UNESCO

Abstract

UNESCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization – is a specialized UN agency, founded in 1945, and composed of 192 member states. Its headquarters are in Paris, where member states maintain delegations headed by a person with diplomatic status, typically with the rank of ambassador. UNESCO also has more than 50 field offices around the world. The preamble to the UNESCO constitution emphasizes the importance of the organization's mission of peace through intellectual and cultural development and exchange, stating that “since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed” (UNESCO 1945). The UNESCO constitution further states that the organization's purpose is “to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.” For the 2006–2007 biennium, UNESCO had a budget appropriation of US$610 million, with an additional US$409 million in “extra‐budgetary resources” (additional funds from sources other than member states' assessed contributions), for a total budget of US$1.02 billion for the two‐year period.