Preamble Constitutional Article

UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION FOR EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND CULTURE

• Wars are born in the minds of men, and it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.
• Mutual misunderstanding of peoples has always been the cause of suspicion and international distrust, which in the past has too often led to discord and wars.
• The Second World War, which has just ended, was the consequence of the denial of the democratic ideal of dignity, equality and respect for the human being, and the attempt to replace it, through ignorance and prejudice, with the dogma of the inequality of races and people.
• Human dignity demands the spread of culture and education for the purpose of justice, freedom and peace. This is the sacred duty of all nations to be fulfilled in the spirit of mutual assistance.
• Building peace exclusively on economic and political agreements between governments cannot lead to sincere and universal acceptance among the people. Peace must be built on the foundations of the intellectual and moral solidarity of humanity.
• For these reasons, the signatory countries of this convention, firmly determined to provide everyone with fully equal access to education, free research of objective truth and free exchange of ideas and knowledge, decide to develop and increase international cooperation for better understanding and getting to know national customs.
• In this way, the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture is created with the aim of gradually achieving, through mutual cooperation in the field of education, science and culture, international peace and the progress of humanity in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.