Culture of Peace and Education for Peace

Abstract

Culture of Peace and Education for Peace are more than just ethical postulates. They are both a mission and an objective at the same time. Both are based on the extended peace concept of the Charter of the United Nations and the Constitution of UNESCO. Christoph Wulf, Vice President of the German Commission for UNESCO and Professor of Educational Science at Freie Universität Berlin (Free University Berlin, Germany), explains the contribution as an introduction to a complex topic. It deals with the comprehensive demands on a culture of peace and describes the values of a culture of peace as signed by more than 75 million people in 2000 as a commitment to their private lives. Possibilities and limits of the realization of a culture of peace are named, the tasks of religions and the arts are described. Current approaches to the development of a culture of peace focus on human rights and human rights education, constructive dealing with violence and social justice, as well as issues of cultural diversity and sustainability. Education for peace is understood as a central component of education for sustainable development and, together with related educational approaches such as education for global citizenship, survival education, global education or development education forms the new frame of reference for education in world society, anchored in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations.

Keywords: culture of peace, education for peace, human rights, sustainable development