Baranovskaya E.I.

UNESCO. Official opinion on the issues on intercultural dialogue.

UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) based in Paris,
France. Its declared purpose is to contribute to promoting international
collaboration in education, sciences, and culture. As of January 2020,
UNESCO members include 193 member states and 11 associate members. Belarus
has added to UNESCO at 12 May 1954.

UNESCO's aim is to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of

poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the
sciences, culture, communication and information. Other priorities of the
organization include attaining quality education for all and lifelong learning,
addressing emerging social and ethical challenges, fostering cultural diversity, a
culture of peace and building inclusive knowledge societies through information
and communication.

The broad goals and objectives of the international community—as set out in
the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs)—underpin all UNESCO strategies and activities.

UNESCO works so that each child and citizen has access to quality
education. By promoting cultural heritage and the equal dignity of all cultures,
UNESCO strengthens bonds among nations. UNESCO fosters scientific
programmers and policies as platforms for development and cooperation.
UNESCO stands up for freedom of expression, as a fundamental right and a key
condition for democracy and development. Serving as a laboratory of ideas,
UNESCO helps countries adopt international standards and manages programmers
that foster the free flow of ideas and knowledge sharing.

Anti-Semitism

UNESCO's founding vision was born in response to a world war that was
marked by racist and anti-Semitic violence. Seventy years on and many liberation
struggles later, UNESCO’s mandate is as relevant as ever. Cultural diversity is
under attack and new forms of intolerance, rejection of scientific facts and threats
to freedom of expression challenge peace and human rights. In response,
UNESCO's duty remains to reaffirm the humanist missions of education, science
and culture.
 UNESCO has established significant world events, which are marked on the
calendar as memorable dates. January 27 is International Holocaust
Remembrance Day since 1 November 2005. International Holocaust
Remembrance Day is an international memorial day on 27 January
commemorating the tragedy of the Holocaust that occurred during the Second
World War. It commemorates the genocide that resulted in the deaths of 6 million
Jews and 11 million others, by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

Discrimination

21 February was declared to be the International Mother Language Day

by UNESCO in 1999. It has been observed throughout the world since 21 February
2000. The declaration came up in tribute to the Language Movement done by the
Bangladeshis (then the East Pakistanis).
When Pakistan was created in 1947, it had two geographically separate
parts: East Pakistanis (currently known as Bangladesh) and West Pakistan
(currently known as Pakistan). The two parts were very different to each other in
sense of culture, language, etc. The two parts were also separated by India in
between. In 1948, the then Government of Pakistan declared Urdu to be the sole
national language of Pakistan even though Bengali or Bangla was spoken by the
majority of people combining East Pakistan and West Pakistan. The East Pakistan
people protested, since the majority of the population was from East Pakistan and
their mother language was Bangla. They demanded Bangla to be at least one of
the national languages, in addition to Urdu.
To demolish the protest, the government of Pakistan outlawed public
meeting and rallies. The students of the University of Dhaka, with the support of
the general public, arranged massive rallies and meetings. On 21 February 1952,
police opened fire on rallies. This is a rare incident in history, where people
sacrificed their lives for their mother language.
The 30th General Assembly of UNESCO unanimously resolved that 21st
February be proclaimed International Mother Language Day throughout the world
to commemorate the martyrs who sacrificed their lives on this very day in 1952.
Official opinion of UNESCO: Languages are the most powerful
instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. All
moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to
encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller
awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire
solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.
 Xenophobia. Intolerance

May 21 is the Diversity Day, officially known as "The World Day for

Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development" since 2001. It is an opportunity
to help communities understand the value of cultural diversity and learn how to
live together in harmony. This day was created as a result of the destruction of the
Buddha statues of Bamiyan in Afghanistan in 2001.
The Buddhas of Bamyan were two 6th-century monumental statues of
Gautama Buddha carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan in the central
Afghanistan. They were respectively 35 and 53 m. Numerous pilgrims were
attracted to the monumental statues every year. They were perhaps the most
famous cultural landmarks of the region, and the site was listed by UNESCO as a
World Heritage Site along with the surrounding cultural landscape and
archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley. The statues were blown up and
destroyed in March 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed
Omar. The Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister claimed that the destruction was
merely about carrying out Islamic religious iconoclasm. International opinion
strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas.
Racism

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is

observed annually on 21 March. On that day, in 1960, police killed 69 people at a
peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville, South Africa, against the apartheid pass
laws. Proclaiming the day in 1966, the United Nations General Assembly called on
the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial
discrimination.
In South Africa, Human Rights Day is a public holiday celebrated on 21
March each year. The day commemorates the lives of those who died to fight for
democracy and equal human rights for all in South Africa during apartheid, an
institutionally racist system built upon racial discrimination. The Sharpeville
Massacre on 21 March 1960 is the particular reference day for this public holiday.