AG/RES. 1604 (XXVIII-O/98)

PROGRAM OF EDUCATION FOR PEACE IN THE HEMISPHERE

(Resolution adopted at the fifth plenary session, held on June 3, 1998)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN the report of the Permanent Council on the Program of Education for Peace in the Hemisphere (AG/doc.3695/98);

RECALLING:

That, in resolution AG/RES. 1409 (XXVI-O/96), the General Assembly requested that the Permanent Council, through its Committee on Hemispheric Security and with support from the General Secretariat, draw up general guidelines for setting up an education for peace program within the OAS;

The laudable initiative taken by Bolivia to draft an education for peace program as a means of promoting confidence and security in the region; and

That, in resolution AG/RES. 1494 (XXVII-O/97), the General Assembly agreed to request the Permanent Council to intensify, with support from the General Secretariat, its efforts and consultation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and other institutions, with a view to considering the advisability of holding a meeting of experts on the issue in order to draw up a Program of Education for Peace in the Hemisphere; and

CONSIDERING that the Organization's member states, meeting at the San Salvador Regional Conference on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures in follow-up to the Santiago Conference, adopted the Declaration of San Salvador on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures, where they recommended that the Permanent Council's Committee on Hemispheric Security complete its drafting of the Program of Education for Peace agreed upon by the OAS General Assembly, and that it begin implementing it,

RESOLVES:

1. To take note of the Permanent Council's report on the progress made in drafting the Program of Education for Peace in the Hemisphere and to acknowledge the assistance provided by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to the Organization of American States.

2. To convene a meeting of experts from member states to design a draft Program of Education for Peace in the Hemisphere, taking into account contributions from experts at UNESCO and other pertinent institutions, such as the Inter-American Defense College, which draft will be considered by the Permanent Council through its Committee on Hemispheric Security.

3. To instruct the Permanent Council to carry out the preparatory tasks, such as drawing up the agenda and determining the venue and date of the aforementioned meeting of experts, during the year commemorating the 50th anniversary of the OAS.

4. To request that the Permanent Council make arrangements, within allocated resources approved in the program-budget and other resources, for holding the meeting of experts convened by this resolution and for the activities designed to carry out the aforementioned Program of Education for Peace in the Hemisphere.