Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Paris, 6 June 1996
N° 3

CO-OPERATION BETWEEN PARLIAMENTS AND UNESCO URGED BY WORLD CONFERENCE OF MPs

Legislators from around the world today pledged to forge closer links with UNESCO and provide it with the support of the world's parliaments in promoting policies in the field of education, culture and communication that will best help future human development.

"We pledge ourselves to promote co-operation between our respective parliaments and UNESCO and, conversely, encourage UNESCO to work more closely with the parliamentary institutions in all countries," the 175 MPs from 71 countries said after four days of debate at UNESCO on Education, Culture and Communication on the Eve of the 21st Century.

Moreover, "after careful review, we members of parliament from around the world declare our support for UNESCO's Medium-Term Strategy, 1996-2001", the Conference's Final Document, entitled "The Parliamentary Vision for Education, Culture and Communication on the Eve of the 21st Century", also said, putting forward suggestions for its implementation.

The 3-6 June Conference was organized jointly by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which is the world organization of parliaments, and UNESCO.

The suggestions, contained in a series of Finding and Recommendations, focus on "providing the kind of education which is needed in the society of tomorrow which includes education for peace, human rights and democracy, tolerance and international understanding, enhancing the heritage and promoting creativity, encouraging cultural pluralism and dialogue between cultures, and guiding the information revolution so that it will contribute to a better world."

Among the suggestions are that educational policies are given even more attention by parliaments as one of the major issues of the turn of the century; that cultural rights are better promoted and defended including by parliaments enacting legislation for ensuring their legal protection; and that the INTERNET is promoted as a tool for development.

"Policies for education, culture and communication must also be pursued with the objective of creating a 'culture of peace'", the Final Document said, stressing that this "implies a determined commitment to work for a world acceptable to all". The Document said that parliaments need to ensure that "adequate budgetary resources" are allocated for the implementation of all national policies and programmes in these areas, and that to bolster their own efforts, "developing countries must be able to count on increased support from the rich countries and the international community".

IPU Secretary General, Pierre Cornillon, termed the Conference "fruitful and important" and showed that the enterprise was "both necessary and urgent".

"It successfully brought to light the scope of the issues at stake, demonstrated how vital it is for parliamentarians to discuss at this time future policies in the fields of education, culture and communication, and proved that these are priority themes which will certainly become one of the major debates of the turn of the century."

"And as far as communication is concerned, it is clear that the information revolution is to the end of this century what the industrial revolution was to the last," Cornillon said.

UNESCO Director-General, Federico Mayor, called the Conference an "excellent result for UNESCO on the occasion of its 50th anniversary". He said its recommendations would "inspire UNESCO" in its work and provide it with "excellent support on how to better convert words into deeds". The work of UNESCO "cannot be achieved without your co-operation", Mayor told the closing session of parliamentarians.

Following are the conference's main findings:

Education for the 21st Century

• The goals of education and educational choices must be the subject of "extensive democratic debate", involving parliaments, public opinion and the media.
• It is "urgent to steer the world toward greater mutual understanding, a stronger sense of responsibility and increased solidarity among peoples of different cultures and faiths", and provide "access to knowledge for all".
• "Education must also serve as a laboratory and workshop for developing the attitudes and values that must prevail if the objectives of development and peace are to be achieved. Is there any better way of modelling all the attitudes and types of behaviour that make up a culture of peace than through instruction, teaching and the personal interaction that education involves?"
• Educational policies must fulfil three goals: "building a world in which there is greater solidarity and a stronger sense of our interdependence and shared destiny, helping to establish or renew democracy, and contributing to a development that is, at once, humane and sustainable."
• "Quality basic education" needs to be pursued since it "gives the individual his or her initial taste for learning and develops the skills that permit learning to continue throughout life".
• "Education for women and girls must be the priority of priorities within the field of education," since closing the gender gap is a "vital development concern" especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
• The development of education calls for a "vast increase in international assistance" to education in developing countries, and "considerably augmented resources" to support education in Africa.
• Education needs to be accorded a top priority in national budgets. "It is an investment not only in a country's future, but in that of humanity as well".

Culture and Development in the 21st Century

• The concept of development must go farther than the production of goods and include "access to knowledge, health, a clean physical environment, preservation of cultural heritage, shared community life, democratic freedoms and other choices. Indeed, culture and development will be among the major issues of the next decades."
• There should be a new "set of global ethics" based on human rights, democracy, protection of minorities, commitment to peaceful conflict resolution, and fair negotiation and promotion of equity and justice.
• "Cultural rights have been relatively neglected," and harmony within multi-cultural societies needs to be promoted. The Conference expressed its "grave concern" at the need to ensure that cultural diversity does not fuel armed conflict and the loss of life.
• It is important for parliaments to reinforce legislative and other measures to promote and defend cultural rights and provide appropriate "judicial sanctions for infringements of such rights".

Information Highways and By-ways: Opportunities and Challenges

• In order to adapt to the new technological environment, "in ways that maximize the opportunities at hand and minimize the potential dangers", it is important for countries to establish a "comprehensive information policy which integrates modern information technologies". The Conference called on parliaments to "participate fully in the development of such policies and to translate them into an appropriate legislative framework".
• "Every effort" must be made to ensure that modern information technologies complement and do not replace the more traditional means of communication, such as those based on local knowledge systems with community involvement; the latter should receive increased attention and resources both nationally and internationally.
• "Every effort" should also be made to ensure that all nations, poor as well as rich, have access to new information technologies which have an "enormous potential" for reforming and transforming education, science, culture and communication. "The Conference expressed concern at the widening gap between rich and poor nations, manifest also in the field of modern information technologies."
• The INTERNET, which links a rapidly growing community of 60 million users, should be designated a "development tool of public utility in order that the cost of connecting to it can be kept as low as possible. It is precisely in the developing countries, where libraries, journals and newspapers are few, that the INTERNET can render its greatest service." The Conference recommended in this regard the establishment as soon as possible of links on the INTERNET between parliaments themselves and with the IPU, notably to make databases available at very low costs to the poorest parliament.
• "The Conference expresses particular concern over the violent, vicious and vacuous messages that the media are capable of carrying into the homes of billions of people without their informed consent, sometimes jeopardizing family values" and "calls on parliaments to give urgent attention to the development of effective remedial measures, bearing in mind the overriding imperative to preserve and strengthen freedom of expression."

The Final Document concluded by saying that the work of UNESCO "cannot succeed without the active support of the peoples of the world" and that action by parliaments "is essential in providing the legislative framework and funds for national action in education, science, culture and communication as well as in guiding and overseeing governmental action in these fields."

To reinforce their co-operation, the IPU and UNESCO agreed to foresee activities to follow up the Conference. The two organizations are now using the INTERNET to exchange information and have access to each other's databases.