Monday, April 18, 2005

UNESCO Conventions, Declarations and Recommendations

UNESCO's website on Standard-Setting Instruments

The member states of UNESCO have over the decades drawn up a significant number of international instruments. Some take the form of "agreements" or "conventions", which are legally binding. Others are nonbinding "recommendations" or "declarations".

"UNESCO participates in this effort through its standard-setting action, serving as a central forum for coordinating the ethical, normative and intellectual issues of our time, fostering multidisciplinary exchange and mutual understanding, working – where possible and desirable – towards universal agreements on these issues, defining benchmarks and mobilizing international opinion.

"This site lists each instrument by type and by UNESCO sector of activity. For each instrument you will find HTML versions of the texts in English and French, and links to PDF files from our official documents in the six official languages of UNESCO."

Many of the conventions deal with education -- especially with the international recognition of certificates, diplomas and degrees -- while others deal with cultural heritage and copyrights.

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