[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 23549-23551]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


    A TIME AND A PLAN TO TEACH PEACE AND DISARMAMENT IN OUR SCHOOLS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 22, 2002

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to bring 
to my colleagues' attention, and to the attention of their constituents 
who may wish to get involved in peace education, the recently released 
United Nations Study on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education.
  The study is the result of successful collaboration between the Hague 
Appeal for Peace--a citizen's organization dedicated to reducing wars 
and armed conflict and promoting reconciliation and economic 
development--the Government of Mexico and the United Nations Department 
for Disarmament Affairs.
  By working together--governments, civil society and the United 
Nations--the effort to sustain peace through education stands a greater 
chance of success.
  Humankind's genius invented technological wonders in the last century 
that have made life more livable and longer for many. It also produced, 
and then governments used, the atomic bomb, and then perfected it to 
incomprehensible destructive capacity. We are discovering new pieces of 
information from direct participants about how close we came to a 
global nuclear exchange during the Cuban Missile crisis 40 years ago. 
And we are confronted with a new awareness of dangers that might arise 
with the use of weapons of mass destruction for terrorism.
  Education alone is not a security blanket. It is not a guarantee for 
progressive thinking. Indeed, we have learned that young people being 
educated in some religious schools in the Middle East were being 
indoctrinated with hatred for the West and the United States.
  However, in a democratic society, education is a tool for 
enlightenment. As H.G. Wells said in his 1921 work, The Outline of 
History, ``Human history becomes more and more a race between education 
and catastrophe.'' We would do well to heed his warning.
  Fortunately, the complacency and lack of interest in questions of 
disarmament and non-proliferation, especially about extant nuclear 
dangers and solutions, is starting slowly to break down. During talk of 
war and inspections of weapons of mass destruction, we find ourselves 
in a teachable moment.
  Mr. Speaker, we are at a time in history when it is critical to 
embrace the idea that peace, dialogue, and disarmament can and should 
be taught in school and that it should be taught as an integral part of 
school curricula and programs in the United States and across the 
world. And there has emerged a plan to help educators learn how to 
teach peace.
  A ten-country United Nations group of experts issued a study in 
October on the status of disarmament and non-proliferation education 
efforts world-wide, making a set of 34 recommendations to Governments, 
the UN, other international organizations, and civil society on how to 
improve peace and disarmament education as a means of fostering 
tolerance and a culture of non-violence.

[[Page 23550]]

  It calls for a joint effort to revitalize disarmament education to 
empower young people through knowledge to help make the world a more 
peaceful place. Surely this is an idea that all of us in Congress, 
regardless of party or political persuasion, can support.
  The Study is available on the United Nations Web site at http://
disarmament.un.org/education/index.html, and I commend it to my 
colleagues for further reading. I am also enclosing several additional 
documents for the Record about the project for the benefit of my 
colleagues and their constituents.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to share this information 
with my colleagues and I also appreciate the hard work that the Hague 
Appeal for Peace, the United Nations, and the Government of Mexico put 
into this exciting and important peace education project.

       [From the Report of the Secretary-General, Aug. 30, 2002]

Section VIII. Promotion of Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education 
                and Training: Practical Recommendations

       All the following recommendations are important. They vary, 
     however, in the resources required for their implementation, 
     the pace with which they can be put in place and the amount 
     of time needed before they yield significant results. Those 
     recommendations with asterisks represent steps that can and 
     should be taken rapidly and at a relatively low cost.
       *1. Member States are encouraged to accord importance to 
     disarmament and non-proliferation education and training in 
     their programmes and policies, consistent with their national 
     legislation and practices, taking into account present and 
     future trends. They are also encouraged to use, designate or 
     establish public advisory bodies, where appropriate, whose 
     responsibilities include advising on disarmament and non-
     proliferation education and training practices. Member States 
     are encouraged to share their experience in disarmament and 
     non-proliferation education and training with other Member 
     States, international organizations, civil society and the 
     Department for Disarmament Affairs.
       *2. Relevant United Nations offices and other international 
     organizations and agencies should prepare, adapt and 
     disseminate a wider range of user-friendly educational 
     material on disarmament and non-proliferation. The current 
     experience in this field should be tapped and existing 
     educational material, including educational modules, resource 
     books, guide and online programmes, should be tailored to the 
     needs of individual countries, specific audiences or the 
     international community at large.
       *3. The United Nations and other international 
     organizations should translate its disarmament and 
     publications into all United Nations official languages and, 
     when possible, into other languages for additional 
     dissemination. Upon request by the United Nations or relevant 
     international organizations, Member States, academic and 
     research institutions and NGOs are encouraged to support or 
     assist in translating relevant materials.
       4. The United Nations and other international organizations 
     should increase their capacities to disseminate disarmament 
     and non-proliferation education-related materials (print and 
     audio-visual) more widely to all regions of the world. While 
     strengthening existing distribution channels, they should 
     explore new ones, such as cooperation with educational 
     networks, teachers unions and curriculum committees as well 
     as electrical access. Member States, local academic 
     institutions, research centres and NGOs are also encouraged 
     to assist in dissemination efforts. As it is essential to 
     reach the local community level, channels of dissemination 
     such as school libraries, gathering places, radio and 
     television are highly recommended.
       5. The Department of Disarmament Affairs should gather 
     information about the involvement of regional and 
     intergovernmental organizations in disarmament and non-
     proliferation education, training and data collection 
     activities. The Department should examine ways to foster an 
     exchange of experiences and regional perspectives to 
     facilitate the development of disarmament and non-
     proliferation education programmes.
       6. The Department of Disarmament Affairs should examine, 
     accumulate and make public and easily accessible the 
     different disarmament and non-proliferation curricula and 
     programmes that States have developed for their formal school 
     systems and university courses as well as for informal 
     training.
       7. UNU and UPEACE are encouraged to develop intensive 
     postgraduate and other courses on disarmament and non-
     proliferation for representatives of all regions of the 
     world, including government officials, legislators, military 
     officers, NGOs, the media and students, working in 
     cooperation with academic and non-governmental institutions 
     that have expertise in designing and implementing such 
     courses. UPEACE, in coordination with the Department of 
     Disarmament Affairs, may wish to host seminars and workshops 
     as well as to develop model university and school material.
       8. Member States are encouraged to include parliamentarians 
     and/or non-governmental advisers in delegations to United 
     Nations disarmament-related meetings, taking into account 
     national legislation and practices.
       9. The Department of Disarmament Affairs and its regional 
     centres, in cooperation with UNIDIR, UNU and UPEACE, are 
     encouraged to establish a virtual library of reports of 
     ``lessons learned'' on disarmament-related aspects of peace 
     operations and make it available to both Governments and NGOs 
     on a disarmament and non-proliferation online education 
     resource site (see recommendations 25).
       10. Municipal leaders, working with citizen groups, are 
     encouraged to establish peace cities, as part of the UNESCO 
     Cities for Peace network, through, for example, the creation 
     of peace museums, peace parks, web sites and the production 
     of booklets on peacemakers and peacemaking.
       11. UNU and UPEACE are encouraged to provide assistance to 
     those city councils and prefectures that are willing to host 
     seminars on disarmament and non-proliferation issues for the 
     media, academics, local and national politicians, trade union 
     representatives, religious leaders and the wider public.
       12. Religious leaders and institutions are encouraged to 
     develop educational material promoting a culture of peace and 
     disarmament.
       *13. Member States, in cooperation with the United Nations 
     and relevant international organizations, are encouraged to 
     sponsor training, fellowships, and awareness programmes, on 
     as wide a geographical basis as possible, for researchers, 
     engineers, scientists and other academics in areas of 
     particular relevance, but not limited to treaties and 
     agreements on weapons of mass destruction and their means of 
     delivery. They are also encouraged to give special emphasis 
     to training customs, licensing and law enforcement officers 
     for the purpose of fulfilling international obligations of 
     Member States in the disarmament and non-proliferation 
     fields.
       *14. The Department of Disarmament Affairs, in cooperation 
     with UNU and UPEACE, should be encouraged to organize a 
     programme of training for educators and trainers in 
     disarmament and non-proliferation. These programmes may be 
     implemented cooperatively with international organizations 
     such as IAEA, OPCW and the Preparatory Commission for the 
     Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organization.
       15. The Department of Disarmament Affairs, in cooperation 
     with UNESCO, UPEACE, UNIDIR and NGOs, should produce and 
     maintain an updated international bibliography of reference 
     literature for teachers, including an updated directory of 
     peace studies programmes and disarmament and non-
     proliferation research centres, and make this available on a 
     disarmament and non-proliferation online education resource 
     site (see recommendation 25).
       16. UNESCO IBE is encouraged to convene regional meetings 
     with ministers of education, educational administrators and 
     university presidents to discuss the issues involved in 
     developing disarmament and non-proliferation education for 
     primary, secondary and university students. The International 
     Conference on Education is encouraged to devote one session 
     of a future meeting to disarmament and non-proliferation 
     education, for example, through a workshop on science and 
     ethics.
       *17. The United Nations, relevant international 
     organizations, Member States, NGOs and research institutes 
     should develop and strengthen programmes, workshops, 
     fellowships and materials or disarmament and non-
     proliferation topics for journalists and media 
     representatives in order to enhance their knowledge of these 
     issues. Special attention should be paid to the development 
     of programmes and materials designed for local media in post-
     conflict situations, as essential partners in the disarmament 
     and non-proliferation education process.
       18. Disarmament and non-proliferation educational materials 
     developed by the United Nations, such as the Cyberschoolbus 
     web site, should include complementary material on how 
     parents can encourage attitudes of peace and non-violence. 
     Efforts should also be made by educators, parents and the 
     business community to devise and produce toys, computer games 
     and videos that engender such attitudes.
       19. Additional fellowships and scholarships should be 
     provided for various target audiences by or through the 
     Department of Disarmament Affairs (directly or through its 
     regional centres), UPEACE, UNIDIR and the NGO Committee on 
     Disarmament, among others. An important educational 
     supplement to disarmament and non-proliferation classroom 
     training should be on-the-job training, which may be 
     conducted at the sites of international organizations, 
     national governmental agencies, NGOs and research centres. 
     Opportunities for such on-the-job training should be 
     expanded.
       *20. The United Nations, relevant international 
     organizations, Member States, and corporate and private 
     donors are encouraged to provide assistance, including funds, 
     educational material and equipment to NGOs in different 
     regions of the world and to universities to establish or 
     expand their disarmament and non-proliferation libraries with

[[Page 23551]]

     free and open public access to their resources. Member States 
     should be encouraged to fund research institutes that focus 
     on disarmament and non-proliferation and offer scholarships 
     for advanced university students to carry out research on 
     disarmament and non-proliferation and its pedagogy. The 
     United Nations should make greater efforts to tap the 
     financial resources of private enterprises in the fields of 
     information and communications technology.

     

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