United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO 2016 Cover The recent large-scale, systematic destruction and looting of cultural heritage has been the dominant theme at UNESCO throughout 2016. One of the Organization’s responses to these attacks on cultural heritage and cultural pluralism is the #Unite4Heritage campaign, a global movement that calls on everyone to harvest the power of culture to bring people together and to celebrate the places, objects and cultural traditions that make the world such a rich and vibrant place. This image produced for the campaign combines past and present, with the head of Buddha Shakyamuni and the face of an Erbore tribe warrior from Ethiopia. © Public Domain LACMA - Los Angeles County Museum of Art/Rod Waddington Published in 2017 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France © UNESCO 2017 This publication is available in Open Access under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/). The present license applies exclusively to the text content of this publication and to images whose copyright belongs to UNESCO. By using the content of this publication, the users accept to be bound by the terms of use of the UNESCO Open Access Repository (http://www.unesco.org/open-access/terms-use-ccbysa-en). 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ERI-2017/WS/1 2016 Study for Wind Comb VI by Eduardo Chillida (1924–2002) at UNESCO Headquarters. © ART for PEACE, Austrian FMEIA and Lois Lammerhuber Contents Chapter 1 Education for the 21st Century 7 Chapter 2 Fostering Freedom of Expression 25 Chapter 3 Protecting our Heritage and Fostering Creativity 39 Chapter 4 Learning to Live Together 59 Chapter 5 Building Knowledge Societies 75 Chapter 6 One Planet, One Ocean 87 Chapter 7 Science for a Sustainable Future 103 Highlights of the 2016 UNESCOMMUNITY Photo Contest 119 Annexes 127 © UNESCO/H.UNESCO/Nora Thapa Houguenade Preface by Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO UNESCO’s soft power in times of change UNESCO has also strengthened its global leadership to face ‘cultural 2016 has been a year of action to renew UNESCO’s mandate and founding cleansing’ – the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage, illicit trafficking, values. Across the world, we have seen the enduring relevance of UNESCO’s and attacks against individuals on religious or cultural grounds. We raised soft power in education, culture, the sciences and communication to the alarm to protect heritage in danger in Libya, Yemen, Syria and Iraq, strengthen the resilience of societies, to implement the 2030 Agenda for assessing damages to World Heritage sites in conflict, bringing together Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Agreement. experts to define emergency measures to safeguard Syria’s heritage, at an This Annual Report highlights the contribution of UNESCO to bolster international meeting held in Berlin (Germany). peoples’ capacity and skills to respond to their development challenges and In all this, UNESCO has continued to lead action to enhance the safety to equip societies with the knowledge and cultural literacy they need to of journalists, working with countries across the world, striking new respond to violence and hatred. partnerships to end impunity – for instance, with Uruguay. UNESCO has acted across the board to respond to these emerging In the context of the 2030 Agenda, UNESCO launched two ground- challenges, using its global leadership to strengthen education, as breaking reports. The World Social Science Report warned that inequalities in the crisis in Syria and Iraq, notably, contributing to the first World could jeopardize the efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Humanitarian Summit. UNESCO enhanced its advocacy to transcend the Goals. The Global Report on Culture for Sustainable Urban Development, humanitarian–development divide in order to avoid a lost generation presented at ‘Habitat III’ in Quito (Ecuador), highlighted recommendations of out-of-school children, bridging emergency response and long-term for fostering the role of culture for sustainable development. UNESCO aid. In the same spirit, the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report enhanced its programmes to prevent and respond to natural disasters, with showed the power of education to drive progress on all the other 16 goals a strong focus on ocean science and coastal sustainability, integrated for the of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular to first time in the climate discussion during the COP21 in 2015. promote gender equality. Reform has continued apace across the Organization – to streamline In 2016, UNESCO spearheaded a multi-pronged strategy to prevent working processes, strengthen transparency and accountability, sustain radicalization and violent extremism. In September, the First International evaluation and delivery across the board. UNESCO launched a New Conference on the Prevention of Violent Extremism through Education was Evaluation Policy, the Invest for Efficient Delivery initiative and a New co-organized by UNESCO and the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of UNESCO Transparency Portal, thereby leading to an in-depth review of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development in New Delhi (India). processes and tools to make the Organization ‘more fit for purpose’. In November, UNESCO organized in Québec (Canada), an international This Annual Report shows the outstanding range and depth of UNESCO conference on the Internet and the Radicalization of Youth, which saw in action, to lead forward the 2030 Agenda, to support societies and renewed commitment to freedom of expression online and to promoting governments in responding to the challenges of turbulent times in ways narratives that condemn violence and hate speech, to prevent radicalization. that bolster the unity of humanity in its diversity. In April 2016, Director-General Irina Bokova met teachers and students from the Tilaurakot Community Learning Centre in the Lumbini zone (Nepal), where literacy courses in the Awadhi language are being taught with the support of UNESCO’s CapEFA Programme. Literacy in their mother tongue is breaking isolation and creating new prospects for marginalized populations in this historic area, where a vast archaeological complex tracing back to Lord Buddha’s early years has been recently unearthed. Children are delighted to come back to Sibaya school in the Huara district, between the Andean highlands and the Pacific coast in northern Chile. This school’s infrastructure and those of the surrounding communities were severely weakened by the April 2014 earthquake which affected Chile and Peru. In view of the population’s obvious needs, Huara’s Municipal Government, the Chilean Ministry of Education and UNESCO drew up an action plan for 2015 and 2016, including the maintenance, expansion and improvement of the district’s 12 public schools, which serve a total of 405 students. © UNESCO Office in Santiago CHAPTER 1 Education for the 21st Century Education for the 21st Century As the United Nations’ specialized agency for education, UNESCO leads and coordinates the Education 2030 Agenda, in order to achieve the ambitious Sustainable Development Goal 4 to ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’. Throughout 2016, UNESCO worked to fulfil its mandate, by underscoring that education will only meet its potential to drive progress when there is greater participation and funding; learning becomes truly lifelong; and education systems fully integrate girls and women, and bring displaced and refugee children and adolescents back to school. ■■ Leading the Education The cost of education is one of the During the Week, a panel titled 2030 Agenda many reasons some 263 million children ‘Financing for SDG 4–Education 2030: Under the Education 2030 Framework for and young people are out of school. leaving no one behind – what will it take Action adopted in November 2015 to achieve In this context, UNESCO marked the to narrow inequity gaps?’ was organized the ten targets of Sustainable Development 2016 Global Action Week for Education with the GCE at UNESCO Headquarters. Goal (SDG) 4, governments have committed (GAWE) from 24–30 April, under the It explored opportunities and challenges to providing a full course of free, equitable banner ‘Funding the Future’. GAWE is in financing the new agenda with and high-quality primary and secondary a worldwide annual event organized by a focus on marginalized populations. education. But without an additional US$39 the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) As a conclusion, and in light of the billion in education funding each year, the to raise awareness of the importance of funding gap, governments are being entire global agenda will be at risk. education for all. urged to spend 4 to 6 per cent of their gross domestic product