Mrs SMITH EUNICE Women and a Culture of Peace 
UNESCO
E.SMITH(AT)unesco.org
15-12-1999

After the seminar on Men and Violence Against Women, organized and hosted by the Council of Europe end of November- it was a truly informative and interesting seminar – our Programme Unit successfully organized a small presentation and discussion on the topic of Men Against Violence during our recently concluded General Conference of Member States. The discussion which was well attended by representatives from Canada, the Gambia, Lebanon and Morocco, some France and Belgium based NGOs, as well as UNESCO personnel from the Caribbean and Africa, centered around the socialization practices and social constructs which lead to violence and possible practical suggestions for reversing this trend.

In the upcoming biennium, 2000-2001, we intend to continue working towards stopping violence against women.  We hope, through conferences and education and training projects in Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean, to promote behavioral change.  I invite you to co-operate with UNESCO and our Programme - Women and a Culture of Peace - in our efforts to overcome gender-based violence.

Since the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995), the UN agencies have renewed their commitment to the inclusion of a gender perspective in all activities. To this end UNESCO established the Women and a Culture of Peace Programme (WCP) in 1996.

Priorities

In addition to mainstreaming a gender perspective in the transdisciplinary project ‘Towards a Culture of Peace’ the priorities are:

• Supporting women’s initiatives for peace; 

• Empowering women for democratic participation in political processes to increase their capacity and impact especially in economic and security issues; and,

• Contributing to gender-sensitive socialization and training for non-violence and egalitarian partnerships, with a special focus on boys and young men.