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biuletyn 2014 PRZEGLÑD POLSKIEGO KOMITETU DO SPRAW UNESCO PRZEGLÑD POLSKIEGO KOMITETU DO SPRAW UNESCO biuletyn| | biuletyn bulletin | bulletin | POLISH NATIONAL COMMISSION for UNESCO Reviev for UNESCO Review UNESCO for POLISH NATIONAL COMMISSION COMMISSION NATIONAL POLISH 2014 bulletin covBIUL14kalOK.indd 1 05.10.2015 19:08 POLISH NATIONAL COMMISSION for UNESCO Review bulletin| 2014 Polish National Commission for UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization strtytBIU13.indd 7 05.10.2015 22:34 Table of Contents Henryka Mościcka-Dendys 5 UNESCO and Poland today Andrzej Rottermund 7 UNESCO – A Mission Still Valid 14–83 UNESCO and Poland – 70 Years of Cooperation Sławomir Ratajski 85 What We Did in 2014 91–99 Events 2014 100 Polish National Commission’s Honorary Patronage 2014 102 Members of the Polish National Commission for UNESCO 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF UNESCO 5 UNESCO and Poland Today Dr Henryka Mościcka-Dendys Undersecretary of State Ministry of Foreign Affairs “...since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed” This message, taken from the Preamble to UNESCO’s Constitution, remains compelling, all the more so as new threats to peace and security unfold. These include the activities of extremist groups, often aimed directly at world heritage, culture and people active in culture. For this reason, UNESCO’s activities are of more significance than ever before. The international community should unremittingly continue to promote the values that underpinned the Organization’s foundation, and continue to motivate its actions. UNESCO was founded 70 years ago, after the tragic experiences of World War II. Poland was one of the first countries to become keenly involved in the Organization’s activities, which, in line with the founders intentions, were geared to helping countries build peace, by promoting cooperation in the fields of science, culture, education and freedom of expression. Its legacy significant; suffice to review the Organization’s 2014 activity to see how much – in spite of financial difficulties – UNESCO is doing, especially in regions touched recently by conflicts and humanitarian crises, primarily in Syria and Iraq. The Organization’s activities focus on providing access to education, protecting endangered cultural heritage, promoting freedom of expression and intercultural dialogue; an inherent part of a wider UN strategy on sustainable development and peace building in the twenty-first century. UN Member States will shortly agree a Post-2015 UN Development Agenda, in which UNESCO will be responsible for implementing 6 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF UNESCO some of these objectives. When it comes to meeting sustainable development challenges in today’s world, issues such as education, culture and science remain of paramount importance. Poland – one of UNESCO’s founding members – participated in the Organization’s work from the very beginning. Appreciative of its efforts at building understanding between peoples and cultures, we will continue to actively support it in achieving agreed goals. UNESCO 70 years on, is a good time to take stock of what has been achieved, identify new challenges, and lay down an action plan for the future. I hope that this publication will give the reader a greater appreciation of the Organization’s activities and achievements, as well as contribute to a better understanding of its ongoing significance in today’s modern world. • Dr Henryka Mościcka-Dendys Undersecretary of State Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF UNESCO 7 UNESCO – A Mission Still Valid Prof. Andrzej Rottermund President of the Polish National Commission for UNESCO This year’s edition of our Bulletin celebrates the 70th anniversary of founding of the United Nations largest agency – UNESCO. Round anniversaries often lead one, perhaps for reasons of nostalgia, perhaps concern about the future, to reflect on the achievements of the past. At the same time, cognisant of what has been achieved, we seek to consider what the future might bring, reflect on the present, and all at once ponder on the Organization’s standing and aims. UNESCO’s activities are inextricably intertwined with the activities of the entire UN system. This is especially noticeable today, because of the strict observance of the division of competencies within the United Nations system, that is seen by all as a prerequisite of its effectiveness; something that has clearly applied from the very beginning of UNESCO’s existence. The founding conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was a meeting of UN Member States, and UNESCO was established to implement the objectives enshrined in the United Nations Charter, as an instrument of intellectual cooperation; continuing the work of the International Commission on Intellectual Cooperation. It is worth recalling that the Commission, founded in 1925, among 12 prominent personalities from around the world, included Polish scientist, Maria 8 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF UNESCO Skłodowska-Curie, as well as Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann and Paul Valéry, who defined the mission of intellectuals thus: “If we could make the intellect a more effective and viable force in world affairs, the world would stand a better chance of healing and faster improvement”. UNESCO’s main advantage is that it creates possibilities of seeking international agreement on the basis of culture, in the widest possible sense, whilst the value of initiatives undertaken on various planes at different levels, lies in the fact that they are always dictated by the objectives enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The founding of UNESCO, just like the UN, was not only the world’s response to the shock of the loss of mankind’s material heritage after the Second World War, but above all, a reaction to the terrifying desolation that this great tragedy left in people’s minds. The intellectuals of the world, however despairing of humanity, saw hope in the possibility of building a new foundation for peace, but on condition that these might be rooted in the minds of every human being. Hannah Arendt, trusting that peaceful thought will manifest itself in action, if the “true understanding does not tire of interminable dialogue and ‘vicious circles’…”, believed that “… imagination eventually will catch at least a glimpse of the … light of truth”1. This important thinker’s appeal was reflected in UNESCO’s Constitution, where the first sentence reads, that the Organization’s mission is to build peace in the minds of men, (“since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defence of peace must be constructed”2). This noble call, on the one hand reflected Julian Huxley’s – the Organization’s first Director-General – concept of an evolutionary global humanism, who saw UNESCO as an organization aimed at helping the politically and ideologically broken world, build a single, consistent world culture; with a common philosophy and goals, that for the first time in history, would unify men and nations, as well as the governments representing the various nations of the world. On the other hand, the philosopher Jacques Maritain, president of the French delegation to the second session of the General Conference, one of the authors of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, challenged Huxley’s evolutionary humanism. While recognizing man’s autonomy, he sought an objective for this global institution in that it would pave the way towards a practical future for the world, based on negotiation, dialogue and understanding3. 1 H. Arendt, ”Essays in Understanding, 1930-1954”, ‘Understanding and Politics’, p. 322, Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994. This idea was developed further in Professor Sławomir Ratajski’s article “UNESCO Promoter of Dialogue”, Polish National Commission for UNESCO Bulletin, 2012. 2 The author of the opening sentence of the Preamble to UNESCO’s Constitution was Archibald MacLeish, American poet, writer, Librarian of Congress, head of the United States delegation to the Preparatory Conference in London. 3 This concept was reflected in a speech that Jacques Maritain gave at the opening of the second session of UNESCO’s General Conference, Mexico City, November 6-December 3, 1947. A Conference summary can be found in The UNESCO Courier, Vol. I, no. 1, February 1948, and an electronic version of the document at: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0007/000736/073649eo.pdf#73651 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF UNESCO 9 UNESCO’s history is a reflection of the socio-political history of the second half of the 20th century. It is also an illustration of a history of ideas; a reflection of fears and expectations, of attempts to respond to the needs of individuals and societies at the global, regional and national levels. UNESCO works in a specific political context, but is continually trying to move beyond the barriers that political conditions impose, looking for solutions beyond political divisions. As international conflicts and tensions unceasingly continue to trouble the world, seventy years after the end of Second World War, so UNESCO’s mission today does not cease to remain relevant. On the contrary, it becomes ever more valid, as perspectives for international dialogue grow, based on an understanding of different cultures, and the needs of nations and societies, wishing to participate in global economic growth, and universal access to science and education. UNESCO’s 70-year experience shows, ever more clearly, that the conditions for an equal dialogue are knowledge and understanding of cultural roots, and of the resulting aspirations, goals, objectives and development strategies of nations and communities, often significantly different from each other. Hence the importance of developing the principle of equal treatment and acceptance of cultural diversity that – besides the protection rules of cultural, tangible and intangible, as well as natural heritage, expressed in conventions and other UNESCO documents – have become one of the Organization’s greatest achievements.