservoir Sedimentation with a view to designing co-operation with UNESCO within the framework of IHP. With the support of Germany an international symposium on the water quality of estuaries was held in Hamburg; in Braunschweig computer-assisted learning methods were discussed, while in Gelsenkirchen the issues of integrated water management in urban areas were debated (27 C/5, para. 02270).

97. A regional workshop on water resources assessment and integrated management - water supply and pollution control, was held in Hanoi, in November 1994. It was jointly organized by UNESCO and UNEP, with the participation of the World Bank. In the Arab region, UNESCO co-sponsored the international postgraduate training course on environmental hydrology, held in Cairo, during May and June 1994, in co-operation with the Egyptian IHP National Committee and the Egyptian Society for Irrigation Engineers; 18 participants from Bahrain, Egypt, Ethiopia, Oman, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen were trained (27 C/5, para. 02272).

98. The first five data bases of the Latin American and Caribbean hydrological cycle and water resources observation and information system (LACHYCOS) were developed jointly with the World Bank (27 C/5, para. 02273).

MAJOR PROGRAMME AREA III

World Decade for Cultural Development

99. The mid-term review of the World Decade for Cultural Development, prepared by the Director-General of UNESCO at the request of the United Nations General Assembly, was examined by the Intergovernmental Committee of the Decade in April 1994, and by ECOSOC in July 1994. It will be forwarded to the forty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly together with the ECOSOC recommendations. These invite Member States, governmental and international non-governmental organizations, as well as organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, to concentrate efforts on large-scale interdisciplinary projects of a regional and interregional scope, to encourage the formation of different types of partnerships for their implementation and to find appropriate ways to integrate cultural factors in all endeavours aiming at social and economic development, particularly in the implementation of the International Development Strategy for the fourth United Nations Development Decade. Interest in this area was also confirmed at the Inter- Agency Steering Committee meeting of the World Decade, held in New York on 22 July 1994, which gave rise to an encouraging debate on possible joint ventures to include cultural factors in development initiatives (27 C/5, para. 03005).

100. The Indonesian National Commission, in co-operation with the Secretariat of the World Decade, organized a conference in Yogyakarta, in August 1994, on the socio-cultural context of family planning in Asia. Representatives of the nine most populous nations of Asia met to seek ways of better understanding the socio-cultural factors that inform demographic


behaviour, and their implications for the formulation and implementation of population policies and programmes. The recommendations of the meeting were transmitted to the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in September 1994 (27 C/5, para. 03007).

101. The first phase of the project, organized jointly by the Thai National Cultural Commission and the Secretariat of the World Decade concerning the creation of an Asian network of researchers working on the cultural dimension of development, brought researchers from nine participating Member States in Asia to a one-week intensive workshop in Chiang Mai, Thailand (29 August-4 September 1994). The workshop included both the presentation of national case-studies, field visits to projects incorporating the cultural dimension in development, and the elaboration of research guidelines (27 C/5, para. 03007).

102. The World Day for Cultural Development was celebrated in many countries on 21 May 1994. The main activity undertaken by UNESCO in a Member State for the World Day celebration this year was an international seminar on culture and development, organized in Harare by the Zimbabwe National Commission, in co-operation with the UNESCO Office in Harare and the Secretariat of the World Decade. The seminar brought together some 45 participants and observers, mainly from the Africa region, to examine the links between socio- cultural factors and development, with particular reference to Africa. Organized in collaboration with the Intemational Theatre Institute, a meeting on theatre today and new social connections was also held at UNESCO Headquarters in May 1994, highlighting different approaches to theatre in different socio-cultural contexts, especially as a vehicle to ‘give voice to the voiceless’. In the course of the meeting’s prockedings, August0 Boal, Armand Cotti and Jean Duvignaud were awarded the UNESCO Picasso Medal. On 9 May 1994 musicians from various countries participated in a Music of the World concert at UNESCO Headquarters. The Great Music Experience, the first in a series of seven international concert/television events to be organized each year in celebration of the World Day for Cultural Development was held in Nara in May 1994; the concert was broadcast in over 50 countries, with a worldwide potential television audience of some 500 million viewers. A new, 32-page, richly illustrated brochure to present the World Decade for Cultural Development, named Rethinking Development, was published in English, French and Spanish and widely distributed (27 C/5, para. 03006).

103. In the period between Board sessions, the World Commission on Culture and Development held a working meeting in Paris from 30 June to 2 July 1994. On this occasion, the revised draft preliminay outline of its report was discussed by the Commission, which decided to give it a slightly different emphasis. A new outline is now being prepared. In view of the state of progress of the Commission’s work and the considerable amount of documentation submitted to it for analysis, the Director-General, after consultation with the President of the Commission, decided to reinforce its Secretariat by placing it under the authority of the Assistant Director-General for the Culture Sector with effect from 1 August 1994 (27 C/5, paras. 03010-03012).

Preservation and presentation of the world heritage

104. Since the 144th session of the Board, five new Member States (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan and Myanmar) have ratified the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, thereby increasing the number’of States Parties to 139. At its eighteenth session, held at Headquarters from 4 to 9 July 1994, the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee noted with great satisfaction the significant progress made in implementing the Convention in a number of areas (27 C/5, para. 03106).


105. The eighth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation was held at UNESCO Headquarters in May 1994. Among other things, the Committee encouraged UNESCO to pursue the training activities in connection with measures to implement the 1970 Convention against illicit trafficking in cultural property organized through regional and national workshops over the past two years. The Committee stressed the need to ensure that dealers in cultural property respect the rules of professional ethics, in order to protect the most vulnerable archaeological monuments and sites from looting and dismantling. In this context, the Director-General sent a circular letter to 150 museum officials, collectors and art dealers to warn them of the need to be extremely cautious when acquiring Afghan art works since many of them had been stolen from the Kabul Museum (27 C/5, para. 03 111).

106. With respect to co-operation with Cambodia for the implementation of the 1970 Convention, two training seminars were organized in the country, with the co-operation of the French police, for the Cambodian police officers responsible for protecting the monuments at the Angkor site and for setting up the future Interpol unit in Phnom Penh. The Director- General is submitting his report on the safeguarding operations for the Angkor site to the Executive Board in document 145 EX/25 (27 C/5, para. 03111).

107. In connection with the international campaign for the safeguarding of HuC, the Rhcne- Poulenc company embarked on operations aimed at eliminating the termites attacking the timber supporting pillars of the imperial city of HuC. A UNESCO/Rh&e-Poulenc technical mission composed of six specialists visited Hanoi and HuC for this purpose in October 1994. Among promotional activities, an exhibition on the international campaign for HuC and the heritage of Hanoi was mounted in the Main Lobby of the United Nations from 10 June to 1 July 1994. There are plans to take the exhibition to other cities in the United States (27 C/5, para. 03 112).

108. The eleventh session of the Executive Committee for the Moenjodaro Campaign took place at Headquarters in June 1994. Attention is drawn to Recommendation I adopted by the Executive Committee which expresses inter alia satisfaction that under the review and evaluation of the Campaign a revised overall plan for the site is being produced, having particular regard to the relationship between the preservation and development of Moenjodaro as an archaeological site and as a cultural tourism facility; this plan includes an action plan setting out the specific steps to be taken, the work to be accomplished and cost estimates to complete the Campaign. The recommendation also urges governments, public and private organizations and persons to provide the additional support necessary to enable the Government of Pakistan to complete the Campaign. The Director-General relaunched the Sri Lanka International Safeguarding Campaign in the Brussels Exhibition, on 22 March 1994. The Organization also sent an advisory mission to look into the situation of the cultural heritage in Eritrea (27 C/5, para. 03 112). I

109. The eighth session of the Executive Committee for the International Campaign for the Establishment of the Nubia Museum in Aswan and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo was organized in Aswan in May 1994. The Executive Committee approved the use of $390,000 from the trust fund for the purchase of various items of equipment for the Nubia Museum (27 C/5, para. 03112).

110. The UNDPAJNESCO project - Restoration and Conservation of the Islamic Museum in Kuwait ($333,500) - was approved by the Government of Kuwait and UNDP on 29 May 1994. The project provides for the renovation of an old hospital in Kuwait City which will


house the museum (27 C/5, para. 03 117). Teams from Lebanese and foreign universities canying out archaeological excavations under the UNDP/UNESCO project to rehabilitate the Lebanese Director of Antiquities and support the reconstruction of the centre of Beirut have made some important discoveries (27 C/5, para. 03 112).

111. The UNESCO Office in Brasilia embarked on a new project in the State of Bahia financed from extra-budgetary resources provided by the World Bank, for the purpose of promoting the social and economic development of the Pelourinho quarter of the city of Salvador, a site which is included in the World Heritage List (27 C/5, para. 03 114).

112. Two special projects were implemented, one in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the other in the autonomous territories of Gaza and Jericho. A joint UNESCO/Council of Europe mission visited Sarajevo and Mostar from 8 to 12 June 1994 to make an evaluation of the state of the cultural heritage of the two cities. Action was in fact started at the meeting held in Istanbul in August 1994, when a group of architects from Bosnia and Herzegovina was commissioned to prepare the technical documents needed to enable a survey to be made of the damage to the heritage during the conflict. The Director-General has allocated $50,000 for the provision of emergency assistance to Mostar and Sarajevo, where action will be taken jointly with the Council of Europe. In the case of the autonomous territories of Gaza and Jericho, seveml meetings have been held with the representatives of a number of Member States, with a view to mobilizing the necessary funds and to putting forward the broad lines of a programme for the identification, safeguarding and presentation of the cultural heritage in Gaza and Jericho. An expert mission visited Gaza and Jericho from 28 August to 4 September 1994 to prepare a feasibility study for inventorying and protecting the Palestinian cultural heritage (27 C/5, para. 03 110).

113. In July 1994, UNESCO convened a round table meeting on the mobilization of UNESCO Associations, Centres and Clubs for the defence of the cultural heritage in Novgorod (Russia), where international archaeological excavation camps for young people are organized regularly (27 C/5, para. 03 112).

114. A special issue of Museum International (No. 182) devoted to Museums of the Far North was published in the framework of the United Nations International Year of Indigenous Peoples. In this issue, the exemplary efforts of northe peoples to forge links enabling them to assert their common values and interests are emphasized (27 C/5, para. 03 113). Four new titles have been issued in the UNESCO collection of traditional music (Bali, Benin, Greece and Viet Nam) (27 C/5, para. 03128).

Cultural identities and cultural creation and exchanges

115. Under the Latin America-Caribbean 2000 project, the Organization lent its technical support to, and participated in, the first meeting of the Centre for Critical Thinking, which took place in Rio de Janeiro in August 1994. In addition, the Africania programme, which provides among other things for the creation of a co-operation network between African, European and American universities, was launched at the University of Alcal (Spain) in May 1994. The Secretariat also participated in the drafting of an action plan for the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People by giving its technical and financial support to the preparatory meeting for the Decade, which was held in Cochabamba (Bolivia) in July 1994 (27 C/5, para. 03204).

116. At the invitation of the Greek authorities, the International Consultative Committee for the Integral Study of the Silk Roads met in Athens in June 1994 and presented its


recommendations to the Director-General. A symposium on the theme of the languages and cultures of the Silk Roads, organized in collaboration with the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies, is being held in Cyprus on 30 September and 1 October 1994. Several works have been published, including Patrimoine commun, identit& plurielles, which contains the papers delivered at the symposium organized by the French National Commission and the Singer-Polignac Foundation; Cultures and Civilizations and Inventions and Trades (in English, French and Spanish); Exploration by land and Exploration by sea (in Greek); and Gnosis on the Silk Roads by H.-J. Klimkeit (27 C/5, para. 03205).

117. Under the intercultural Maya World project, the Organization gave its technical support to, and participated in, the first Congress of Maya Education, which was held in Guatemala in August 1994. The Congress, which was convened by the Council of Maya Education of Guatemala and was inaugurated by Mr Ramiro de LCon Carpio, President of Guatemala, and Ms Rigoberta MenchG, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was the first of its kind to be held in the Americas. Its purpose was to draw up educational programmes taking account of the needs, situation and world view of indigenous peoples in the perspective of sustainable development, with the aim of contributing to the peace process. More than 250 delegates took part in the debates, which covered the historical and philosophical basis for Maya education, the present-day educational situation among the Mayan people, and Maya education as a possible option for Guatemala. The final recommendations of the Congress will be circulated widely among subregional, regional and international institutions (27 C/5, para. 03205).

118. The Conference launching the Slave Route project was inaugurated by the Director- General and President NicCphore Soglo in Cotonou in September 1994. It was followed by the f-irst session of the International Scientific Committee for the project. An exhibition entitled La route de l’art sur la route de l’esclavage - Afrique, France, Carai’bes was organized at the Royal Saltworks at Arc et Senans (France) (27 C/5, para. 03205).

119. Volume III of the General History of Africa (Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century) was published in Arabic in September 1994 and No. 12 in the selies Studies and Documents (The Role of African Student Movements in the Political and Social Evolution of Africa from 1900 to 1975) was published in English. Volume II of the History of the Civilizations of Central Asia (The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations: 700 BC to 250AD) was published in May 1994. Volume I of the new edition of the History of the Scientific and Cultural Development of Humanity (Prehistory and the Beginnings of Civilization) was published in June 1994. Progress was achieved in the drafting of various volumes of the General History of Latin America, the General History of the Caribbean and the Work on the Various Aspects of Islamic Culture (27 C/5, para. 03206).

120. The first Pan-African Symposium on the Status of the Artist was held in BrazzaviIle in July 1994 and was attended by some 120 artists from different African countries representing all branches of the arts, including painting, sculpture, fashion design, music, dancing, theatre, film-making and literature. The symposium enabled the artists to exchange information on the administration of artistic activities in the different countries of the region and to examine the scope for developing cultural industries in Africa (27 C/5, para. 03213).

121. On 24 September 1994, the UNESCO/International Music Council (IMC) Music Prize was presented at a ceremony at Aachen (Germany) to Mr I. Made Badem, Director of the Indonesian Institute of Arts of Denpasar, and the Internationale Bachakademie of Stuttgart. Until 1993 the UNESCO/IMC Music Prize was awarded every two years, but it is now awarded annually, thanks to the support of the city of Aachen which, with the backing of a

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private partner, now hosts the Prize ceremony and grants two DM 5,000 fellowships to the winners. The catalogue The 1993 UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts was published (27 C/5, paras. 03215 and 03221).

122. A World Congress on ‘International Style’ architecture, organized by UNESCO and the Municipality of Tel Aviv in May 1994, was attended by almost 1,000 architects, town planners, art and architecture critics, architecture teachers and historians and experts from all over the world. The Congress, which was opened by Mr Shimon Peres and the Director-General, is the first event which UNESCO has organized on the conservation and preservation of the present- day cultural and artistic heritage (27 C/5, para. 03216).

123. On 28 June 1994, a selection committee appointed by the Administrative Council of the Intelnational Fund for the Promotion of Culture drew up a shortlist or made the final choice of applicants for the UNESCO-ASCHBERG Bursaries for Artists, which were offered for the first time in 1994. The Committee was chaired by Mr Jean-Marie Drot (France), current Chairman of the ‘Afrique en Creations’ Foundation. Twenty-five bursaries were on offer, including 21 for a period of residence or training in host institutions in ten countries (27 C/5, para. 0322 1).

124. A consciousness-raising campaign on reading in Africa, entitled Reading for All, was launched by a circular letter sent out in May 1994, with the aim of promoting an environment conducive to reading at different levels of society. The brochure on the campaign, which has been published in English and French for the information of Member States and the intelnational community, along with the promotidnal material produced by the Secretariat, have been widely circulated in a bid to mobilize financial resources (27 C/5, para. 03225).

125. Of the countries having embarked on activities in preparation for the launching of the reading campaign, Benin and Togo have been provided with financial and technical support. In addition, the creation in both countries of ‘rural centres’ for the dissemination and exchange of information, knowledge and know-how between urban and rural populations, with a view to sustainable human development, has been the subject of technical assistance missions from the Secretariat. Innovative activities have been carried out to prepare the ground for teaching reading and writing to rural families and to foster a parallel interest in reading and writing among children and newly literate mothers, especially in Benin (27 C/5, para. 03225).

126. Further to the second regional consultation on the Asian Cultural Centre for the UNESCO/Asia-Pacific Co-operative Programme in Reading Promotion and Book Development held in Tokyo (31 January-2 February 1994), contracts were drawn up with the ACCU and APPREB’s co-ordinator for activities to be carried out in 1994 (27 C/5, para. 03226).

127. A start has been made on preparing a campaign to encourage reading in the Arab region. The AZ-Kitab al-Jarida project, which draws on the experience of the Periolibros experiment in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries, provides for the publication of high quality works of literature, distributed free of charge by a network of Arab-language newspapers. A preparatory mission visited Lebanon and Jordan in June 1994 to see how much interest the project had aroused in the Arab world and how newspaper owners were responding to it, and to seek extra-budgetary funding. UNESCO plans to carry out this project with ALECSO and the Institute of the Arab World in Paris (27 C/5, para. 03226). .

128. A programme for the adoption of a national books and reading policy was launched in Paraguay. A member of the Secretariat undertook a mission to the country for the purpose of


drawing up a sectoral diagnosis, and preliminary legislation has been drafted. The training activities will be canied out by the Regional Centre for Book Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLALC) (27 C/5, para. 03228).

129. The foundations for the UNESCOKERLALC programme of regional activities for 1994 have been laid, in the form of contracts for the compilation of statistics on books, the investigation of the implications of the recent GATT decisions for regional publishing, national policies for books and reading, and new approaches to teaching reading and writing. An international seminar on book trade management techniques, organized for the Andean countries by CERLALC in collaboration with the Book House Training Centre of London, was held in Colombia. The first version of the nine self-teaching modules on the production and distribution of school textbooks for the countries of Central America was completed (27 C/5, para. 03328).

130. In connection with the promotion of international instruments, one Member State acceded to the International Copyright Convention and another to the International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations. The Organization was represented on the Legal and Legislation Commission of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers at its meeting in Brazil and the Confederation’s World Congress in Washington, and at the Study Days on legal issues of the International Literary and Artistic Association in Geneva. UNESCO was also represented at the symposium on the future of copyright organized in Paris by the World Intellectual Property Organization. A contract was concluded with the International Confederation of Authors and Composers to teach trainees from the developing countries about the collective management of copyright and neighbouring rights. A programme specialist went to Sudan to provide legal assistance on copyright and neighbouring rights to that countly’s authorities, and to the Congo to attend the Pan-African Symposium on the Status of the Artist (27 C/5, paras. 03217-03218).

131. The first cumulative edition of the Index Translationurn on CD-ROM was issued in June 1994, covering works translated and published since 1979 in 100 or so countries, from Albania to Zimbabwe. CD-ROM contains a total of 600,000 entries in all disciplines and allows immediate retrieval of the references for the translations of works by more than 150,000 authors. CD-ROM also makes it possible to consult the full range of data over 15 years instead of volume by volume, as in the past, and accordingly provides faster and more direct data accessing (27 C/5, parti. 03229).

MAJOR PROGRAMME AREA IV

Communication

132. The participants in the United Nations/UNESCO seminar on media development and democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean (Santiago, May 1994) adopted a Declaration promoting freedom of expression and freedom of the press in the region in line with the Declarations of Windhoek (1991) and Alma-Ata (1992). In particular, it called upon the United Nations General Assembly to create a World Press Freedom Prize to reward significant contributions to the advancement of freedom of information. The seminar also adopted a Plan of Action focusing on the promotion of community media in rural, indigenous and marginal urban areas, on media training, safety of joumalists, research and the use of appropriate technologies. The importance of this activity was recognized, among others, by the Latin American Parliament, which, in May 1994, passed a resolution engaging itself to participate in

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the implementation of the Santiago Plan of Action as far as studies on media legislation, democracy and integration are concerned. Other international and regional organizations, such as the International Association of Broadcasting, the Inter-American Press Association and the International Federation of Journalists, initiated a number of activities in this field. The Secretariat plans to harmonize all these initiatives through a co-ordination meeting at the end of 1994 or beginning of 1995 (27 C/5, para. 04105).

133. The UNESCO round table on the free flow of information and movement of journalists in the post-cold war era (Paris, May 1994) brought together representatives of eight international media organizations and a number of senior media executives from the Russian Federation. One of the main issues raised by the participants was the problem of restrictions and delays imposed by some Western European Member States of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) in issuing visas to journalists from CSCE countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. They adopted an appeal to Western European Member States of CSCE to lift all unjustified restrictions in this respect and requested the CSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Warsaw, Poland, to monitor the situation. UNESCO initiated a study on the principles and practices related to the free movement of journalists in Europe (27 C/5, para. 04105).

134. As a follow-up to the seminar on promoting independent and pluralist Asian media (Almaty, Kazakhstan, November 1992), a large-scale inter-agency project on media development, co-funded by UNDP, UNFPA and UNESCO partly through IPDC, was initiated in Kyrgyzstan. Aimed at providing public information support for the transition process, the project includes specialized training for media pradtitioners, and the sensitization of policy- makers to media independence and the utility of the media in promoting public awareness of important social issues (27 C/5, para. 04106).

135. In collaboration with the International Council of French-Speaking Radio and Television, a project for the production of a television documentary series on traditional African habitat was launched. An agreement was reached for the establishment of a post-production centre in Cotonou, Benin. The necessary equipment for the centre is being purchased and installed, and the filming of nine episodes by film-makers from various African countries has started. These materials will then be edited at the Cotonou centre for national and international distribution (27 C/5, para. 04107).

136. As a follow-up to the joint UNESCO/ITU study on telecommunications tariffs, a regional pilot project on access to telematics services in the Caribbean was launched in June 1994 under the aegis of UNESCO, ITU, the Commonwealth of Learning and the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information. The project aims to demonstrate how, in practice, demand and supply for telematics services can be matched to benefit users in the UNESCO community and the private sector. The steering committee for implementation of the project is composed of representatives of interested regional organizations, including the Caribbean Association of Telecommunications Organizations, the Caribbean Community, the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and the University of the West Indies (27 C/5, para. 04108).

137. In the context of the international relief action in favour of Rwanda, UNESCO’provided a financial contribution towards the establishment by Reporters sans Front&es of a humanitarian radio station named Gatashya (which in the Kinyarwanda language means ‘the swallow that heralds good news’). The broadcasts, which started on 5 August 1994, are


ensured by two transmitters located in Zaire in the border towns of Goma (HCR’s premises) and Bukavu and covering refugee camps north and south of Lake Kivu. Gatashya programmes include practical information on drinking-water, food, medicine and sanitation, as well as personal messages of refugees searching for lost relatives (27 C/5, para. 04109).

138. UNESCO continued its assistance to independent media in the former Yugoslavia. In the framework of the UNESCO SOS MEDIA campaign some US $119,000 were raised in donations, from Germany for the Oslobodenje weekly (Sarajevo), Norway for the Borba daily (Belgrade) and Sweden for the Radio ZID (Sarajevo) respectively. These funds are being used for the purchase and delivery of necessary equipment and supplies. In addition, UNESCO submitted to the European Union a 200,000 ECU project proposal in favour of the independent radio station Studio 99 (Sarajevo). The city of Bologna organized a concert to benefit UNESCO’s action in favour of independent media in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, UNESCO’s patronage was given to a round table on journalists in war zones (Trieste, June 1994); organized by the Italian National Commission and the city of Trieste, this round table gathered executives from both governmental and independent media in the former Yugoslavia, thus providing for a dialogue between media professionals (27 C/5, para. 04109).

139. As regards the development of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation, UNESCO participated in three donors’ co-ordination meetings, at UNESCO Headquarters (5 May and 1 September) and at the European Commission in Brussels (29 June). A feasibility study project for the transfer of the Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) to Gaza and Jericho and its restructuring to meet the new requirements was submitted to interested donors (27 C/5, para. 04.109).

140. Regarding the international symposium on women and the media: access to expression and decision-making (Toronto, March 1995), and further to the first meeting in April 1994 of the organizing committee (composed of representatives from Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Portugal, Tunisia, UNDP, UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the International Federation of Journalists), regional and subregional preparatory seminars were organized in August-October 1994 in Apia (Western Samoa), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Santiago (Cuba), Quito (Ecuador), Harare (Zimbabwe), Veliko-Tamovo (Bulgaria) and Tunis (Tunisia). A number of Member States already contributed in cash or in kind to this activity, for which the Secretariat expects to raise another $100,000 from extra-budgetary sources. UNESCO also contributed a working paper on women, media and development in a global context to the United Nations report for the World Conference on Women and Development (Beijing, 1995) (27 C/5, para. 04110).

141. At its thirtieth session held at UNESCO Headquarters from 7 to 8 July 1994, the Bureau of the Intergovernmental Council of the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) examined 75 projects and pre-selected 43 of them for submission to the fifteenth session of the Council (Paris, 14-21 November 1994). By mid-August 1994, the IPDC Special Account received $1,503,000 representing 68 per cent of the project budget approved by the Council for 1994 and have allowed 30 of the 43 projects financed from the IPDC Special Account to be initiated, In addition, IPDC received over $1,430,000 in funds-in- trust from Denmark and France. The Danish contribution concerns two projects: Cambodia: establishment of a media training institute; and Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) development project. The French funds-in-trust will be used for four projects: Yemen: modemization of broadcasting facilities of the Yemen Radio and Television Corporation; Viet Nam: non-formal education by radio and television; Cambodia: establishment of a media training institute; and development of the independent African press. The latter project also


received a contribution from the United States Department of State. Italy also supported financially a workshop for women editors and journalists from French-speaking African countries on the establishment, management and deontology of a newspaper (Cotonou, October 1994) (27 C/5, para. 04204).

142. Under the Recovery Plan for the Pan-African News Agency (PANA), news releases were increased from 2,000 words in February 1993 to 40,000 words in June 1994, and five new services specialized in environment and development, science and health, economy and finance, sports and an African press digest will be launched. The PANA distribution network now covers 38 African countries and uses international carrier services for news transmission to North America. The news collection network comprises 28 correspondents in Africa paid directly by PANA. The rationalization of management structures has allowed the staff costs in support services to be reduced by almost 50 per cent, and production services to be strengthened. First contracts for marketing PANA’s products have been signed with African and American companies (27 C/5, para. 04402).

143. An agreement was reached between UNESCO and the Knight Foundation (United States) under which the latter will provide, free of charge, a high-level media professional to work with PANA and a communication professor for the UNESCO chair in communication at the American University in Blagoevgard, Bulgaria.

144. Two UNESCO chairs in communication were established in Canada and Hungary. This was followed by the launching, on 26 May 1994, of the network of UNESCO chairs for Communications - ORBICOM. This network is co-ordinated by an international secretariat based at the University of Quebec in Montreal and comprises nine chairs established since 1990 in Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Hungary, Lithuania, Russian Federation, Spain and Uruguay. ORBICOM aims at enlarging the framework of exchanges and co-operation among universities, professionals and industries on a wide range of communication issues. The inclusion under ORBICOM of a chair in informatics (Lithuania) reflects the growing convergence of communication and information technologies and the emergence of an important multimedia sector (27 C/5, para. 04205).

145. The first phase of the MED-MEDIA programme, financed by the European Union, was completed. The project aims at promoting women journalists and communicators in countries of the Mediterranean basin through, inter alia, the establishment of a network of professionals and institutions. Surveys were conducted in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as North-African immigrant communities in France and the Netherlands, on the status of women communicators and their problems, possible strategies for Mediterranean women communicators. In parallel, training activities were carried out in favour of women media professionals from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia in the field of desktop publishing and management. Proposals for a second phase of the programme were submitted to the European Union in September 1994 (27 C/5, para. 04205).

146. Community media projects were strengthened in Barbados, Costa Rica, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia and Viet Nam through training courses, provision of production equipment or co-productions. In co-operation with the International Centre of Advanced Communication Studies for Latin America, a community media project is being prepared for Ecuador. Plans are advanced for similar projects in Belize, Dominica, Ecuador, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. In Nepal, UNESCO organ&d a second training course for the proposed community radio - Radio Sagarmatha (27 C/5, para. 04216).


General Information Programme

147. In the framework of ASTINFO (Regional Network for the Exchange of Information and Experience on Science and Technology in Asia and the Pacific), efforts were made to revive and adapt to the new requirements a subregional information programme for the small Pacific States, SPARDIN. Thus, a training course on library automation, organized by the University of the South Pacific (Fiji, June 1994), for participants from the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Western Samoa was followed by a workshop on SPARDIN’s possible link to ASTINFO. Negotiations .are under way with co-operating institutions to develop promotional information packages showing the role of information technologies and services in national development. In support of this action, the Government of Japan provided $150,000 as a research grant to ASTINFO for a period of three years to undertake a series of comprehensive studies of national information infrastructures and services in selected countries of Asia. The results of the studies will be used to develop national information development plans (27 C/5, para. 04309).

148. Two missions were carried out from the UNESCO Office in Bangkok to Viet Nam in June 1994 and the Philippines in July 1994 to monitor the implementation of Community Learning and Research Centres (CLARC) pilot projects. Recently initiated, under Japanese funds-in-trust, in several counties of the region, CLARC projects aim at promoting literacy in rural, remote or economically depressed regions by providing the local population with information on health and hygiene, family planning, optimal use of natural resources, government programmes, etc. Particularly promising results have been recorded in Viet Nam, where such centres have significantly contributed to the improvement of living conditions in two communes (27 C/5, para. 04309).

149. Under the Memory of the World project, all National Commissions have been invited to set up a committee responsible for the identification and selection of projects, their follow-up and fund raising. Two such committees have already been set up by Belarus and Finland. As a follow-up to the recommendations of the first meeting of the international advisory committee of the Memory of the World project (Pultusk, Poland, September 1993) and in co-operation with competent non-governmental organizations, the preparation of the three following inventories was initiated: a list of library collections and archive holdings having suffered irreparable damage; a list of current activities aimed at safeguarding documentary heritage; and a World List of Endangered Library Collections and Archive Holdings. While the pilot projects initiated earlier continued in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Latin America (regional project co- ordinated by Venezuela), the Russian Federation and Yemen, two new projects were launched in Cuba (preservation of collections of the JosC Marti Library) and Turkey (preservation of scientific manuscripts at the Bogazici University). Negotiations are under way for launching a project on the preservation of oral traditions in Botswana. In addition, a comprehensive project Memory of Russia is being launched, with UNESCO’s assistance, under the co-ordinatioy of the Russian State Library as part of its overall modernization programme (27 C/5, para. 043 12).

150. At its second meeting (London, July 1994) the International Commission of Experts for the Modemization of the Russian State Library (including representatives of the Biblioth&que nationale de France, the British Library, the Library of Congress (United States) and the Staatsbibliotek zu Berlin, the Commission of the European Union and the Open Society Institute of the Soros Foundation) identified several actions to be carried out immediately with financial and technical assistance from the participating institutions. Furthermore, UNESCO pledged political support for the enactment of a decree supporting the reconstruction of the


Library, the overall cost of which is estimated at $20 million. An appeal for funds was made on the occasion of the Arthur Rimbaud exhibition organized by France and UNESCO at the Library in June 1994 (27 C/5, para. 04313).

151. Following an expert mission to Nepal funded by DANIDA in April 1994, a project document on reorganization of the Nepal National Library in support of literacy programmes was prepared and submitted to DANIDA for funding. DANIDA also provided funding for preparatory activities for the project on rural library services in support of national illiteracy eradication and mass education programmes in Uganda (27 C/5, para. 04313).

152. The implementation of the international programme of assistance for the revival of the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo continued with a joint UNESCO/Council of Europe mission in June 1994 and the preparation of a detailed plan of action which was submitted to the Bosnian authorities. In addition, in June 1994, UNESCO provided the Library with a set of computer equipment, and the purchase of medical literature for the Library is under way (139 EX/Decision 7.5; 27 C/Resolution 4.9).

153. Under the Bibliotheca Alexandrina project, the schematic design of the building was completed and the tender action for the first construction phase was launched with the participation of nine world renowned companies. Furthermore, discussions were initiated with the French National Commission and the University of Wisconsin, United States, on the establishment of an International School of Information Studies linked to the Library and possibly based on the UNESCO chairs/UNITWIN concept. Finally, an agreement was reached between UNESCO and a professional fund-raiser in the United States for a large-scale campaign in the United States to raise the $100 million required for the completion of the project (27 C/5, para. 04316).

Informatics

154. Support was given to Bulgaria, China, Cuba and Sierra Leone for the organization of training activities and the acquisition of necessary equipment and materials. Assistance was also provided to the Al-Quds University in Jerusalem for the establishment of an informatics laboratory and training of specialists. Algeria, Georgia and Mexico received support for informatics research and development. UNESCO also supported the participation of African specialists in the second African colloquium on research in informatics, organized by the University of Ouagadougou in October 1994. Under a contract with UNESCO, the International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics (Windsor, Canada) facilitated the participation of Eastern European specialists in the international Conference on Interdisciplinary Research and the second Orwellian Symposium (Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, August 1994) (27 C/5, para. 04404).

155. Special attention was paid to the training of young people and women to increase their job opportunities: support was provided to Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea and Mozambique for the organization of short training courses and the purchase of the necessary training equipment. These activities were carried out through the National Commissions of the Member States concerned (27 C/5, para. 04405).

156. UNESCO and the Netherlands co-financed a regional workshop on informatics for education and on the extension of the Regional Informatics Network for Africa (RINAF) to the countries of southern Africa (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, June 1994). Organized by the National University for Science and Technology, it gathered participants from six other countries of the region (Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland and Zambia), as well as observers

145 EXiINF.3 - page 31

from South Africa, the Commonwealth and the Pan-African Development Information System. In the framework of INFORMAFRICA, training programmes were supported at the National University of Lesotho and the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Nigeria. Four infonnatics specialists from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya and Senegal received grants for their postgraduate studies (27 C/5, paras. 04406 and 04410); Namibia was provided with computer equipment and technical documentation to facilitate on-the-job training in computer utilization. The directories of informatics resources in Africa, of informatics experts and of institutions specializing in informatics will be published in early 1995.

MAJOR PROGRAMME AREA V

Social and human sciences: institutional development, research and information

157. The scientific steering committee of the Management of Social Transformations programme (MOST) met for the fust time from 29 June to 1 July 1994, in Paris. During this meeting the Committee discussed the research priorities of MOST, the capacity-building function of research projects in developing countries, the clearing-house function of co- ordinating research and the transfer of research results to decision-makers. It also set the criteria for accepting projects in the MOST programme. Some 16 preliminary research proposals were evaluated. In a number of cases the applicants were encouraged to get into contact with each other to prepare a combined proposal. In this way MOST seeks to bring research teams from different disciplines and different regions together to focus efforts on a limited number of major research projects. The Guidelines for the submission of research projects to MOST were fmalized and distributed. The first formal evaluation of research proposals will be carried out at the second meeting of the steering committee, planned from 4 to 6 December 1994, in Cairo (27 C/5, paras. 05 114-05 116).

158. Three further UNESCO chairs on sustainable development were established at the Federal University of Parana, Curitiba, Brazil; the second with the French National Commission to serve as a rotating focal point to a network including the French National Institute of Agronomy, Paris-Grignon, the Paul-Sabatier University, Toulouse, the Scientific and Technical University of Languedoc, Montpellier, and the Pontificia Universidad Catolica, Santiago de Chile; and at the University of Warsaw, with the specific mandate to enhance capacities and to formulate regional policies (27 C/5, para. 05 104).

159. The international expert meeting on higher education in small island States was held at Praia (Cape Verde) in March 1994. On that occasion, an important memorandum of intent was signed between UNESCO and the Portuguese-speaking countries (Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and Sao Tome and Principe) for the setting up of a network for the twinning of universities and social and human science faculties under the UNITWIN and UNESCO chairs programme (27 C/5, para. 05 104).

160. The International Social Science Journal is preparing three issues on: Population: issues and policies, measuring and evaluating development (to be published in Februaty 1995 in time for the World Summit on Social Development, to be held in Copenhagen in March 1995), and Organizing international relations: jijiy years after the United Nations Charter (27 C/5, para. 05107).

161. A symposium was organized jointly with the ADAPES Association - the Association des Amis de ‘Passages’ - on the freedom of cities - the contemporary challenges of town planning and land-use management. It was held at Headquarters in May 1994 and was attended by

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public figures with political and managerial responsibilities and reseachers into urban living. UNESCO also contributed to, and was represented at, the international seminar held at the Bauhaus in Dessau from 27 August to 3 September 1994 on the theme ‘Sustainable development and the future of cities’ (27 C/5, para. 05 117).

Education for peace, human rights and democracy

162. In preparation for the United Nations Year for Tolerance a draft teacher’s guide was prepared which will be submitted to the 44th session of the International Conference on Education (Geneva, October 1994) (27 C/5, para. 05219).

163. From mid-May to mid-August 1994, 135 new schools were registered in the Associated Schools Project (ASP) and two more Member States (Gabon and Lebanon) joined, bringing the number of participating institutions to over 3,200 in 122 countries. An illustrated brochure on ASP as well as a practical manual were produced and disseminated. Among the major activities undertaken during the period under review, mention should be made of the interregional project on ‘The relationship between energy, environment and development: the role of education systems’ that has been launched in 11 countries (in Africa, Asia and Europe) under the Chelliobyl programme; a Conference entitled ‘Save the Baltic Sea’ (Karlskrona, Sweden, September 1994) with teachers and students from the nine Baltic Sea countries; an international meeting to launch a new IBE/ASP interregional project on teacher training for citizenship education (Finland, September 1994); and the launching of an interregional project in favour of young peoples’ participation in world heritage preservation and promotion, in co-operation with the World Heritage Centre (27 C/5, para. 05221).

164. The International Jury of the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education, which met in July 1994, recommended to the Director-General that the 1994 Prize be awarded to the Venerable Prayudh Payutto (Thailand). The presentation ceremony will take place at Headquarters on Tuesday, 20 December 1994 (27 C/5, para. 05125).

Peace, human rights, democracy and the elimination of all forms of discrimination

165. An international workshop on new forms of discrimination: migrants, refugees, minorities was co-organized by UNESCO and the Marangopoulos Foundation for Human Rights. in Olympia, Greece, in May 1994. The meeting brought together experts from 12 countries and representatives of leading intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations active in the struggle against discrimination. Likewise among the activities connected with the struggle against all forms of discrimination were two studies on young orphans whose parents have died of AIDS (Kenya and Uganda), and on tulibes (Muslim theological students) in three Member States (Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria). An international meeting on democracy and tolerance was organized by the Secretariat and the Korean National Commission for UNESCO in Seoul in September 1994, within the framework of the United Nations Year for Tolerance (27 C/5, para. 05216). In Colombia, one noteworthy activity was the promotion of the co-ordination between UNESCO’s financed activities of the Juan Carlos Gal&n Institute for the Development of Democracy and the Ministry of Education in order to insert elements of democratic education into an IBRD-financed project for the expansion and quality improvement of secondary education. In Nicaragua, UNESCO gave its support to the organization of the second International Conference on new and newly restored democracies in July 1994, which was attended by high level representatives, including 16 ministers, from 80 countries, and three Nobel Prize winners (27 C/5, paras. 05208 and 05216).


166. An agreement for establishing a UNESCO chair on human rights and democracy in Moscow was signed in June 1994; UNESCO is in the process of establishing similar chairs in Minsk, Sofia, Bogot& Addis Ababa and Windhoek (27 C/5, para. 05218).

167. UNESCO published or re-issued a number of books, including Violence revisited by Santiago GenovCs (in English and French); Le cituyen souverain: kducation pour la dkmocratie by P. Augier; a new revised and updated version of Human Rights, Major International Instruments. Status as of 31 May 1994; and Pre’cis de la d.&mocrutie de Jean Baechler (UNESCOICalmann-L&y, 1994).

168. In connection with the celebration of International Women’s Day, a public conference was held at Headquarters on 7 March 1994 on the theme ‘Women want Peace: Women make Peace’. Women engaged in peace activities from Palestine, Israel and South Africa, and also from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia, came to the Conference to proclaim their faith in peace. On the same occasion, the Catalan Institute of Women in Barcelona, whose exhibition on Women enter history was inaugurated on 8 March, presented UNESCO with a bronze statue by the Catalan artist Nuria Tortas, representing a girl with a book, as a symbol of UNESCO’s work (27 C/5, para. 05228).

169. Pursuant to 140 EX/Decision 8.4 of the Executive Board, a working group met on 23 and 24 June 1994 to study the causes and consequences of rape as a tool or war and, having regard to the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to draw up a rehabilitation programme for Bosnian women who have been victims of systematic rape and also their children. Twelve experts (doctors, psychiatrists, legal experts and anthropologists) from Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia, together with French experts who had worked in the area with international non-governmental organizations, took part in the meeting, which was held at UNESCO Headquarters. The report of the group of experts was forwarded to the UNESCO Office in Sarajevo for it to study the proposals it contains and to draw up a plan of action in collaboration with the Co-ordinating Unit for Activities Relating to Women. Under resolution 11.1 adopted at the twenty-seventh session of the General Conference, a study was carried out on UNESCO’s normative instruments on the equality of men and women, with a view to examining ways and means of making women and women’s organizations more familiar with these instruments and to considering laying down new norms, in order to strengthen the Organization’s action in this priority area (27 C/5, para. 05230).

170. The third session of the Summer University of Black Sea Women will be held in Bucharest in October 1994. Like the other two sessions, the third session was attended by experts from the European Union, representatives of the European Commission and women leaders, researchers and specialists from Romania, and also afforded an opportunity to meet women representatives of the National Commissions of the other Black Sea countries. The possibility of setting up a permanent university for Black Sea women will be examined (27 C/5, para. 05229).

17 I. A regional meeting of experts on women and the democratization process in Africa was organized jointly by the UNESCO Offices in Dakar and Windhoek in co-operation with the Namibia National Preparatory Committee for the fourth World Conference, in Windhoek, in October 1994. The meeting brought together researchers, policy-makers, as well as representatives from OAU, the Economic Commission for Africa, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and specialists from non-governmental organizations, to examine the role and contribution of women to the process of democratization under way in Africa and how gender issues may be incorporated into mainstream policy issues. The results of this encounter will be

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145 vXKNF.3 - page 34

transmitted to the Dakar preparatory meeting for the fourth World Conference on Women to be held in November 1994 and also to the Beijing Conference (27 C/5, para. 05232).

Philosophy and ethics

172. The purpose of the first project being undertaken is to provide as detailed a picture as possible of the means available to philosophy and philosophy teaching for promoting the universal ideals of democracy and tolerance, with due regard for the many and varied changes which the world is currently undergoing. This international survey, entitled Philosophy and democracy in the world, under the direction of the philosopher Roger-PO1 Droit, is the sequel to that conducted by Georges Cangujlhem in 1953 and to the five collective volumes published from 1984 to 1993 on philosophy teaching and research in the world’s different regions. Two thousand copies of a detailed questionnaire were accordingly sent out to National Commissions, institutions, non-governmental organizations and individuals competent in the field all over the world, in order to collect the necessary data. In February 1995, two study days bringing together international experts at UNESCO Headquarters will make it possible to put forward recommendations for the cultural and publishing programmes of both UNESCO and the Member States in the light of the replies made to the questionnaire. The report of the Project Director will be published in paperback form in October 1995, on the occasion of UNESCO’s fiftieth anniversary. The second project, which is concerned with the organization of annual meetings at the instigation of philosophers, responds to the need to provide fora for debate in which the disciplines of both thought and action can come together and different cultures can play a greater part in addressing the decisive issues of our time. Each year, UNESCO will entrust leading philosoph’ers with the task of directing these international meetings, which will each have a different theme (27 C/5, paras. 05403 and 05404).

Youth

173. A number of Member States have benefited from the advisory services and assistance of UNESCO in implementing youth projects: Barbados for defining a policy for young people at risk (challenging in-school youth at risk); Viet Nam for organizing a tournament in a traditional sport, with the aim of rehabilitating young drug victims and reintegrating them in society, and for a project for street children; Mali, at the request of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport, for a pilot project to train trainers and youth leaders in seven countries of West Africa; and Armenia, for the drafting of a national youth policy on the basis of a survey and a seminar (27 C/5, paras. 05504 and 05505). These activities have been implemented with extra- budgetary resources. In addition, a gala evening was organized at the Maison de Z’Am.kri&e Latine in Monaco in July 1994, in support of a project for street children in Honduras.

174. Together with the Mozambican National Commission for UNESCO, a co-operation programme was initiated with the Ministry of Culture and Youth. The first workshop on youth, peace and democracy in Mozambique (Maputo, August 1994) represented a unique occasion to bring together and hear the voice of youth from all the provinces of the country; the meeting discussed institutional questions (notably the role of the State in developing a policy and programme for youth, and the feasibility of establishing a national youth council), training and employment, and social and cultural issues (displacement of persons during the war, demobilized soldiers and their social and economic integration; cultural participation; health). The recommendations of the meeting will contribute to developing programmes for youth development and participation in the country, and‘ to formulating a national youth policy (27 C/5, paras. 05505 and 05606).


175. With regard to co-operation with youth NGOs, mention has to be made of the financial contribution provided to the Dutch United Nations Students Association (DUNSA) for the organization of the Conference entitled the 1994 European International Model United Nations (TEIMUN 94) held in The Hague from 30 June to 6 July 1994; the award of 16 travel grants to youth movement leaders; and the organization in co-operation with the National Commission of the Republic of Korea and the Korean UNESCO Youth Centre of the first regional consultation of youth NGOs in Asia and the Pacific in Seoul in October 1994. This meeting will be concerned with the role and function of youth NGOs in the region, the organization of joint activities; the setting up of a regional youth information network (the regional base of the INFOYOUTH network); and the preparation of the tenth anniversary of International Youth Year (27 C/5, paras. 05507 and 05606).

Statistical programmes and services

176. With respect to the methodology, development and harmonization of international classification and standards, two meetings were organized, one on the financing of education with a view to revising the present data collection methodology, and the second on the concepts, definition and classification of science and technology statistics, and future activities in this field. Ten substantive working documents have been prepared for the meeting of experts on the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) (27 C/5, paras. 11605- 11606). An updated version of the statistical report on the international flow of cultural goods has- been prepared for the World Commission on Culture and Development, as well as the projections of world adult illiteracy and revision of the model on student flow by age (27 C/5, paras. 11605 and 11608).

177. Under the project ‘Strengthening national education statistical information systems (NESIS) in sub-Saharan Africa’, financed from extra-budgetary resources, and covering 22 countries, advisory missions were carried out to initiate pilot projects, preparation of technical assistance to bilaterally funded projects and development of technical assistance packages for national capacity-building. An education indicators data base was established to cover NESIS core data on education indicators. Co-financing agreements (in addition to SIDA and UNICEF) with USAID, French co-operation, Dutch aid and the World Bank, which had been initiated during the previous period, have now progressed to the formulation of operational plans. A meeting was held on 15 September 1994 with the World Bank to define the modalities of co-operation under the NESIS project (27 C/5, paras. 11604, 11609 and 11611).

145 EXDNF.3 Part III PARIS, 3 October 1994 English & French only


EXECUTIVE BOARD


Item 5.1 of the provisional agenda

REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION

SINCE THE 144th SESSION

PART HI

Management chart for programme execution in 1994-1995 (27 C/5 Approved)

No. 14

Status as at 31 August 1994

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

I - PRESENTATION OF TEIE PROGRAMME AND BUDGET FOR 19941995

Chart 1 - UNESCO regular budget from 1975-1976 to 1994-1995 3 ......................................

Chart 2 - Approved regular budget for 1994-1995 by part/sector 3 ..........................................

Chart 3 - Total budget by staff costs and activities .................................................................. 4

Chart 4 - Regular budget by staff costs and activities .............................................................. 4

II - REGULAR PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

Table 1 - Status of contributions as at 30 September 1994 .......................................................

Table 2 - Regular budget execution by appropriation line (Parts I to VI of the Budget) ...................

Table 3 - Programme implementation by sector ....................................................................

Table 4 - Programme implementation by object-of-expenditure (Parts I to VI) ..............................

Table 5 - Modalities ancl functions ....................................................................................

Table 6 - Conferences and meetings ..................................................................................

Table 7 - Publications ....................................................................................................

Table 8 - Training .........................................................................................................

Table 9 - Decentralization ...............................................................................................

Table 10 - Participation Programme ...................................................................................

Table 11 - Fellowships, study grants and participants travel to training seminars ............................

Table 12 - Staff and Staff costs ..........................................................................................

5

6-7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15-16

17

18-19

III - PRESENTATION OF EXTRA-BUDGETARY OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMES

Chart 5 - Extra-budgetary operational programmes for 1994-1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chart 6 - Extra-budgetary operational programmes: allocations vs. expenditure . . . , . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20

20

IV - EXTRA-BUDGETARY OPERATIONAL PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

Table 13 - Programme implementation by source of funds ........................................................ 21

Table 14 - Programme implementation by region ................................................................... 22

Table 15 - Programme implementation by sector .................................................................... 23

- - - - . . - _ ._ . . - - -_1- .1- - - . -

- . - . . - - ~ ___l.- . - - - -

145 EX/INF.3 PART III Page 3

I - PRESENTATION OF THE PROGRAMME AND BUDGET FOR 1994-1995

CHART 1 UNESCO REGULAR BUDGET

FROM 19751995

700

1 600

200 i

! 100 /

01, I I I I I I I --

75-76 77-78 79-80 81-83* 84-85 86-87 88-89 90-91 92-93 94-95

~ DApproved budget in current prices Budgets at 1994-l 995 price level f::::: ::::::::.. ..,_,.,.,.,.,,, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........... :.:: ....................... :: ...........: ................................ :::::::::iii “““‘“““‘.“..‘.““““.‘..‘:..‘..:‘::::::::::::::::;:::::::....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ................ ::::::::::::... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ::::::::::::::::::::::::::.:,: ,‘~.,.:‘(:.:y:.: ‘:.:.“‘:.:“:‘:‘;:‘:.:‘:‘f:::::~~.~~,.~~~:.~ :.:. lii!;;;;ii;iii;iii;ii;p :.:. Ipli”ii”~:.~,.~ ,.:.:.:.:‘.~.~ ..,.................... _........ . _....._. ..,...i. v . .._..

* Two-thirds of the three year budget

CHART 2 APPROVED REGULAR BUDGET BY PART/SECTOR

Education / 22.2%

Science for Progress & the Environment 12.7% -’ \

Culture 9.8% --/

Communication, ,

Information & _ Informatics 6.4%

Direction 4.5%

Governing Bodies

3.1%

Capital Expendihlre

0.3%

Maintenance & Security

6.9%

Social & Human Sciences 5.9%

Transverse Themes, 1’

Programmes & Activities 4.7% L

Adn Serb

Programme Support 14.7%

ministrative rices 8.8%

_,. ._. -- _. --.--

145 EX/INF.3 PART III Page 4

CHART 3

800 1

700 A;

600 _1

500 1

I 400 1

300 1 I

200 100 :

0 d

TOTAL BUDGET (Regular* and Extra-budgetary Programmes)

BY STAFF COSTS AND ACTIVITIES Millions of US$

I 711.7

261.8

CHART 4

Staff Costs (36.8%) Activities (63.2%) Total (100%)

[mProgramme EBBProgramme Support mAdministration )

REGULAR BUDGET * BY STAFF COSTS AND ACTIVITIES

Millions of US$

800 ’

700 j /

600 1 ; 436.9

248.4

Staff Costs (56.9%) Activities (43.1%) Total (100%)

(mprogramme EElProgramme Support EIAdministration

* Parts I - VI

145 EXlINF.3 PART III Page 5

II - REGULAR PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

TABLE 1

STATUS OF CONTRIBUTIONS AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 1994*

Contributions due (Note)

$

Percentage of current year

assessment due %

1994

1994 assessment unpaid

Cumulative arrears for prior years

62,940,431 28.07

67,166,810 29.96

Total due at 30 September 1994

. . . we sltllstlon fnr1992



60,432,959

54.469,924

58.03

27.96

25.21

Total due at 30 September 1992 53.17



Total due at 30 September 1990

73,977,850 40.55

18,336,521 10.05

50.60

Note: Contributions due in French francs are converted into US$ at the constant rate of exchange for 1994 ad at the approved budget rate of exchange for prior years

* For details, please refer to document 145 EX/30 Add. concerning the cash situation of the Organization as at 30 September 1994

---- .- -

145 EXDNF.3 PART III Page 6

TABLE 2

REGULAR BUDGET EXECUTION BY APPROPRIATION LINE

(Parts I-VI of the Budget)

Appropriation Line 27 Cl5

Approved 27 Cl5 ProvisionaI

Approved aIIotment as adjusted’ for 1994

Impkmmtation ViS-h-ViS

provisionaI aIIotment as at 31 August 1994

$ S s s %

Part I - General PoIicy and Direction

1.A - Governing bodies

1. General Conference

2. Executive Board

1.B - Direction

3. Directorate

4. Services of the Directorate

5. Participation in the Joint Machinery of the United Nations System

Total, Part I 33,251,800 33283,800 13,953,630

Part II - Programme Execution and Services

6,005,800 6,005,800 585,490 299,056 51.1

7,500,200 7,511,700 2,744,770 1,458,470 53.1

1,500,800 1,523,700 709,350 409,535 57.7

16,931,500 17,229,100 9,565,240 5,776,252 60.4

1,313,500 1,313,500 348,780 348.150 99.8

1I.A Mdor Programme Areas

I. Education and the Future

II. Science for Progress and the Environment

III. Culture: Past, Present and Future

Iv. Communication, Information and Informatics in the Service of Humanity

V. Social and Human Sciences: Contribution to Development, Peace, Human Rights and Democracy

97,297,200 97,400,902 46,828,855

55,803,ooO 57,492,737 27,076,422

42,768,500 42,817,735 23,118,462

28,164,200 28,177,400 13,172,195

25,921,100 25,233,700 14,441,257

Sub-total, Part 1I.A 249,954,OOO 251,122,474 124,637,191 86,134,127 69.1

- -

8,291,463 59.4

31,641,832 67.6

20$X5,214 74.1

14,661,150 63.4

8,677,487 65.9

11,088,444 76.8

. 27 C/5 Approved, adjusted by between-line transfers and donations approved by the Executive Board at its 144th session.

145 EXfINF.3 PART III Page 7

Appropriation Lime 27 Cl5

Approved 27 Cl5 Provisional

Approved alIotment as adjusted’ for 1994

Implementation Vi+8-ViS

provisional allotment as at 31 August 1994

$ $ S $ %

1I.B Transverse Themes, Programmes and Activities

4. ‘Priority: Africa’ Programme

5. Programme for Central and Eastern European Development

6. Clearing House

7. Statistical Programmes and Services

8. UNESCO Publishing Offtce

9. UNESCO Courier Office

1,213,400 1,185,100 696,480 503.392 72.3

574,400 580,600 332,300 296,125 89.1

4,905,500 4,956,800 2,321,830 1,346,206 58.0

5,371,500 5,440,400 2,546,530 1,775,470 69.7

4,561,700 4,623,OOO 2,195,760 1,507,306 68.6

3,912,500 3,957,300 1,893,150 1,377,839 72.8

20,539,OOO 20,743,200 6,806,338 68.2 Sub-total, Part I1.B 9,986,050

69.0 270,493,OOO Total, Part II 271,865,674 134,623,241 92,940,465

Part III - Support for Programme Execution 64,222,500 64,981,OOO 32,889,260 22,443,192 68.2

Part IV - General Administrative Services 38,670,900 38,944,100 17,293,860 11,948,709 69.1

PartV -Maintenanceaod Security 30,073,400 30,171,ooo 12,548,850 8,698,917 69.3

Part VI - CapitaI Expenditure 1,348,400 1,348,400 442,700 447,057 101.0

Provision for Obligatory Expenditure 290,000 290,000

Less: Absorption of Reserve for draft resolutions (1,500,000)

Total, Parts I-VI

27 C/S Approved, adjusted by between-line transfers and donations approved by the Executive Board at its 144th session.

145 EXRNF.3 PART III Page 8

TABLE 3

PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION BY SECTOR

(Excluding staff and indirect programme costs and Participation Programme)

Part/Sector/Unit 27 C/5 Approved

27 C/5 Provisional Implementation Approved allotment as at

as adjusted* for 1994 31 August 1994

Part I - General PoIicy and Direction

Part II - Programme Execution and Services

1I.A Mqjor Programme Areas

Education

Natural Sciences

Culture

$

15,118,800

$

15,118,800

$

4,142,030

$

2,525,322

%

61.0

Communication, Information and Informatics

Social and Human Sciences

37,405,600 36,858,702 14,353,431 9,709,656 67.6

22,844,800 22,764,837 9,589,891 7,051,514 73.5

13,681,OOO 13,331,oOO 5,991,928 4,236,259 70.7

11,932,400 11,917,400 4,130,550 2,808,866 68.0

9,807,900 9,577,900 5,475,726 4,075,061 74.4

Sub-total, Part 1I.A

I1.B Transverse Themes, Programmes and Activities

4. ‘Priority: Africa’ Programme

5. Programme for Central and Eastern European Development

6. Clearing House

95,671,700 94,449,839 39,541,526 27,881,356

-

70.5

370,200 315,200 171,530 97,456 56.8

7. Statistical Programmes and Set-vices

8. UNESCO Publishing Office

9. UNESCO Courier Office

248,000 248,000 166,000 149,365 90.0

1,35 1,200 1,351,200 535,280 278,995 52.1

1,086,800 1,086,800 372,230 232,862 62.6

729,700 729,700 249,110 238,180 95.6

1,437,100 1,437,100 633.050 533,367 84.3

Sub-total, Part 1I.B 5,223,OOO 5,168,OOO 2,127,200 1,530,225 71.9

Total, Part II

Part III - Support for Programme Execution

Part IV - General Admiitrative Services

Part V - Maiutwance and Security

Part VI - CapitaI Expenditure

Provision for Obligatory Expenditure to be reimbursed to Miscellaneous Income (25 CRes. 37)

Reserve for draft resolutions

11,546,lOO 11,546,100 4,606,310 3,639,568

11,026,400 11,026,400 3,335,OlO 2,450,049

16,551,800 16,551,800 5,739,250 4,341,360

1,348,400 1,348,400 442,700 447,057

70.6

79.0

73.5

75.6

101.0

290,000 290,000

(1,5Oww

Total, Parts I-VI u

27 C/S Approved, adjusted by between-line transfers and donations approved by the Executive Board at its 144th session.

145 EXIINF.3 PART III

TABLE 4 Page 9

PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION BY OBJECT-OF-EXPENDITURE (Parts I-VI)

Object of expenditure’ 27 Cl5 Approved

27 C/5 Approved

as adjusted’

Implementation as at

31 August 1994

Salaries and other personnel services

- Headquarters staff costs

- Field staff costs

Temporary Assistance

Interpretation services

Consultants - to Member States

- to the Secretariat

Other personnel services

Travel on Official Business

- Delegates’ travel

- Staff travel on official business

Contractual services

- Publishing contracts

- Contributions to co-publications

- Contributions for organization of seminars and meetings

- Other contractual services

General Operating Expenses

Supplies and Materials’

Acquisition of furniture and equipment

Acquisition and improvement to premises

Fellowships, grants and contributions

Participation Programme

Other expenditure

Reinforcement of priority areas

Reserve for draft resolutions

Total, Parts I-VI

$ $ $ %

200,796,400 203,808,700 70,388,277 34.5

47587,900 48,630,600 16,064,036 33.0

10,256,660 10,256,660 2,950,368 28.8

3,779,740 3,774,740 485,256 12.9

3,874,500 3,825,500 585,994 15.3

1,607,900 1,597,900 1,557,419 97.5

1,160,400 1,160,400 26,145 2.3

9,443,560 9,283,560 2,671,774 28.8

11570,840 11,505,702 3,319,744 28.9

2,405,300 2,385,300 426,838 17.9

1,787,300 1,741,402 377,267 21.7

13509,210 13,131,619 4,496,441 34.2

28,111,350 27,726,016 6,778,184 24.4

25,319,400 25,370,235 8,210,594 32.4

6,927,780 6,927,780 1,919,282 27.7

5,444,300 5,424,ooo 1,577,581 29.1

2,615,900 2,619,800 750,954 28.7

26,171,200 26,033,700 9,479,188 36.4

25,000,000 25,000,000 10,785,504 43.1

5,980,360 5,980,360 1,458,769 24.4

5,000,000 5 ,ooo,ooo 460,188 9.2

(1,500,ooo)

441 1P4.7h9.80.3 323

1 This table summarizes the most significant items of expenditure, a complete list of which is given in Appendix II of 27 Cl5 Approved.

2 27 C/5 Approved, adjusted by between-line transfers and donations approved by the Executive Board at its 144th session.

3 Including field equipment

-. -- --“--.-*,^-- “.-.-..-Ye..-‘m .w-s-.----~ ----. -a .^_. _.- _-.-_--- - -.- -.-...-.- -_-.

TABLE 5

MODALITIES AND FUNCTIONS

(concerning Part 1I.A of the Budget)

I’olicy- Pwticiyatiou PWplXlllllllllg

AtlKUlW Collection. sta1KlmI- Ih!velo~,mrllt tn:d&lg in the co-ordination I;wrtions/ of lmo\\ledg:e dissemin;~tion setting of public Tr:hing lkuining ilrlpl~nlClltilli011 of :utd w aluation Total

Jlud;dities of action md exrlmpe ;Irtion il\Yilrelless ;wd project activities of pro~rawne of infimn:rtiou idwIific;hcm in Jleollwr St;ites activities Alllollllt %

s s s s S s S s s

sT~Dll:s ASD RI:SEARCII

4 Surveys. slocLl;~kin;l and invsnlorics 55.x17 245.964 I .OUO 4.093 145.x55 54.900 507.629 I .8

+ Technical or rns~h~~dolo;li~~11 srudics 132.633 3X3.096 IX.915 27.734 57.350 3 t 3.690 73.310 I5.000 1,022.728 3.7

+ Feasibility s~udks 21.034 9X9 20.000 3x.5x9 6.952 87.564 0.3

4 Evalualion kludich 25.900 87.573 6.6SX IY.SOl 43.169 30.139 I.202 213.142 0.X

4 O~hcr studies and rswarch lS4.534 259.068 I .ooo X9.185 40.70x 65.313 280.X93 924.73 I 3.3

CosFERI?iCI~s ASD \Il-l:TIsGs Y.32.1Xl 1.256.140 130.9’34 4-19.40X 268.4’37 t .0-13.07-l 705.792 17X.079 4.964.165 17.x

I’UIH,ICATIOSS

4 Books 170.057 380.082 52.428 54.762 73.503 730.832 2.6

l Pcriodicats 58.164 594.116 1.380 653.660 2.4

4 Other (rspo~~s and documents) 26.884 250.685 I .soo 70.X26 244.077 126 2.000 596.098 2.1

TRAINING COURSES. SEXIINARS AND WORKSIIOPS (cat. VII) 266.63X 34.000 4.000 2.602.754 115.925 129.908 I .220 3.1.54.445 I I .3

FELLOWSIIIPS. STUDY AND RESEARCH GRANTS 62.900 51.179 3 .ooo X05.194 19.052 3s ,407 916.732 3.5

SURVENTIONS TO NGOS 40.550 683.386 45.405 529.600 1.953 I .300.894 4.7

FINANCIAL CONTRIlWTlONS 1.610.972 786.62 I 7.300 164.921 3.881.162 194.71s 1.325.294 6.200 7.977.185 28.6

TECIINICAL AND ADVISORY SERVICES

l Staff missions 83,329 92.329 30,583 45,270 112,522 575.701 551.035 48391 I I ,539,680 5.5

l Consultants 128,902 74.098 5.192 3:OOO 238.575 627.5 11 653,779 28,623 I ,759,680 6.3

l Supplies and equipment 310 80.919 3.400 17.577 30.749 9 I .973 194.055 3 I .349 450.332 1.6

OTHER 49.183 243.73 1 102,194 30.286 58.258 304.943 233.264 1,021.859 3.7

TOTAL 3,566,316 5,756,659 243,542 1,027,532 8,454,635 3,406,484 4,880,387 545,801 27,881,356 100.0 I 12.8 20.6 0.9 3.7 30.3 12.2 17.5 2.0

145 EXANF.3 PART III Page 11

TABLE 6

CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS

Sector/Unit

ED

SC

CLT

CII

SHS

BPE/ST

BRX

cou

TOTAL

27 C/5 Approved Reductions and acijustments

No. $000 No. $000 %

39 2,622.6 2 (117.3) (4.5)

23 803.6 (1) (l~.O) (23.6)

36 1,604.7 (186.3) (11.6)

16 930.6 1 210.6 22.6

14 704.6 10 500.9 71.1

11 472.6 1 (26.4) (5.6)

11 684.0 (10.1) (1.5)

1 68.2 (1) (68.2) (100.0)

151 7,890.9 12 113.2 1.4

Estimates 1994

No. $000

21 1,860.8

12 365.4

21 900.9

9 476.3

12 789.9

7 271.8

5 249.3

- -

87 4,914.4

-.-._ --

145 EXIINF.3 PART III Page 12 TABLE 7

PUBLICATIONS

Sector/Unit

Periodicals, Books, Scientific Maps

ED P

B

Budget $

SC P

B

SM

Budget $

CLT P B

Budget $

CII P

B

Budget $

SHS P

B

Budget $

BPE/ST B

Budget $

cou* P

Budget $

CLH B

Budget $

LA P

Budget $

TOTAL P

B

SM

Budget $

27 C/5 Approved Reductions and adjustments as adjusted

Title/Unit Title/Unit

l/16 o/ (13)

29185 3/(l)

549,200 (110,805)

-/- 2/24

15121 (2)/(3)

3/3 l/l

272,000 93,500

2148 -/-

516 11127

362,000 142,000

-/- -l-

216 213

15,200 (3,600)

8148 -/-

10/20 (4)/(10)

323,500 (252,500)

2/6 -/-

62,600 4,200

l/72 -/-

132,200

417 -/-

57,000

112 -/-

9,000

131186 2111

671151 10116

313 l/l

1,782,700 (127,205)

- forperiodicals, to each language version of a number

* Publication of UNESCO Courier is implemented under the Publications Fund

145 EXfINF.3 PART III Page 13

TABLE 8

TRAINING’

(Part 1I.A of the Budget)

Sector/Unit 27 C/5 Approved

as adjusted’

$

Implementation as at

31 August 1994

$ %

Education

Natural Sciences

Culture

Communication, Information and Informatics

Social and Human Sciences

6,819,400 3,851,296 56.5

10,915,200 3,319,048 30.4

1,982,100 311,933 15.7

1,268,700 369,474 29.1

1,839,300 602,884 32.8

TOTAL m

1 Including certain studies and research, training courses, seminars and workshops, fellowships and grants, financial contriiutions, subventions to NGOs for their training activities, or technical and advisory services.

2 27 Cl5 Approved, adjusted by between-line transfers and donations approved by the Executive Board at its 144th session.

_11-^---1- I__ _-_-.. ---. -

145 EXilNF.3 PART III Page 14 TABLE 9

DECENTRALIZATION’

(amounts foreseen for expenditure in the Field)

Sector/Unit

PART II.A

+ ED

+ SC

+ CLT

l CD

+ SHS

TOTAL, PART II-A

PART ILB

+ CLH

+ BPEIST

+ UP0

TOTAL, PART II.B

TOTAL, PART II

PART III

l BRX

+ BER

+ OPI

TOTAL, PART III

TOTAL

27 C/5 Approved

$

54,228,200

24,950,100

14,497,OOO

10,276,900

5,319,700

109,271,900

163,100

130,000

291,100

584,200

109,856,lOO

4,791,500

214,300

1,382,OOO

6,387,800

27 C/5 Approved

as aGusted’

$

53,081,410

24,175,909

14,898,263

10,499,208

5,783,916

108,438,706

137,000

130,000

296,600

563,600

109,002,306

4,879,250

219,100

1,363,800

6,462,150

Provisional allotment for 1994

$

14,540,292

11,751,815

9,306,434

5,515,095

4,193,974

45,307,610

58,000

62,500

143,620

264,120

45571,730

3,165,100

109,550

657,910

3,932,560

Implementation vis-a-vis

provisional allotment as at 31 August 1994

$ %

9,209,231 63.3

8,554,575 72.8

4,865,503 52.3

’ 3,281,191 59.5

3,451,321 82.3

29,361,821 64.8

14,000 24.1

28,000 44.8

80,445 56.0

122,445 46.4

29,484,266 64.7

1,840,420 58.1

78,397 71.6

418,512 63.6

2,337,329 59.4

31.821._595 643

I Including direct and indirect programme costs, Participation Programme and field staff costs.

2 27 C/5 Approved, adjusted by between-line transfers and donations approved by the Executive Board at its 144th session.

145 EXlINF.3 PART III Page 15

TABLE 10

PARTICIPATION PROGRAMME

A. APPROPRIATION LINE

Appropriation Line Allocations Allotments Implementation

as at 31 August 1994

$

ILA Mqjor Programme Areas


II. Sciences for Progress and the Environment


IV. Communication, Information and Informatics in the Service of Humanity


1I.B Transverse Themes, Programmes and Activities

6. Clearing House

7. Statistical Programmes and Services

III. Support for Programme Execution

Co-operation with National Commissions

TOTAL

8,030,000 5,347,500 3,442,271 64.4

3,425,OOO 2,113,468 1,648,296 78.0

6,805,OOO 5,237,503 1,986,741 37.9

2,502,500 1,885,038 928,555 49.3

2,040,OOO 2,014,151 1,779,053 74.4

80,500

130.000

1,987,OOO

2s-oAo 000 A--

$ $ %

24,000 14,000 58.3

62,500 28,000 44.8

1,659,OOO 958.588 57.8

$8,8

yII_._- . .._ -...- --. ,” -.-.. _- .-_-

145 EXiINF.3 PART III Page 16

PARTICIPATION PROGRAMME

B. NATURE OF EXPENDITURE

Nature of expenditure Allotments Implementation as at

31 August 1994

% $

A. Financial contributions for:

4 Conferences, meetings, seminars 6,757,427 4,495,864 66.5

+ Supplies and equipment 3,427,247 1,557,058 45.4

+ Fellowships, study grants 2,032,371 1,255,176 61.8

l Consultants 904,310 471,745 52.2

4 Publications, translations, reproduction 1,267,181 598,790 41.3

+ Other forms of participation 1,220,150 1,656,300 135.7

B. Material and technical assistance provided directly by UNESCO

4 Conferences, meetings, seminars 236,450 143,952 60.9

+ Supplies and equipment 695,500 92,606 13.3

+ Fellowships 701,894 134,944 19.2

l Consultants 773,930 163,121 21.1

+ Publications, translations, reproduction 121,700 39,843 32.7

+ Assistance under contractual arrangements 185,000 173,215 93.6

+ Other assistance 20,000 2,890 14.4

TOTAL

%

145 EXllNF.3 PART III Page 17

TABLE 11

FELLOWSHIPS, STUDY GRANTS AND

PARTICIPANTS’ TRAVEL TO TRAINING SEMINARS

Appropriation Line

II.A Major Programme Areas


II. Sciences for Progress ad the Environment


IV. Communication, Information and Informatics in the Service of Humanity


Sub-total, Part 1I.A

ILB Transverse Themes, Programmes and Activities

BPE/ST

Sub-total, Part 1I.B

Total, Part II

III. Support for Programme Execution

IV. General Administrative Services

TOTAL

Regular Programme Participation Programme

Implementation as Implementation as AUocations at 31 August 1994 Allocations at 31 August 1994

$ $ % $ $ %

168,800 135,603 80.3 491,400 81,600 16.6

2,567,700 627,449 24.4 70,018 17,268 24.7

415,500 92,444 22.2 6,476 476 7.4

310,600 39,057 12.6 50,000 21,600 43.2

334,500 73,433 22.0 84,000 14,000 16.7

- -

3,797,100 967,986 25.5 701,894 134,944 19.2

174,000 6,649 3.8

~ -

174,000 6,649 3.8

___ -

3,971,100 974,635 24.5 701,894 134,944 19.2

I 345,500 184,460 53.4

101,000 6,500 6.4

- -

-1.165.595 2d4 701.894 134.944 l22

- - -

- - - - - I_^._ - _ - . . .

145 EX0NF.3 PART III Page 18

TABLE 12

STAFF AND STAFF COSTS

(3 as nf 1994

Professional General and above Service

Total staff

Amount US S as at

August 1994

AT HEADQUARTERS

a Regular Budget 629 1,060 1,689 8,947,655

SW Other than Regular Budget 98 121 219 1,300,062

SUB-TOTAL 727 1,181 1,908 10,247,717

IN ESTABLISHED OFFICES

m Regular Budget 180 270 450 1,992,427

= Other than Regular Budget 66 34 100 543,019

SUB-TOTAL 246 304 550 2,535,446

EXTRABUDGETARY OPERATIONAL PROJECTS 47 59 106 446,910

TOTAL:

m Regular Budget 809 1,330 2,139 10,940,082

Z+ Other than Regular Budget 211 214 425 2,289,991 (including Operational Projects)

GRAND TOTAL

The above summary of serving staff as at 31 August 1994 calls for the following clarifications in so far as posts financed by the Regular Budget are concerned:

(aj In the Appropriation Resolution (para. A(f)) adopted by the General Conference at its 27th Session, a total number of 2,184 posts were approved for Regular Budget financing;

(b) It is to be noted that the total of 2,139 serving staff (including temporary staff) under the Regular Budget shown in column 3 above is 45 posts fewer than the total of 2,184 authorized posts.

145 EXDNF.3 PART III Page 19

. (ii) mhudeetarlly vac.ant 31 August 1994

Category

Professional

Headquarters

Field

General Service

Headquarters

Field

TOTAL

27 C/5 Approved Staff Establishment

Deduct

Posts

Total number of posts

Filled posh

Posts not

filled

Supernumerary and temporary staff

budgetarily vacant

622 603

195 173

19

22

26

7

(7) 15

1,087 1,036 51 24 27

280 266 14 4 10

61

III - PRESENTATION OF EXTRA-BUDGETARY OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMES

145 EX/INF.3 PART III

Page 20

CHART 5

Extra-budgetary Operational Programmes for 1994-I 995 by Source of Fund and by Major Programme Area

I- (US$ 250 Millions)

UNDP MPA I 100.9

UNFPA 20

. ,

ional Banks 20 . Special Accounts 40

Associate Experts

.2

11.3 MPAII 65

Other U.N. 12- World Bank 8.5

unds-in-trust 95

CHART 6

Extra-bbdgetary Operational Programme Allocations vs. Expenditure*

Ei 80.0 - 5 c” 60.0 - 0 .-

=

fs 40.0 -

’ Allocations

Expenditure

MPA III 37

MPA IV 34.5 MPAV 4.9 Other prog. 7.7

1988-l 989 1990-I 991 1992-l 993 1994-l 995

99.5 115.4 102.7 113.3 /

53.5 ( 48.6 49.8

Expenditure @ . . . . . . .:: ::: ::::. :::: :x~:+:~:::::::~~:: : : : . . :.:.: . .._......... ‘“““i .ii..,.../,...i....ii..i :::::: . . . . . . . . _. .._ . .._.._, ,., (, ,ij_____(____,,,, ‘“.‘.‘.‘.:.:.:.:.:.:.:“: ..I...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .“.......~(((.~..(.~.~.~;.~i

* Allocations and expenditure cover the first eight-months (January to August) of the first year of each biennium.

TABLE 13

IMPLEMENTATION OF EXTRA-BUDGETARY PROGRAMMES

BY SOURCE OF FUNDS

FUNDING SOURCE

UN Sources

+ UNDP

+ UNFPA

+ Others

Other Programmes

+ World Bank

l Regional Banks & Funds

+ Funds-in-Trust

+ Associate Experts, Special Accounts & Voluntary Contributions

TOTAL

Projections in 27 Cl5 Approved

SM

43.0

20.0

12.0

8.5

20.0

95.0

51.5

250.0

1994-199s 1992-1993

Expenditures Rate of Projections Expenditures Rate of 1 Jan.94 - 31 Aug.94 Expenditure in 26 Cl5 1 Jan.92 - 31 Aug.92 Expenditure

(8 months) Approved (8 months)

SM % SM SM %

8.1 19 64.7 16.1 25

4.3 22 30.0 5.0 17

2.0 17 9.5 1.9 20

1.3 15 8.5 0.8 9

3.8 19 21.0 0.8 4

18.2 19 76.3 13.9 18

12.1 23 36.8 10.1 27

49.8 20 246.8 48.6 20

TABLE 14

IMPLEMENTATION OF EXTRA-BUDGETARY PROGRAMMES BY REGION

1 January 1994 to 31 August 1994

(In millions of U.S. dollars)

SOURCES OF FUNDS TOTAL AFRICA

LATIN AMERICA

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

ARAB STATES EUROPE

INTER- REGIONAL AND

GLOBAL PROJECTS

UNITED NATIONS SOURCES

l UNDP 8.1 2.7 * 1.1 3.3 0.8 0.2

l UNFPA 4.3 1.9 0.3 0.2 0.1 1.8

l Other United Nations Sources 2.0 0.2 0.6 0.1 1.1

Sub-total United Nations Sources 14.4 4.8 1.4 3.5 1.5 0.1 3.1

OTHER PROGRAMMES

l World Bank (Teahnical Assistance)

l Regional Development Banks and Funds

l Self-benefiting Funds Donated Funds

l Associate Experts, Voluntary Contributions Special Accounts

Sub-total, Other Programmes

Total, Extra-budgetary Funds

1.3 0.5 0.4 0.4

3.8 0.7 0.2 2.5 0.4

18.2 3.6 3.7 4.1 1 .9 0.6 4.3 -

12.1 0.9 0.5 1.1 0.7 1.3 7.6

35.4 5.7 4.8 7.7 3.4 1.9 11.9

49.8 10.5 6.2 11.2 4.9 2.0 15.0

TABLE 15

IMPLEMENTATION OF EXTRA-BUDGETARY PROGRAMMES

BY SECTOR

1994-1995 1992-I 993

SECTOR Projections Expenditures Rate of Projections Expenditures Rate of in 27 Cl5 1 Jan.94 - Expenditure in 26 Cl5 1 Jan.92 - Expenditure Approved 31 Aug.94 Approved 31 Aug.92

(8 months) 18 months)

SM SM % SM SM %

ED 100.9 23.6 23 103.4 20.5 20

SC 65.0 7.1 11 49.4 11.0 22

SHS 4.9 2.5 51 12.6 2.9 23

CLT 37.0 5.6 15 29.5 4.4 15

CII 34.5 4.1 12 36.6 6.0 16

Others 7.7 6.9 90 15.3 3.8 25

TOTAL 250.0 49.8 20 246.8 48.6 20

145 EX0NF.3 Add. PARTS, 17 October 1994 Original: English/French


EXECUTIVE BOARD


Experimental arrangement concerning the use of the Portuguese language in the Executive Board

In 1985, the question of ‘the desirability and financial implications of the introduction of Portuguese and other languages as working languages of the Organization’ was included in the agenda of the Executive Board’s spring session. The Board decided (121 EX/Decision 8.6) to recommend that the General Conference add Portuguese to the number of off&&l languages of the Organization and this was approved by the Conference in 23 C/Resolution 31.2.

In 1987, in 24 C/Resolution 52.4, the General Conference requested the Director- General to ‘prepare a study on the possibility of gradually introducing Portuguese as a working language of the Grganization from 1990 . . .‘.

In 1989, the General Conference adopted 25 C/Resolution 49.2 in which it requested the Director-General, ‘with due regard to specific national and regional characteristics and the cultural identity of each of the countries and migrant communities in which it is spoken, and as a sequel to the action undertaken during the 1988-1989 biennium, to continue supporting the gradual introduction of Portuguese as a working language in 1990-1991, as part of the activities provided for in the Medium-Term Plan (1990-1995) and the Programme and Budget for the coming biennium, and in particular: (. . .)‘.

The Director-General has made the following arrangement for the 145th session of the Executive Board:

(a) the Portuguese language may be used by those members of the Executive Board who wish to make their speeches in that language in the plenary and the interpretation into one of the working languages would be ensured;

(b) such an arrangement, introduced for a definite period on an experimental basis, does not require at this stage a formal amendment of the Rules of Procedure;

Cc) an evaluation of this modality of implementation of the above-mentioned resolution will be presented to the Executive Board at its 146th session in order to keep it informed and eventually to enable it to formulate if it so wishes directives on the matter;

(d) the amount of about $10,000 required will be charged to the Headquarters Fund.

145 EXANF.3 Add.2 PARIS, 18 October 1994 Original: French *


EXECUTIVE BOARD


Texts governing the use of the various languages at UNESCO

Statutory texts and regulations

1. Where the General Conference is concerned, Rules 52 to 55 of its Rules of Procedure lay down its working languages and official languages and provide stipulations concerning interpretation into other languages. According to these Rules, Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish are the working lanpuw of the General Conference, and Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish are the Conference’s official langu~.

2. Ail the documents of the General Conference are published in the working languages and any amendments to the text of the Constitution and any decision regarding the Constitution and the legal status of UNESCO have, in principle, to be translated into all the official languages.

3. In accordance with Rule 56.2, at the request of any delegation, any other important document may be translated into any other official language, but the interested delegation has to provide the necessary translators,

4. Rule 57 states that delegates may speak in other than the working languages but they must themselves provide for interpretation of their speech into one of the working languages, according to their choice; the Secretariat provides interpretation into the other working languages.

5. According to Rule 21 of the Rules of Procedure of the Executive Board, Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish are the Board’s workinp languages. There is nothing in these Rules of Procedure governing interpretation or the publication of documents in languages other than those stated as being the working languages.

6. In the case of the working languages of the Secretariat, the languages to be used for the various categories of meetings organized by UNESCO and the languages to be used for documents and gublications, these points are all governed by the Manual of UNESCO, but always with reference to the classification of working languages and official languages given in Rules 52 to 57 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Conference (v. supra) and in conformity with the provisions of those Rules concerning the use of those languages and of languages other than working or official languages. An apparently similar idea, although one that has no legal deftitiion, is that of working language of the Organization (cf. 24 C/Resolution 52.4).

145 EXrnVF.3 Add.2 - page 2

7. Use of the Portuguese language

A large number of resolutions on the use of languages have been adopted by the General Conference since 1980 (see Annex), but the following decisions and resolutions, adopted by the Executive Board and the General Conference on the subject of Portuguese, are particularly significant.

In 1985 the Executive Board decided (121 EX/Decision 8.6) to recommend that the General Conference add Portuguese to the number of official languages of the Organization, which the General Conference approved by 23 C/Resolution 31.2.

In 1987, by 24 C/Resolution 52.4, the General Conference requested the Director- General to study the possibility of gradually introducing the Portuguese language as a working lanpuag of the Organization. The study was published in document 25 C/42.

In 1989 the General Conference adopted 25 C/Resolution 49.2 in which the Director- General is requested to continue supporting the gradual introduction of Portuguese as a workinp 1a.m~~ of the Organization. The resolution seti out a number of me=ures (145 EX/INF.3 Add.).

145 EXAN-P.3 Add.2 Annex

ANNEX

General Conference resolutions

The most recent (since 1980) of the many resolutions on the use of languages are:

Year

1980

1983

1985

1987

1989

1991

1993

1993 27 C/41 Balance of languages in UNESCO’s publications

1993 27 C/42 Support for the use of Arabic

Resolution

21 c/41.1

21 C/41.2

22 c/47.1

22 C/47.2

23 C/51

24 C/52.1

24 C/52.2

24 C/52.3

24 C/52.4

25 C/49.1

26 C/34

27 C/40

Language(s) concerned

Russian

Arabic

Russian

Arabic

Russian

Russian

Chinese

Spanish

Portuguese

Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese

Use of the six working languages of the General Conference

Balance in the use of the six working languages of the General Conference, and use of other official languages

_~l-_.l . .---.. ..--. _.-~._ .i _..- _ .-.-.__-._.

145 EXDNF.3 Add.3 PARIS, 20 October 1994 English & French only


EXECUTIVE BOARD


Item 5.1 of the orovisional apenda

INTRODUCTION BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL TO HIS REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE

ORGANIZATION SINCE THE 144th SESSION

145 EWINF.3 Add.3

Madam Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. There is no doubt that the 145th session of the Executive Board will mark an important point in the life of UNESCO, with the debate due to start in a few days’ time on the lines of emphasis for the Organization’s medium-term planning, which should enable UNESCO to respond to the challenges of the twenty-first century by strengthening its contribution to the promotion of development and peace.

2. As I have pointed out on more than one occasion, the Organization’s work in its fields of competence is directed towards these two objectives and is solidly incorporated in that of the United Nations system; this trend is reflected in Part I of my report on the activities of the Organization since the 144th session.

DEVELOPMENT

3. In this oral introduction I should like to inform the members of the Executive Board of certain movements, happenings or events that have taken place since my report was prepared; as the report itself was mainly concerned with development issues, I shall concentrate today on UNESCO’s specific contribution to peace. None the less, I believe several activities that illustrate the Organization’s work for the development of its Member States should be brought to the attention of the members of the Board. I was able to gauge the effectiveness of that work during my recent official missions and, taking the Organization’s pulse in the field in this way, I was reassured to see that our action can be both practical and effective.

4. This was particularly noticeable during my missions to Brazil, Russia and Slovakia. In Mauritius the plan for the reform and development of education represents a highly appreciated contribution to the economic and social development of that Member State. In Seychelles the Organization is involved in the establishment of the national library. In Cape Verde post literacy activities have been followed by the establishment of micro-projects for rural development and micro-businesses, which could be made viable, and create jobs, through a policy of small loans such as is practised in Bangladesh.

5. The holding of national consultations on education in several Member States indicates the high level of priority assigned to education and to the contribution that education makes to national reconstruction and the promotion of democracy. Since the 1990 Jomtien Conference 80 Member States have to date organized national consultations on education or national conferences on education for all. In the last six months Brazil, China India, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and other Member States of the southern ‘Sahel’ of the Sahara have looked even more closely at their education systems, laying down objectives and strategies for the future.

6. In Burkina Faso, a multilingual country par excellence where 65 languages are spoken, the Institut national d’alphabe’tisation (national institute for literacy education) is working to create, maintain and expand a literate environment in national languages, without which the best literacy programmes have no chance of success. There are plans to set up a higher council for languages to co-ordinate such activities more effectively and, most importantly, to submit

145 EX/INF.3 Add. 3 - page 2

to the Assembly of People’s Deputies and the Government laws on the use of the majority national languages in political and administrative life, where French has prevailed until now. Proposals to introduce the national languages into the formal education system were made by a committee of experts in the introductory document for the national consultation on education held in Ouagadougou from 5 to 10 September 1994.

7. UNESCO assisted Burkina Faso to set up the rural schools that were in operation from 1961 to 1972; the purpose of that project was to enrol illiterate adolescents and provide them with an introduction to modem farming methods. A project entitled ‘Equal access to education for women and girls’ was carried out from 1967 to 1979. Between 1979 and 1984 UNESCO contributed to the execution of the project for the reform of the education system in Burkina Faso; together with the UNESCO Institute for Education in Hamburg, the national institute for literacy education carried out a research project on the development of self-instruction in formal and non-formal education. The institute obtained an honorable mention in connection with the Nadezhda K. Krupskaya Prize and the King Sejong Literacy Prize in 1993.

8. In Pakistan, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA and the World Bank met the highest authorities of the Government of Pakistan to discuss ways and means to achieve a significant breakthrough in education for all. The meeting with the Prime Minister, H.E. Ms Benazir Bhutto, included a frank discussion on basic education issues in Pakistan, and the handing over of the Joint Agency Statement; the Prime Minister confirmed her deep commitment to the achievement of a significant breakthrough for education for all in the years to come, by increasing the allocation of budgetary resources from a present 2 per cent to 3 per cent of the GNP by the year 2000. She also acknowledged the need to increase the quality of teacher training, to decentralize educational decision-making and to develop effective literacy campaigns in the rural areas, where 85 per cent of the women are still illiterate. The Prime Minister also pledged that she would regularly review progress in education for all in the country on a quarterly basis. She signed the Declaration of Leaders of the Nine High- Population Countries. In the immediate future, UNESCO will assist the Government of Pakistan in the planning of an effective adult-literacy strategy and in efforts to upgrade the training and status of teachers. In so doing, and through the development of human resources, this is a contribution to peace-building.

9. As in Pakistan, the President of Mexico and the newly elected President have confirmed their adhesion to the Statement of the Delhi Summit.

10. The representatives of the nine high-population countries held a meeting in Geneva on 8 October, the last day of the forty-fourth session of the International Conference on Education, to review action since the Delhi Summit and to discuss areas of future co- operation. They discussed inter alia co-operation in the area of distance education, with emphasis on reaching the unreached and the education of girls and women, and agreed that the nine high-population countries should endeavour to put basic education and lifelong education for all on the list of agenda items for the Copenhagen Social Summit. In my view, this summit is the best we can do to build peace. The follow-up to the Delhi Summit will be discussed under item 5.2.2 (145 EX/lO).

11. Mention should also be made of the establishment in November 1994 of an international centre for rural education in China, to which the Organization will be providing support. At the University of Pennsylvania a literacy centre that will be working in developing countries has just been set up with support from UNESCO.


12. The President of Chile has proposed that, with the assistance of UNESCO, UNDP and ECLAC, a Conference of the Presidents of the Member States of Latin America be held on the modernization of their education systems. This initiative may be linked to others such as MECCO (Common Market of Knowledge) and ENLACE, of the Bolivar programme, the purpose of which is to promote co-operation between industry and university research.

13. With respect to activities relating to environment and development, I should like to mention that on 14 and 15 October 1994 the signing ceremony of the Convention to combat desertification took place at UNESCO’s Headquarters; 87 countries have signed the Convention. The Secretariat participated in the preparation of the Convention and has repeatedly emphasized its full commitment to assuming its role in the future implementation of the Convention with regard to national capacity-building, scientific research, human-resources development, environmental education and awareness creation, and demonstration activities related to the rational management of arid and semi-arid lands. This commitment is based on the 40 years of UNESCO’s experience in arid and semi-arid land research.

14. A very recent initiative taken by UNESCO to improve living conditions in the arid and semi-arid regions is the International Programme for Arid Land Crops (IPALAC). This programme is based on a network of existing institutions, each located in a desert region, but each with its own particular climatic and/or social characteristics. The IPALAC network links the Institute for Desert Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Lanzhou), the Znstitut de la recherche agronomique (Maroua, Cameroon), the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia), the Central Arid Zone Research Institute (Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India), the University of La Serena (Chile) and the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Israel). Each institution will serve as a regional centre, and as such will initiate research and development projects and serve as a source of germ plasm, extension and training for the region in which it is located. A workshop will be held in early November 1994 to present IPALAC’s rationale and goals to representatives of the donor community and of organizations involved in the sustainable development of semi-arid and arid regions, and to chart the future course of the programme.

15. Another example of action aimed at the environment and development concems the North Mananara biosphere reserve in Madagascar, which I recently visited. The northern part of the site of Mananara was chosen in 1988 to be Madagascar’s first biosphere reserve under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere programme. The Organization is the executing agent for the Malagasy Government, with financial support from UNDP ($2 million for the first phase of the project). Following the transitional phase covering the period 1992-1994, the second phase, to start in January 1995, will be financed mainly by the Netherlands. The purpose of the project is to help rural populations conserve and enhance their animal and plant heritage by finding alternatives to nomadic slash-and-bum methods of rice growing affecting the fertility of the area and causing the disappearance of forests and soil erosion. Dangers threatening the extinction of both fauna and flora must also be removed in the marine reserve, which is a place for reproduction. The strategy of the North Mananara project is to explain to the populations the important role of forest land and coral reefs, particularly to country-dwellers in rural and fishing villages, who exert the greatest pressure on these ecosystems.

16. The site, which is made up of two national parks (terrestrial and marine), has been classified as a biosphere reserve since July 1989, The total area spans some 140,000 hectares, comprising 23,000 hectares of terrestrial park, 1,000 hectares of marine park and

; _ , _ . . . . . ^ . - ._ __^_ - _ . - . - - - - . - -

_.-__ - -

-~ _ I ”_ ._ I - - I

__ I -_ . - , . - - - . - _ -


116,000 hectares of buffer and transition zones. The population concerned has 42,000 inhabitants, including several dozen families in the protected central zone and several hundred in the buffer zone. As the site of Mananara is difficult to reach, UNESCO’s single-engined Maule MX7 is used for aerial observation, communication and monitoring missions. The aeroplane is regularly chartered for missions by the European Development Fund, the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, Care International and the media. The staff employed by the North Mananara project includes one associate expert placed at UNESCO’s disposal by the Dutch Government, who lives on the site, one national co-ordinator and 60 Malagasy. The strategy adopted since 1988 for the three biosphere reserves (North Mananara, Ankarafantsika and Bemahara), which total more than 400,000 hectares and for which more than $4 million has been raised, makes UNESCO the uncontested pioneer of the environmental action programme adopted by Madagascar.

17. Efforts are also being made to assist Benin in the management of its lagoon human settlements.

18. In biotechnology the following graphs illustrate the major programme of short-term grants to young researchers and to specialist missions in developing Member States. The activities involve the distribution of laboratory manuals and support to conferences, seminars and training courses. In addition, and for the first time, a two-week advanced training course in biotechnology was held in Pretoria last August; this activity will be followed by other co- operative action aimed at strengthening scientific collaboration within the Republic of South Africa and between that country and its neighbours.

w

145 EXDNF.3 Add. 3 - page 8

19. Lastly, I am completely in favour of the idea of setting up an international information technology centre in Viet Nam, which the Executive Board will consider at this session.

20. To end this part, on the Organization’s development action, I should like to express my gratitude to Member States whose contribution in the form of funds-in-trust makes it possible to carry out many development activities, some of which I have just mentioned. As at 30 September 1994 the extra-budgetary funds allocated to projects amounted to $115.5 million, $38.5 million (i.e. 33 per cent) of which was made up of funds-in-trust. This amount of $38.5 million represents an increase of $9.9 million over the first nine months of the 1992-1993 biennium. As at 30 September 1994, $7.1 million had been paid in by Germany, $5.9 by the Scandinavian countries, $4.7 by Japan, $3.2 by the Netherlands and $2.9 by Italy. These Member States have contributed 62 per cent of total funds-in-trust. Mention should also be made of Saudi Arabia’s $2.5 million contribution for the re-establishment of schools in Palestine. It should also be pointed out that funds have been allocated to many development activities under the Participation Programme.

PEACE-BUILDING

21. I should like first of all to welcome the award on 14 October 1994 of the Nobel Peace Prize to Mr Yasser Arafat, Mr Yitzhak Rabin and Mr Shimon P&&s. I am all the more happy about this choice in that on 6 July last the 1993 F&ix HouphouSBoigny Peace Prize was awarded to those three eminent persons at a ceremony held in the presence of Mr Henri Konan BCdiC, President of the Republic of Gate d’Ivoire, Mr Mario Soares, President of the Portuguese Republic, Ms Tansu Ciller, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, Mr Habib Thiam, Prime Minister of the Republic of Senegal, the President of the international jury for the prize, Mr Henry A. Kissinger, and other members of the jury. The President of the General Conference and the Chairperson of the Executive Board also graced the occasion by attending the ceremony, which, by rewarding the leading players in the process of reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians - who came together for the first time on the rostrum of the United Nations - brilliantly illustrated UNESCO’s essential task, which is to construct the defences of peace in the minds of men.

22. Next, I should like to welcome the restoration of democracy in Haiti and the return of the legally and democratically elected President Aristide to his country on 15 October. In addition to the application of resolution 940, adopted by the Security Council on 31 July 1994, we must see this event as a victory of right over might, a victory that the entire international community can claim. Haiti is an illustration of the contribution UNESCO can make in its fields of competence to the spreading of a culture of peace. by combining development activities, humanitarian action and the promotion of human rights and democracy. Let me remind you that collaboration between Haiti and UNESCO came to a halt after the coup d’e’tat of September 1991. It was resumed, after I had met President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in September 1993, in the form of emergency assistance, its measures of implementation being provided for in the ‘Appeal for support to Haiti’ made by the General Conference at its twenty- seventh session. The members of the Executive Board will find in document 145 EX/35 my report on the implementation of UNESCO’s programme of action, for which my personal representative in Haiti is responsible. I wish to pay tribute to him and to the entire team working with him for the dedication and courage they have shown during this difficult period.

145 EX0NF.3 Add. 3 - page 9

23. The restoration of constitutional legality in Haiti will make it possible for us to strengthen UNESCO’s presence and to step up our action in the fields of education and the promotion of human rights and democracy. Just recently $80,000 in funding was allocated to the Organization to contribute to humanitarian action for Haitian children and the improvement of schools in co-operation with various agencies of the United Nations system and NGOs. I also propose to launch a national literacy programme and a programme of training scholarships for Haitians of the Diaspora so that they may take part in rebuilding their country. Furthermore, we are considering holding in Haiti an international meeting on peace and democracy entitled ‘Haiti tomorrow’, bringing together intellectuals, scientists, educators and Haitians of the Diaspora. UNESCO’s intersectoral mission, which had been planned before the coup d’e’tat, will be organized as soon as possible. It will make it possible to study medium- and long-term needs in order to draw up a coherent overall plan: our assistance must have immediate tangible results, but it must also help Haiti to lay the foundations of sustainable development. This overall plan will take the contributions of other United Nations organizations and bilateral and multilateral donors into account. I am convinced that the members of the Executive Board will add to and elaborate on these proposals when document 145 EX/35 is discussed.

24. UNESCO has also in the past few weeks been stepping up its assistance to the reconstruction of Rwanda. Members of the Executive Board will find detailed information on this subject in document 145 EX/37. I would add that two staff missions went to Kigali in September 1994 in order to assess the position of the media, some of which, it will be remembered, exhorted people to commit genocide at the time of the tragic events that occurred in that country. I am planning to extend support, as soon as possible, to independent media that will provide impartial reporting, thus helping to promote tolerance and respect for the individual in that country. In addition, a communication professional will be assigned to Kigali to co-ordinate our action with the national authorities and other organizations of the United Nations system active in Rwanda. I shall say no more on this subject, as a short video is to be shown to you to illustrate the Organization’s action in that country.

25. Also to be noted is the establishment in Burundi of a UNESCO House whose main task is to promote mutual understanding, inter-ethnic dialogue, tolerance and the non-violent resolution of conflicts. In Mozambique, which is currently moving towards free elections, the Organization has developed one of its best ‘culture of peace’ programmes.

26. A further recent illustration of the support provided by the Organization to national reconstruction is offered by Palestine. On 18 September 1994, UNESCO signed an agreement with the Ministry of Education of the Palestinian National Authority concerning the rehabilitation of 15 schools in Gaza and Jericho. The Government of Saudi Arabia has donated $2,500,000 for the implementation of this project. Some 14,000 children will benefit from the refurbishment of these schools. I wish to thank His Majesty King Fahd for hiS generous contribution to a project that fits into the context of peace-building in Palestine.

27. In the case of Bosnia, in addition to the establishment of our Office in Sarajevo, a ‘cultural airlift’ has enabled 120 persons to make cultural visits abroad. Substantial funds are being raised for the reconstruction of the education system in Sarajevo, while efforts are being made to rebuild the Mostar bridge under fund-in-trust arrangements.

28. I should also like to inform members of the Executive Board of the results of the first consultative meeting of the Culture of Peace programme, held at UNESCO Headquarters

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from 27 to 29 September 1994. It was attended by some 20 experts from various disciplines, along with numerous members of permanent delegations and observers from NGOs. The participants discussed the content of the ‘culture of peace’ concept and made suggestions about activities that could be undertaken in this context. It was stressed that peace should be understood in positive terms as implying justice and social harmony, the possibility for everyone fully to achieve their potential and the right for each person to live in dignity. The building of a culture of peace requires a long-term commitment and planning on the part of governments, decision-makers and each individual. The principles of participation and co- operation by all the parties concerned, which are central to all national programmes, are essential for peace-building in pre- and post-conflict situations. Conflict management, which must take oral traditions fully into account, is an important dimension for ensuring real peace- building. In the opinion of the participants, appropriate training courses must be provided for all personnel engaged in development activities. The final report of the consultative meeting will be distributed in English, French and Spanish during this session of the Executive Board.

29. I am also happy to announce that the Philippines will be hosting next year in Manila the second Culture of Peace Forum, which will be the follow-up to the Forum held in San Salvador in February 1994. On the occasion of that forum, experts will discuss the experience of countries involved in peace-building following a conflict, such as the Philippines and Cambodia. During my talks with President Fidel V. Ramos on 14 September last we looked in detail at various aspects concerning the forum.

30. In El Salvador, President Calderdn has personally undertaken to remain informed of the culture of peace programme established by the Organization in that Member State. From 11 to 23 June 1994, the Guatemala national meeting was held, at which Ms Rigoberta Menchb, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, read out my message, thereby demonstrating the community of ideas uniting UNESCO with the national reconciliation effort.

31. I attended a meeting organized in Venice from 12 to 14 .May 1994, in co-operation with the European Institute for East-West Co-operation on ‘Peace-keeping and peace-building’, chaired by the Nobel Prizewinner Ilya Prigogine and in the presence of a large number of eminent people (Alvin Toffler, Franc0 Ferrarotti, Larry Seaquist, Emma Nicholson, M&hail Gorbachev and Manfred Max-Neef). The feeling to emerge from the meeting was that institutions, research centres and military academies attached to the ministries of defence of Member States should in future be associated with UNESCO’s peace-building programmes, Informal contacts already made with national defence institutes, in particular the NATO Defence College, have shown how mutually advantageous it would be for UNESCO to co- operate with those institutes. I intend to develop these contacts further through an awareness campaign directed at these possible partners in order to inform them more fully of UNESCO’s role in peace-building. Contacts have thus been made with the Inter-American Defense Board, in Washington, which brings together representatives of all the armies of Latin America and the Caribbean, with a view to organizing in 1995 an initial meeting of ministers of defence and Chiefs of Staff to reflect together on the contribution of the armed forces to peace-building.

32. I have, as you will recall, several times made appeals for tolerance and mutual understanding. We should redouble our efforts so as to ensure that those appeals are relayed in Member States, for example by disseminating them in newsletters intended for teachers. Moreover, I continue to be concerned about the viol-ence and ethnic cleansing taking place, sometimes hidden behind the more visible aspects of military actions or other more visible events that we are more used to. We have no observatories on human rights or on the ethnic


and cultural issues. I must condemn without delay, as I have already done on your behalf many times, acts of violence against intellectuals. I have reacted very strongly, particularly when the targets were schools and universities. I have said, with all the strength at our command as the moral force of the United Nations system, that violence of any kind has no excuse; any divergence, any rebellion has its excuse, but not violence. We have reacted, saying ‘this is the most abominable threat’ when the targets threatened were schools and children. Therefore, I must also tell you how sad I am to learn that this very day the Egyptian writer, Nagib Mahfouz, has been attacked. What these people are aiming to do is precisely to eliminate those who represent goodness or wisdom today. We must perhaps refine the mechanisms by which we can protest and react when these things happen. We cannot limit ourselves to telling the Security Council and those who have such responsibil&ies in the United Nations system: ‘Look what is happening in this respect’. I remember how shocked I was once to listen to a radio broadcast which, day and night, repeated: ‘kill the children . . . kill all the children’. We must be prepared when it is in our fields of competence and when it concerns cultural or ethnic cleansing, violence against children, intellectuals, artists or journalists, we must be at the forefront in condemning such acts, because our ethical role of building peace through education, science and culture means that we must have the capacity, in our fields of competence, to exercise our moral authority in making our position very clear to everybody and contribute to the mitigation and prevention of such phenomena.

33. The role that falls to education in the fulfilment of this task was at the centre of the deliberations of the forty-fourth session of the International Conference on Education held in Geneva from 3 .to 8 October 1994 on the theme ‘Appraisal and perspectives of education for international understanding’. The Conference was attended by 129 UNESCO Member States, three non-Member States, Palestine, 21 intergovernmental organizations, 38 international non- governmental organizations and one foundation, making a total of 803 participants, including 68 ministers and 22 deputy ministers of education. The Conference was organized along new lines entailing several innovations. For the first time, the Conference was in two separate parts: first, governmental experts worked on draft texts to be submitted to the ministers for adoption; the deliberations then took the form of three major debates, led respectively by James Grant, Executive Director of UNICEF, Jacques Delors and myself; several round-table meetings were organized in parallel with these debates, in co-operation with international governmental and non-governmental organizations. The Conference unanimously adopted a Declaration and took note of a draft Integrated Framework of Action on education for peace, human rights and democracy. Those documents are available to members of the Executive Board.

34. The Declaration highlights the interdependence between the establishment of peace, respect for human rights and the necessary consolidation of democracy. Similarly, the elimination of poverty, the reduction of inequalities, improvement of the living conditions of the most disadvantaged groups, the achievement of the objective of education for all and, generally, all that pertains to sustainable human development, are considered to be decisive factors for the establishment of a culture of peace. This last session of the International Conference on Education - which was the largest forum since the Yamoussoukro Congress to study the significance of the ‘culture of peace’ concept and its practical implications for education systems - thus confirmed that this concept is emerging as a rallying point for various currents of thought and opinion. This was to my mind an outstanding aspect of this forty- fourth session, investing it with special significance.

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35. The draft Integrated Framework of Action, which is designed to give effect to the Declaration, contains guidelines for the implementation of strategies, policies and action plans by all the partners concerned by the development of education, formal and non-formal alike, including the media. As invited by the Conference, I shall engage in appropriate consultations on this subject before submitting it through the Executive Board to the General Conference at its twenty-eighth session.

36. The ICE also recognized that the Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Education Relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms had played an important role in promoting education for intemational understanding. It considered that this instrument should continue to provide inspiration for the implementation of education for peace, human rights and democracy.

37. Another strategy for peace promotion and peace building lies in encouraging cultural pluralism and intercultural dialogue. To illustrate my point, I shall refer to a number of activities that have been put into effect in recent weeks.

38. On 1 September 1994, in Ouidah (Benin), I joined with President NicCphore Soglo in inaugurating the conference launching the intercultural ‘Slave Route’ project. The number and academic standing of the participants, the multidisciplinary approach of the scientific papers delivered and the wide-ranging dialogue established among specialists from Europe, Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean are all factors militating in favour of the implementation of this project against the backdrop of the culture of peace and the International Year for Tolerance. The main lines of thrust which the International Scientific Committee suggested for the implementation of this project are the historical dimension and the present-day cultural implications of the slave-trade. The project activities will accordingly be organized around the study of the sources and archives of the slave-trade, th& development of teaching materials, the highlighting of the cultural, artistic and spiritual interactions it has generated, and cultural tourism to places preserving the memory of the slave-trade. I am particularly delighted at the recommendation which the Scientific Committee put to me, to the effect that Mr Amadou- Mahtar M’Bow, former Director-General of UNESCO, be appointed its Chairperson. I should also like to take this opportunity of again expressing my appreciation for the major contribution which President NicCphore Soglo has made to the launching of the ‘Slave Route’ project.

39. To quote another example, following the visit of the group of experts to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in August 1992, the enlarged Committee which I set up to advise me on the conservation of the Holy Sepulchre met at the site in early September 1994. It noted with regret the unsatisfactory nature of the work undertaken in recent years by the Greek Orthodox, Latin and Armenian communities. The Committee recognizes the need for each community to ensure that its own part is adapted to its specific liturgical setting. However, it deplored the lack of co-ordination and the failure to strike a harmonious balance in the operations which the communities carry out in their own particular parts. The Committee also considered that the aesthetic, religious and historical values which make the Holy Sepulchre a unique monument require all the work to be carried out with all due respect for those values. This is not the case at present, and the Committee is afraid that those unique values, which have warranted the inclusion of the monument on the World Heritage List, along with the Old City of Jerusalem as a whole, are now in jeopardy. The Committee also found that the overall restoration of the Holy Sepulchre had been planned and carried out without any prior historical and archaeological study or technical diagnosis. The Committee accordingly proposes that

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UNESCO commission experts of international renown undertake this task in collaboration with the religious communities concerned. The Committee hopes, therefore, that the communities will hencefolward refrain from any further operations. Once these studies become available, a comprehensive niedium- and long-term plan should be drawn up for the Holy Sepulchre whose aim would be an overall restoration of the monument in keeping with the liturgical needs of each community and with their own artistic traditions. I, personally, wish to make a solemn appeal to all the Christian churches to help UNESCO to protect this monument by making contributions to the Special Account opened for the safeguarding of this cultural heritage.

40. As I have stressed on many occasions, UNESCO’s contribution to peace is also contingent upon the strengthening of its ethical mission. Evidence of this can be seen in the work being done by the International Bioethics Committee set up in 1993 in response to the ethical concerns prompted by developments in the life sciences. The Committee held its second session at the Organization’s Headquarters from 20 to 22 September 1994. This second session was attended by more than 400 participants, including the 50 members of the Committee, from 35 countries, and by more than 80 ambassadors to UNESCO. The Committee considered two topics, each of which was discussed in a working group, one on ‘genetic screening and testing’ and the other on ‘the new therapies derived from genetic engineering’. The first of these topics dealt, among other things, with the role of States, in particular in connection with the mandatory screening which some people would like to introduce in the name of a restrictive population policy that would be liable to give rise to the practice of eugenics. The second topic, on gene therapies, showed that, in the view of most specialists, this new method of treatment raises ethical issues similar to those implicit in other forms of medical experimentation that hold out hopes of progress but also entail risks. By contrast, so-called germline therapies (which would be used on human reproductive cells) raise altogether new and serious issues.

41. The Committee also considered an initial outline Declaration on the human genome and took note of the report prepared by Mr Hector Gros Espiell on that subject. It was decided to expand the outline in the coming months by means of a consultation conducted among UNESCO’s Member States, the relevant international organizations and the scientific community. Pursuant to the terms of 27 C/Resolution 5.15, this task represents the first stage in the preparation of an international instrument on the human genome. The Committee hopes that this instrument may be adopted in 1998, when the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal ‘ Declaration of Human Rights will be celebrated.


42. With respect to the universality of the Organization, I would like only to mention that the Government of South Africa has expressed the wish to rejoin the Organization; I hope that, before long, this decision will be endorsed by the Parliament and will be officially communicated.

43. Regarding the experimental arrangement concerning the use of the Portuguese language in the Executive Board, all relevant information can be found in documents 145 EX/INF.3 Add. and 145 EX/INF.3 Add.2.

44. The Consultative Committee on Women had its second meeting on 13 and 14 October. Ms Gertrude Mongella, Secretary-General of the fourth World Conference

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on Women, honoured the Committee by her presence and provided a very good opportunity for us to discuss matters of common concern and to link the preparations of the Beijing Conference to other major United Nations conferences and agendas. We have agreed to continue our close co-operation, particularly in view of the organization in Beijing on 3 September, at the eve of the Conference, of a top-level consultation on women’s contribution to a culture of peace, as well as the organization, on 8 September, at the International Literacy Day, of a broad presentation of UNESCO’s main messages in favour of the empowerment of women through education, science, culture and communication. We equally agreed to give particular importance to the concerns and the visions of young people in this context.

45. A full report of the discussions of the Committee, including its recommendations, will be sent to the members of the Executive Board in due course. The Committee urged UNESCO to facilitate and stimulate women’s access to decision-making and to dedicate a special interdisciplinary project to this task. To that end, co-operation between Permanent Delegations and the Secretariat will be enhanced.

46. I find it is timely for UNESCO to take certain measures that will institute the practical conditions for effective functional autonomy of both IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission) and WHC (World Heritage Centre) within the Organization. The procedures by which UNESCO would confer to IOC and WHC an effective functional autonomy in regard to administrative and financial aspects would be based upon the successful modalities already approved by the General Conference in regard to the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) and the International Bureau of Education (IBE). In accordance with the precedents established for these two institutions, a proposal could be included within the Draft UNESCO Programme and Budget for 1996-1997 (Draft 28 C/5) by which UNESCO would provide its regular programme support to IOC and WHC through a ‘financial allocation’.

47. At the 144th session of the Executive Board, a series of working luncheons was organized, on the initiative of its Chairperson, to discuss UNESCO’s areas of priority - Africa, LDCs, women - and other subjects of topical concern. The action notes sent to the Director- General following those luncheons have been circulated to the appropriate sectors for follow- up. I warmly welcome this initiative which, in addition to providing an informal setting for useful exchanges of information on such issues, is an additional means for enhancing interaction between Member States and Board members on the one hand, and the Secretariat on the other.