UN General Assembly
1999

application of a universal culture of peace. This will happen if we are able to courageously identify and defeat the seeds of violence. Therefore, we have to decide now what culture we want to defend: a culture where violence is considered an inevitable evil from which we can only protect ourselves, or a culture where violence can and must be eradicated. The preamble to the Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which includes the words, “since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed”, remains today, in our opinion, the right perspective, because peace-building through dialogue, education and acceptance of differences is the best guarantee for the survival of humanity. We all know that there are 45 armed conflicts going on at this very moment all over the world. Sadly, the spilling of stains of hate and violence constantly destroys the hope that humanity will soon prepare to use the so- called “peace dividend”, resulting from the end of the