International Migration and Development

Children in a Congo Refugee Camp
Image by F. Loock, © UNESCO

Read Annette Hartenstein's complete Highlight for the Americans for UNESCO website.

Traditionally considered too hot for a global institution to handle, the issue of international migration has recently been moving up the UN agenda. Pierre Sané, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences (SHS), discusses this issue in the September edition of the SHS Views from the perspective of a complex cross-cutting issue that Social and Human Sciences can address.

UNESCO's program on Migration has five main lines of action:

• Increasing the protection of migrants through participation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), as well as several NGOs, in an international campaign to encourage States to adhere to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families;

• Improving national policies of the sending, transit and receiving countries, through promoting research and providing training for policy makers so that there is better management of the impact that migration has on societies;

• Promoting the value of and respect for cultural diversity in multicultural societies and improving the balance between policies that favor diversity and those that favor social integration, by developing initiatives that advocate consideration of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (1992), and the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity;

• Supporting capacity-building, permanence and effectiveness of migrants’ networks as a means of promoting intellectual contribution – as against the current brain drain – through the use of new information and communication technologies; and

• Contributing to the global fight against human trafficking and the exploitation of migrants.

International Migration and Development

Children in a Congo Refugee Camp
Image by F. Loock, © UNESCO

Read Annette Hartenstein's complete Highlight for the Americans for UNESCO website.

Traditionally considered too hot for a global institution to handle, the issue of international migration has recently been moving up the UN agenda. Pierre Sané, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences (SHS), discusses this issue in the September edition of the SHS Views from the perspective of a complex cross-cutting issue that Social and Human Sciences can address.

UNESCO's program on Migration has five main lines of action:

• Increasing the protection of migrants through participation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), as well as several NGOs, in an international campaign to encourage States to adhere to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families;

• Improving national policies of the sending, transit and receiving countries, through promoting research and providing training for policy makers so that there is better management of the impact that migration has on societies;

• Promoting the value of and respect for cultural diversity in multicultural societies and improving the balance between policies that favor diversity and those that favor social integration, by developing initiatives that advocate consideration of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (1992), and the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity;

• Supporting capacity-building, permanence and effectiveness of migrants’ networks as a means of promoting intellectual contribution – as against the current brain drain – through the use of new information and communication technologies; and

• Contributing to the global fight against human trafficking and the exploitation of migrants.

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, October 17th

Several events will be organized at UNESCO Headquarters on 17 October to mark International Day for the Eradication of Poverty: at 5 p.m., at UNESCO in Room XII, a short film will be shown, following which an exhibition of photographs illustrating exemplary projects from around the world will be opened. The exhibition will run until 26 October in the Miró Room at UNESCO Headquarters.

This event will be the first opportunity to assess UNESCO's programme on the eradication of poverty, especially extreme poverty.

The current issue of SHS Views, the magazine of UNESCO’s Social and Human Sciences Sector, devotes several pages to the programme against poverty, which brings together all Sectors of the Organization. The issue also includes an interview with Monique Ilboudo, Burkina Faso’s Minister for the Promotion of Human Rights, who calls for the same recognition of economic, social and cultural rights to be given to political and civil rights, in order to overcome poverty.

See also
* UNESCO Anti-Poverty Portal

* Info-sheet on Eradication of Poverty

Photo: © UNESCO/M. Becka

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, October 17th

Several events will be organized at UNESCO Headquarters on 17 October to mark International Day for the Eradication of Poverty: at 5 p.m., at UNESCO in Room XII, a short film will be shown, following which an exhibition of photographs illustrating exemplary projects from around the world will be opened. The exhibition will run until 26 October in the Miró Room at UNESCO Headquarters.

This event will be the first opportunity to assess UNESCO's programme on the eradication of poverty, especially extreme poverty.

The current issue of SHS Views, the magazine of UNESCO’s Social and Human Sciences Sector, devotes several pages to the programme against poverty, which brings together all Sectors of the Organization. The issue also includes an interview with Monique Ilboudo, Burkina Faso’s Minister for the Promotion of Human Rights, who calls for the same recognition of economic, social and cultural rights to be given to political and civil rights, in order to overcome poverty.

See also
* UNESCO Anti-Poverty Portal

* Info-sheet on Eradication of Poverty

Photo: © UNESCO/M. Becka

UNESCO at Soccerex: Promoting Physical Education for Human and Social Development Purposes

UNESCO will participate in SOCCEREX 2006, Business Convention for Football, which will be held 26-28 November 2006 in Dubai and marks the tenth anniversary of SOCCEREX. Sport is a universal language with an unparalleled ability to bring people together. For this reason, it is an important instrument for achieving human and social development and for promoting harmonious relations between countries.

The growing number of organizations in the private sector showing interest in cooperating with UNESCO in the domain of physical education and Sport (PES) is remarkable. SOCCEREX, “the business convention for football worldwide”, is showing great interest in promoting the goals and objectives of UNESCO in the field of physical education and sport and especially in actions towards raising the profile of PES on the global level.
The cooperation proposed by SOCCEREX is founded on three principles: to help develop a greater visibility for UNESCO’s actions in the sports milieu, to facilitate cooperation with other actors in the private sector, and to help mobilise extra-budgetary resources with these parties.

UNESCO’s will be discussing their key objectives:

*To promote sport activities in a spirit of fair play, mutual respect, fairness, and good sportsmanship;
*To promote human rights and transmit values of tolerance, non-violence, equity inclusiveness and peace;
*To help achieve ‘quality physical education for all’ in formal and informal education systems;
*To preserve cultural identity and encourage cultural diversity through traditional sports and games;
*To guarantee the participation of women and people with disabilities in sport;
*To raise awareness to the health benefits of sport;
*To disseminate information on the risks of drug abuse, particularly of doping in sport.

As part of Soccerex, an exhibition of the works of the renowned Makis Warlamis is being planned, to highlight the importance of the secular link between culture and sport.

UNESCO designs and helps implementing projects worldwide aimed at addressing the following issues: traditional sports and games, quality physical education, women and sport, anti-doping, sport and HIV/AIDS.

Also of related interest:

*Our previous article on UNESCO and Sports: "Winning at Any Cost?", The September 2006 UNESCO-Courier issue
*The UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport

*Sport for the Development of Peace: UNESCO and SHS
*International Charter for Physical Education and Sport

UNESCO at Soccerex: Promoting Physical Education for Human and Social Development Purposes

UNESCO will participate in SOCCEREX 2006, Business Convention for Football, which will be held 26-28 November 2006 in Dubai and marks the tenth anniversary of SOCCEREX. Sport is a universal language with an unparalleled ability to bring people together. For this reason, it is an important instrument for achieving human and social development and for promoting harmonious relations between countries.

The growing number of organizations in the private sector showing interest in cooperating with UNESCO in the domain of physical education and Sport (PES) is remarkable. SOCCEREX, “the business convention for football worldwide”, is showing great interest in promoting the goals and objectives of UNESCO in the field of physical education and sport and especially in actions towards raising the profile of PES on the global level.
The cooperation proposed by SOCCEREX is founded on three principles: to help develop a greater visibility for UNESCO’s actions in the sports milieu, to facilitate cooperation with other actors in the private sector, and to help mobilise extra-budgetary resources with these parties.

UNESCO’s will be discussing their key objectives:

*To promote sport activities in a spirit of fair play, mutual respect, fairness, and good sportsmanship;
*To promote human rights and transmit values of tolerance, non-violence, equity inclusiveness and peace;
*To help achieve ‘quality physical education for all’ in formal and informal education systems;
*To preserve cultural identity and encourage cultural diversity through traditional sports and games;
*To guarantee the participation of women and people with disabilities in sport;
*To raise awareness to the health benefits of sport;
*To disseminate information on the risks of drug abuse, particularly of doping in sport.

As part of Soccerex, an exhibition of the works of the renowned Makis Warlamis is being planned, to highlight the importance of the secular link between culture and sport.

UNESCO designs and helps implementing projects worldwide aimed at addressing the following issues: traditional sports and games, quality physical education, women and sport, anti-doping, sport and HIV/AIDS.

Also of related interest:

*Our previous article on UNESCO and Sports: "Winning at Any Cost?", The September 2006 UNESCO-Courier issue
*The UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport

*Sport for the Development of Peace: UNESCO and SHS
*International Charter for Physical Education and Sport