Message from
Irina Bokova,
Director-General of UNESCO,
on the occasion of the International Day
of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
Reconciliation, a supreme value of peace
29 November 2014
The keynote of International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People this year is reconciliation, the supreme value of peace. UNESCO is joining forces with its partners in order to make this principle a reality and to meet the Palestinian people's need to have access to education, to share information and to promote the value of their rich cultural heritage.
Palestine has been a member of UNESCO since 2011, and our Organization has worked for many decades to boost the institutional capacities of Palestine and support the State-building process. UNESCO contributes, through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), to providing education to more than 500,000 children and to the training of teachers, in order to build up a quality education system, open to all and teaching the values of respect, confidence and development.
Furthermore, UNESCO is working within the United Nations Development Assistance Framework 2014-2016 for the State of Palestine to improve security in schools and in institutions of higher education, and to support the preservation and restoration of cultural sites.
The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed 2014 as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, in a call to lay the foundations for reconciliation and peace. This call must be heard, and I request all UNESCO Member States to take action to this end. UNESCO undertakes to do its utmost to support those efforts. I take this opportunity to reassert the need to protect schools and cultural sites under all circumstances, including in times of conflict. They are sources of hope for the future as they enable people to grow and develop. Let us invest in them as much as we can to strengthen dialogue and reconciliation.
Irina Bokova
Download Document Files: https://unispal.un.org/pdfs/UNESCO_SOLDDAYa.pdf https://unispal.un.org/pdfs/UNESCO_SOLDDAYc.pdf https://unispal.un.org/pdfs/UNESCO_SOLDDAYf.pdf https://unispal.un.org/pdfs/UNESCO_SOLDDAYr.pdf https://unispal.un.org/pdfs/UNESCO_SOLDDAYs.pdf
Document Type: Arabic text, Chinese text, French text, Message, Russian text, Spanish text
Document Sources: United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Subject: Agenda Item, Children, Education and culture, Solidarity day
Publication Date: 29/11/2014