Jordan Times
Wednesday, May 12, 1999
Queen Noor meets UNESCO director, joins Hague Appeal for Peace today
AMMAN (J.T.) — Her Majesty Queen Noor on Tuesday met with the director of the UNESCO office in Amman, Martin Hadlow, at Bab Al Salam. According to Hadlow, the United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed “the year 2000 as the international year of culture and peace and UNESCO as the lead agency in implementing the event.”
UNESCO's “Culture of Peace News Network” for Arab states and the region will be based at the Amman office and will be a “worldwide Internet driven” global network of information and activities.
Recently, UNESCO in co-operation with Jordan's Institute of Diplomacy held a “Peace Game” which included high-level military representatives and experts in conflict resolution, and will be developing a “Peace Game” CD-ROM for students. Queen Noor expressed her hope that the King Hussein Foundation will work in coordination with UNESCO on developing “culture of peace” programmes.
UNESCO's Director General Frederico Mayor will join Queen Noor at the Hague Appeal for Peace Conference, which will run from May 11-15. The Hague Appeal will bring together the advocates of campaigns already under way to stop the abuse of child soldiers, ban the traffic in small arms, abolish nuclear weapons, ratify the statue of the International Criminal Court and eliminate the vestiges of colonialism. The agenda of the Appeal is based on four basic themes: prevention, resolution and transformation of violent conflict; disarmament and human security; international humanitarian and human rights law and institutions; and root causes of war/culture of peace.