Culture of Peace: An Introduction

“Since wars began in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed” (UNESCO constitutional principle).

It was in 1989, during the International Congress on Peace in the Minds of Men, in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire, that the notion of a “Culture of Peace” was first mentioned. Over the past ten years, the idea has come a long way. In 1994, Federico Mayor, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), launched an international appeal on the establishment of a right to peace; in February 1994, UNESCO launched its Towards a Culture of Peace programme; in 1997, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the year 2000 as the “International Year for the Culture of Peace”; and in 1998, the same Assembly declared the period 2001-2010 the “International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World”. This is how the notion of a Culture of Peace conquered the world.

What Does “Culture of Peace” Mean?

Although the expression “Culture of Peace” took shape in 1989, such a culture already existed before the word was created. UNESCO’s creation is a testimonial to the existence of such a culture as early as 1945. Even though UNESCO has several mandates, it has but one mission, namely that of constructing peace:

The purpose of the Organisation is to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world” (Article I of the Constitutive Act of UNESCO).

The notion of a “Culture of Peace” existed long before it was so dubbed.

The expression “Culture of Peace” implies that peace means much more than the absence of war. Peace is considered as a set of values, attitudes and modes of behaviours promoting the peaceful settlement of conflict and the quest for mutual understanding. In fact, peace is one way to live together. The expression “Culture of Peace” presumes that peace is a way of being, doing and living in society that can be taught, developed, and best of all, improved upon.

The culture of peace is peace in action. Introducing such a culture is a long-term process requiring both a transformation of institutional practices and individual modes of behaviour. Finally, in order to survive and become entrenched in our values, a culture of peace requires non-violence, tolerance and solidarity.

The idea of consensus, or peace, is sometimes mistaken for an absence of conflict or for society’s homogenization process. However, in order to achieve mutual understanding, there must first be differences with regard to sex, race, language, religion, or culture. The quest for mutual understanding begins with the recognition of these differences and of a will to overcome them to reach a common objective. Achieving mutual understanding protects a society from self-destruction by letting it build foundations so as to design a new way to live together. Indeed, mutual understanding fosters certain values vital for peace, including non-violence, respect of others, tolerance, solidarity and openness to others.

Mutual understanding does not mean homogenization of society. On the contrary, a culture of peace is enhanced by the variety of traditions. The fact that a common vision emerges from a multi-cultural society proves that living together is possible and that this society lives according to the pulse of a culture of peace.

Therefore, as UNESCO says it so well, the culture of peace is intrinsically linked to conflict prevention and resolution. The key-values of this culture are tolerance, solidarity, sharing and respect of every individual’s rights—the principle of pluralism that ensures and upholds the freedom of opinion—that strives to prevent conflict by tackling it at its source, including new non-military threats to peace and security such as exclusion, extreme poverty and environmental degradation. Finally, it seeks to solve problems through dialogue, negotiation and mediation, so that war and violence are no longer possible. (This paragraph takes its inspiration from the Dossier d’information de l’UNESCO, CAB-99/Ws/4, page 14).

But how can the culture of peace become a concrete and lasting reality? In the interactive world, everything is a matter of awareness, mobilization, education, prevention and information at all levels of society and in all countries. The elaboration and establishment of a culture of peace require the whole-hearted participation of everyone. Countries must cooperate, international organizations must coordinate their different actions and populations must fully participate to the full in the development of their societies.

A culture of peace is thus a comprehensive union of existing movements, hence UNESCO’s desire to create a worldwide movement for a culture of peace and non-violence. The International Year for the Culture of Peace will be one of the key moments for the creation of such a movement. This global movement should help change the culture of war into a culture of peace by uniting all groups, agencies, associations, governments and, especially, individuals within a comprehensive network that works towards the emergence of a culture of peace.

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