UNESCO

The Constitution of UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was signed at a conference in London in 1945 and the organization became an agency of the United Nations in 1946. UNESCO is based in Paris, with over 50 field offices and several institutes and offices around the world.

Activities

UNESCO's purpose is to contribute to peace by promoting collaboration among nations through

1. education
2. science
3. culture
4. communication and information.

UNESCO has developed a wide range of programmes and activities, including

• literacy campaigns
• educational projects
• protection of the world heritage
• promotion of cultural policies and new information technologies
• support of sustainable human development.

UNESCO functions as an intellectual forum for a global exchange of ideas and knowledge. UNESCO:

• organizes meetings and conferences
• undertakes studies and research
• develops guidelines, standards and legal instruments.

Structure

The General Conference is the primary decision-making and supervisory body. Meeting every two years, it determines the policies and approves the budget. The General Conference also elects the Director-General and the Executive Board, consisting of members from 58 countries.

The Executive Board supervises the implementation of the decisions taken by the General Conference. It also examines the programme and budget.

The Secretariat is the administrative centre, headed by the Director-General who is the executive head of the organization.

UNESCO is the only UN agency with a system of National Commissions in 199 Member and Associate States.

More on UNESCO

• The UNESCO website provides multilingual information about the structure of the Organization, programmes and activities, news, statistics and analysis, publications, full text documents and reports, conventions and recommendations.
  • Legal Instruments at the UNESCO website provides full text conventions, resolutions, declarations and other standard-settings instruments.
  • The UNESCO World Heritage List.
  • UNESCO Institute for Statistics compiles internationally comparable statistics on topics within the field of interest to UNESCO.
  • The Unesco Courier is published monthly with a timely theme of concern to the Orgnization. It can be accessed from 1948 onwards.
  • Prospects. A quarterly review of comparative education, issued by UNESCO's International Bureau of Education.
  • World Heritage provides articles on World Heritage.
  • World Heritage Newsletter gives up-to-date accounts of issues facing World Heritage.
  • The Memory of the World Register lists documentary heritage in archives and libraries of world significance and outstanding universal value.

• Resources, UNESCO databases within its field of interest:
  • OA Publications. UNESCO Open Acess Repository (OAR); books, reports and articles for free downloading.
  • UNESDOC/UNESCO Digital Library provides bibliographic records and full text of UNESCO documents, publications and periodicals.
  • Index Translationum. Contains more than one million references to translations.