HAPPENING AT THE UN
EDUCATION IS THE BEST MEANS TO STOP CONFLICT

 

It is nice not to feel alone, to know that there are people who work for the same purpose, for example to "provide humanity with a higher education for Peace with the aim of promoting the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence among all human beings, stimulating cooperation between peoples and helping reduce obstacles and threats to the world, in line with the noble aspirations proclaimed in the United Nations Charter .” With resolution 35/55 of December 5, 1980, the General Assembly of the United Nations entrusted this mission to the University for Peace. It is an intergovernmental organization that organizes its main campus in Costa Rica, the first country in the world to have unilaterally abolished its army. It was 1949, and the civil war had just ended. The relationship between conflict and weapons seemed clear. Goodbye guns, welcome peace. It worked.

The University Charter sets out some general principles that could be incorporated by any Constitution, and which are not too far from those expressed in the Memorandum accepted by the countries that go up to the Hill to hoist their flag. First of all, peace is not a period that elapses between one conflict and another, but an objective that must be achieved and guaranteed "through the most precious and most effective resource that man possesses: education". Starting from this principle, however, it should be noted that although every country since its foundation has assumed the obligation to guarantee a co-existence without clashes, "up to now the best tool has not been used to achieve the goal: education".

Some attempts have been made that go in a different direction, for example by promoting arms reductions. The objective is certainly to be pursued, but the method may prove ineffective if not accompanied by an education in dialogue supported by the recognition "of the central importance of training and research as the foundation of Peace and progress and as a predominant means with which to reduce the prejudice and hatred on which violence, conflicts and terrorism are based».

In short, there were wars even when there were no weapons. An ignoramus who throws a stone at your head to steal the dinner earned after a mammoth hunt can be found in any era. It is not enough to remove the stones, you have to explain to the culprit that if he is hungry he can ask for something for tonight, and tomorrow he can wake up early to go look for something for the next dinner. It is a complicated speech, which requires a series of different notions. For this reason, the university's task is to educate, focusing in particular on "the dissemination of fundamental knowledge for the full development of the human person and of society through interdisciplinary study".

But no one can do it alone. And also for this reason the university, its rector Francisco RojasAravena and its honorary president, the Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres, have set among their main objectives that of "establishing a series of structures at the peripheral level that allow the widest possible catchment areas in the different parts of the planet ». The “Bell” is present. Every day at 9.30pm. For the furthest away in streaming.

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