Twenty Years of UNESCO: An Interpretation

The fourteenth General Conference, held in Paris in November 1966, marked the twentieth anniversary of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The thirteenth General Conference (Paris, 1964), anticipating this occasion, was fully aware of the need for self-evaluation, self-criticism, and renewed self-definition. It passed a special resolution concerning the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary which authorized the Director-General to take appropriate measures to ensure wide publicity of the constitutional principles and actual achievements of UNESCO; to stimulate discussion at different levels of the relevance and effectiveness of the previous and present work of the Organization; and to give thought to the future orientation of the program of UNESCO. Six months prior to the fourteenth General Conference the Director-General convened in Bellagio, Italy, a round table of “wise men” from different geographical regions of the world. Here free and full discussion focused on UNESCO, its limitations, and potential in the perspective of the total setting in which it has to operate. The deliberations of these men, it was hoped, would be of use to the grand ensemble of national delegates at the forthcoming anniversary session.