UNESCO New Zealand

July 2009

Human rights education in schools, climate change projects in colleges and an information technology festival on the remote East Cape are some of the innovative projects supported this year by the NZ National Commission for UNESCO’s Contestable Activity Fund or UCAF.

“Promoting peace and social justice in New Zealand and the Pacific through education, the sciences, culture and the free exchange of ideas is our organisation’s focus,” says chairman, Bryan Gould.

“We received a high standard of applications this year and were delighted to support a diverse range of projects.”

Successful projects funded were:

• Human Rights in Education Project with ASP Schools (Human Rights In Education Trust): $5000
• Wellington Youth Climate Forum for secondary students ($4375)
• Te Rangitawaea ICT festival for East Cape residents (Ngati Porou Runanga): $5000
• Kowiana annual conference for young, Korean Kiwis (Kowiana Association): $3000

“These inventive projects reflect UNESCO’s growing intersectoral focus by engaging with at least two of UNESCO’s key mandated areas - Education, Natural Sciences, Social and Human Sciences, Culture and Communications and Information,” says Mr Gould.
 

April 2009

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata!

A workshop organised by The Social and Human Sciences Sub-Commission, New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO, The Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ) and Building Research Capability in the Social Sciences (BRCSS) focused on the following issues:

• What are the specific challenges of ‘multiculturalism’ in Aotearoa New Zealand?
• How are state agencies, local bodies and community organisations responding to these challenges? What new responses are possible?
• What contributions can we make to valuing and sustaining diverse cultural identities in the Asia Pacific region?

For more information: http://www.royalsociety.org.nz

March 2009

UNESCO awards $4000 prize for Best Research Award in the “Realise the Dream” Event to Jake Martin of Cambridge High School

UNESCO is thrilled to present the $4000 best research award for the top senior student in Realise the Dream.  UNESCO is the only United Nations specialised agency with a specific mandate to promote science and education.  Realise the Dream sits within UNESCO’s commitment to science and its recognition of the role the application of science plays in international cooperation towards peace, human rights and development.

The best research Year 12/13 award was presented by Dr Andrew Matthews, Deputy Chair of the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO, last night at a celebratory awards dinner held at the Te Papa.  The $4000 award was given to Jake Martin (17) from Cambridge High School for “The Wood Powered Engine”.  In this project, Jake developed an engine that could run on wood with a view to turning biomass energy and waste streams into a useable energy source for transport use.

“Jake’s approach of learning by doing, perseverance and intuition shows that innovation is alive and well in New Zealand and it is through such efforts that the New Zealand economy will be transformed” Dr Matthews said. 

The New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO is pleased to partner with the Royal Society of New Zealand in the “Genesis Energy Realise the Dream Event”.  The national awards build upon and promote the enterprise, inventiveness and excellence of some of New Zealand's best young scientists and researchers.  It ensures that science and technology have bright and dynamic future in New Zealand.

For more information:

http://www.realisethedream.org.nz

http://www.royalsociety.org.nz
 

February 2009

A wide range of activities that have taken place throughout New Zealand as part of the United Nations International Year of Languages 2008 will be marked with a gathering on Monday 23 February at Te Taura Whiri i te reo Maori, the Maori Language Commission.

The Year was launched at a language workshop on International Mother Languages Day, 21 February 2008.

Led by the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO, key partners for the Year have included Te Taura Whiri i te reo Maori, Human Rights Commission, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs.

"Languages are to be treasured, they are a bridge to the past and to the future. This year New Zealand has joined hundreds of UNESCO partners worldwide to protect and promote languages, particularly endangered and indigenous languages," says UNESCO National Commission chairman, Bryan Gould.

Major achievements in New Zealand include the: statement on Language Policy released by Te Waka Reo; launch of a 100% Maori language television channel; the initial development of a Pacific language strategy; and He Pataka Kupu, the launch of the first monolingual Maori dictionary.

While recent surveys suggest an increase in the health of the Maori language, Te Taura Whiri i te reo Maori chairman, Erima Henare recently warned against complacency.

"Although there is a resurgence of te reo Maori, a critical mass of fluent speakers of all ages is needed, as well as the continued support of the wider New Zealand community".

Te Waka Reo is a national language policy network facilitated by the Human Rights Commission as part of the New Zealand Diversity Action Programme.

"The right to language is a vital human right, because it goes to the very heart of a person's identity and culture.  It is vital for the realisation of people's cultural, civil, political, social and economic rights," says Race Relations Commissioner, Joris de Bres.

These actions are all in keeping with calls from the UNESCO Director General, Koichiro Matsuura for governments to policies to secure the harmonious and fruitful co-existence of the languages of each country.  Mr Matsuura also urged governments to note the importance of languages to development, peace and social cohesion.

UNESCO has commended New Zealand for its contribution to the international work on languages, and will be launching a new Atlas of Endangered Languages, which records the status of language internationally and warns that of the 6000 languages spoken internationally, almost 200 have fewer than 10 speakers.

January 2009

The United Nations International Day of Commemoration to honour victims of the Holocaust was marked with ceremonies in Wellington today.

Representatives from the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO, the Wellington Regional Jewish Council and the Holocaust Research and Education Centre joined others at the Holocaust Memorial, Makara Cemetery.  This was followed by a ceremony hosted at Parliament’s Grand Hall by the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Chris Finlayson.

“Today marks the 64th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camps and the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO takes great pride in being associated with this International Day of Remembrance,” says Deputy Chair of the National Commission, Dr Andrew Matthews.

“The Auschwitz death camps are listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List with the following citation:

‘Auschwitz - Birkenau, monument to the deliberate genocide of the Jews by the Nazi regime (Germany 1933-1945) and to the deaths of countless others, bears irrefutable evidence to one of the greatest crimes ever perpetrated against humanity.  It is also a monument to the strength of the human spirit which, in appalling conditions of adversity, resisted the efforts of the German Nazi regime to suppress freedom and free thought and to wipe out whole races.  The site is a key place of memory for the whole of humankind, for the holocaust, racist policies and barbarism; it is a place of our collective memory of this dark chapter in the history of humanity, of transmission to younger generations, and a sign of warning of the many threats and tragic consequences of extreme ideologies and denial of human dignity.’”

In 2007 UNESCO’s General Conference requested member states to place education at the centre of the work for remembrance in order to keep the memory alive.

“Through learning programmes about the Holocaust, our younger generation comes to value the importance of tolerance and freedom in a just society.  This knowledge is essential to ensure that such atrocities never take place again,” said Dr Matthews.

Quality education for all, a cornerstone of UNESCO’s work internationally, is about learning to live together.

Today at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, a commemoration ceremony will take place which will feature the opening of a special exhibition entitled A la vie! (To Life!) presented by the OSE association (Œuvre de secours aux enfants).  It retraces the lives of 15 of the children who were found by American soldiers when they entered Buchenwald.  The Paris Symphonic Orchestra will then perform Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony n°3, “Kaddish”, with a new libretto written and recited by Samuel Pisar.