Twenty-seventh Session, Paris 1993
Item 6.4 of the provisional agenda
IMPLEMENTATION OF 26 C/RESOLUTION 16 CONCERNING
EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS
IN THE OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES:
REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL
1. At its 142nd session, the Executive Board considered the reports submitted by the Director-General concerning the educational and cultural institutions in the occupied Arab territories and the implementation of previous resolutions and decisions of UNESCO’s governing bodies in this respect. The Board proposes a draft resolution which reflects not only these reports by the Director-General but also the major historical events of September 1993 beginning with the mutual recognition and the signing of a declaration of principles between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
2. Fully aware of the magnitude of these events, the Director-General gave them special mention in his oral report to the Executive Board (142 EX/INF.3 and Addendum) and is giving them special mention in his oral report to the General Conference (27 CYINF.12) highlighting as well an agenda of actions which he discussed with President Arafat on 22 October 1993 following President Arafat’s address to the Executive Board on 21 October 1993. The aim of these actions is to provide UNESCO assistance to the Palestinian people in a number of areas defined for priority attention in response to the new political context.
3. It is in this context that the Executive Board adopted 142 EX/Decision 5.3.1, providing for the inclusion of the question in the agenda of its 144th session, and recommends to the General Conference for approval, as follows:
The Executive Board,
1. Considering that the right to education is universally recognized by many international legal instruments, in particular the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1958), the Declaration on the Rights of the Child (1958), the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education and the fourth Geneva Convention (1949),
2. Considering, with regret, that armed conflict and foreign occupation, notably in the Palestinian territories and in Syrian Golan, have often been destructive factors with regard to those rights,
3. Considering that the Israeli-Palestinian agreement signed on 13 September 1993 in Washington, entitled ‘Declaration of Principles on interim self-government arrangements’, opens up a new era of peace and harmony,
4. Considering that it is now essential to turn towards the future and to participate effectively in the building of new infrastructures, particularly the educational and cultural institutions which it will be the task of the Palestinian authorities to establish,
5. Realizing the size of the task which has hitherto been shouldered by UNESCO in this problematic area,
6. Aware that UNESCO, faithful to its universal mission and its Constitution, will be able to make an effective contribution, in close co-operation with the relevant Palestinian authorities, to the reconstitution of an education system, taking into consideration the demands dictated by the special situation of a people emerging from a long period of foreign occupation and moving into an age of modernity, progress and peace,
7. Considering that UNESCO’s action in this new phase is of the highest priority and that it must begin immediately after the transfer of authority from the Israeli administration to the Palestinian authorities in the fields of education and culture, provided for in Article VI of the above-mentioned Declaration of Principles, and that this action must be planned and must cover all aspects of the education system and the educational and cultural institutions, notably in the fields of training and structures,
8. Expresses its deep satisfaction following the historic agreement between the PLO and the Israeli Government, to which it pays a well-deserved tribute on account of the courage, realism and attachment to peace shown by their respective leaders;
9. Expresses the hope that the negotiations on the peace process, which are taking place in Washington between the Arab parties concerned and Israel, will lead to the establishment of a just and global solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, based on the withdrawal of Israel from the occupied Arab territories and the application of resolutions 242 and 338 of the United Nations Security Council, and the principle of restitution of land in exchange for peace;
10. Assures them that UNESCO will spare no effort to assist in the establishment and consolidation of peace through education, culture, science and communication;
11. Declares that the reconstitution and development of the education system in the occupied Palestinian territories must receive UNESCO‘s full attention;
12. Emphasizes the priority and urgent nature of this action;
13. Invites Member States to give this action all the support it requires;
14. Requests the Director-General, taking into account the new situation in this region and its implications and demands, to draw up, in consultation with the relevant Palestinian authorities, with the international financing organizations concerned and with the bodies and funds set up for the economic and social development of the Palestinian territories, a comprehensive plan including short-, medium- and long- term targets, with the main objective of contributing to the Palestinian educational and cultural system;
15. Invites the Director-General to:
(a) take at once the measures – for which it gives him full authority – called for by the situation arising from the transfer of authority from the Israeli Government in the fields of education and culture to the Palestinian authorities, as provided for in the Declaration of Principles;
(b) take into account, in preparing the above-mentioned plan, the objectives set out in the ‘Study on the needs of the Palestinian people in the fields of competence of UNESCO’ submitted to the Executive Board at its 134th session (134 EX/6) and adopted by the Board in decision 4.1.2, as well as the proposals submitted to him by the relevant Palestinian authorities;
(c) pay the closest attention to the problems of:
1. training and further training of teachers in the formal general education system;
2. reabsorption of the deteriorated state of education arising out of the frequent and repeated closure of schools in the past;
3. development and renewal of curricula;
4. development of educational administration, management and planning;
5. further training of teachers in higher education;
6. assistance for the establishment of a technical and vocational education policy, particularly for priority social groups such as released prisoners, physically and mentally handicapped people and children who have been obliged to drop out of school;
7. establishment of a fund for study grants, and grants for research and the training of researchers and communication specialists;
8. development of university libraries and training of staff in librarianship;
9. training of specialists in the restoration of physical cultural property, manuscripts, archives, historic monuments and sites;
(d) appoint a co-ordinator to be responsible for monitoring the implementation of the above-mentioned operations and for co-ordination between the different sectors of the Organization concerned;
16. Pays tribute to the Director-General for his constant and sustained efforts to ensure the implementation of UNESCO’s action in the occupied Palestinian territories;
17. Invites the Director-General to continue his efforts with regard to Syrian Golan, within the framework of the Executive Board decisions;
18. Also invites the Director-General to give his support, at the appropriate moment, to promoting the favourable outcome of the peace process which has been set in motion between the Arab States and Israel;
19. Decides to include this question on the agenda of its 144th session;
20. Proposes that the General Conference, at its twenty-seventh session, should adopt the above decision as a resolution and decide to include this question on the agenda of its twenty-eighth session.
1This document has already been distributed to Member States. It can be consulted on request at the Secretariat of the Executive Board during the General Conference.
