Issue 63 March 1998
UNESCO CHAIR on Education for Human Rights and Peace
Education for Human Rights and Peace
At its 16th session in 1991 the General Conference of UNESCO decided to launch the UNITWIN/UNESCO CHAIRS PROGRAMME as an international plan of action for strengthening Higher Education. This programme is designed to develop University networking and other linking arrangements among higher education institutions at the inter-regional, regional and sub-regional levels.
In 1997, the UNESCO Chair at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki on Education for Human Rights and Peace was founded in accordance with an Agreement signed between UNESCO and the Aristotle University, thus becoming part of the Project UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs of UNESCO and related to:
* the UNESCO Plan for the "Introduction of Education for Peace and Human Rights in Higher Education" and
* the UNESCO Action for the Creation of a Culture of Peace.
The UNESCO Chair at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (A.U.Th.) is the development of an Inter-Faculty Interdisciplinary Programme on Education for Human Rights and peace, entitled "Contemporary World Problems and the Scientist's Responsibility" which has been in continuous functioning at the A.U.Th. since 1993, as well as the educational activities of the Institute of Education for Peace (founded in 1986).
About 60 members of the academic staff from 20 Departments (such as Archaeology, Psychology, Physics, Law, Medicine, etc) have taught at the Inter-Faculty Programme from 1993 to 1997 and the lectures have been attended by more than 500 students. During this period some 50 lectures have been give, covering a wide range of issues; such as: world environmental problems in their various aspects, natural resources and their distribution, international protection of human rights, nuclear power: positive, negative uses, AIDS, drugs, child abuse, homeless children, the philosophy and practice of non-violence and many more.
The Work Plan for 1998 includes the following programmes:
* The UNESCO Chair of the A.U.Th. will organise an International Meeting in collaboration with the Institute of International Relations and the U.N. Information Center (Athens) on the subject of "50 Years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights", Thessaloniki, Greece, May 1998.
* The UNESCO Chair of the A.U.Th. will organise an International Meeting on Human Rights, Democracy and Peace, under the aegis of UNESCO, in September 1998, Thessaloniki.
The Inter-Faculty, Interdisciplinary Programme of Education for Human Rights and Peace at the A.U.Th. (title: "Contemporary World Problems and the Scientists' Responsibility") will be dedicated, during the whole year, to the 50th anniversary.
* The UNESCO Chair and the Institute of Education for Peace in collaboration with the Y.M.C.A. have organised a series of educational activities, which will take place from February to April 1998,
* An Educational Programme on issues of Human Rights, Democracy and Peace is in the process of being planned in collaboration with the Armed Forces in the Dodecanese,
* A number of Lectures, Workshops, and Discussions will take place in Greek Universities all over Greece, dedicated to this anniversary, entitled 'Education in the Universities for the creation of a Culture of Human Rights and Peace'.
For more information: Professor Dimitra Papadopoulou, Responsible of the UNESCO Chair, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Dept. of Psychology, Thessaloniki 54006, GREECE. Tel/Fax: +30-31-997361.
Afterword from Issue 64, June 1998:
COLLABORATION OF THE UNESCO CHAIR WITH THE GREEK ARMED FORCES
As we were putting this issue together we received a letter from Professor Dimitra Papadopoulou of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, UNESCO) Chair on Education for Human Rights and Peace, with the news of the start of a promising collaboration between the UNESCO) Chair and the Greek Forces for a Culture of Peace. This development has special significance in view of the strained relations existing at this time between the Greek and Turkish Governments over alleged violations of Greek airspace in the Aegean Sea by Turkish military planes.
Address: P.O. Box 10417, 541 10 THESSALONIKI – GREECE,
Tel./Fax: 30 31 997361
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