Swiss UNESCO Commission
| Abbreviation | SUK |
| Establishment date | May 6, 1949 |
| president | Jean-Bernard Münch |
| Vice President | Thomas Zeltner |
| Secretary General | Nicolas Mathieu |
| Number of committee members | 20th |
| budget | CHF 500,000 |
| Website | www.unesco.ch |
The Swiss UNESCO Commission (SUK) in Bern is an extra-parliamentary commission of 20 members that is appointed by the Federal Council. The 20 members are independent experts from all over Switzerland.
Your task is to create the link between UNESCO and Switzerland. Its activities also include advising the government through recommendations and advice on UNESCO-related issues, disseminating knowledge about the work of UNESCO in Switzerland and arousing interest in it.
tasks
The mandate of the Commission is to be a liaison body for all matters of interest to UNESCO. It is also responsible for promoting national and international intellectual cooperation in the areas of responsibility of UNESCO, namely education, science, culture and communication.
The tasks include:
- Advising the federal authorities on all Switzerland's relations with UNESCO and on their commitment to education, science, culture and communication.
- Mobilization of civil society (individuals, associations, professional groups, institutions, private sector, media, etc.) and the cantonal and local authorities around the values and principles of UNESCO.
- Building bridges between the international community, civil society in Switzerland and political bodies.
- Contribution to the realization of the objectives of UNESCO through the implementation of activities.
On a practical level, the activities of the SUC result, among other things, in the organization of events and the publication of publications; in the formulation of positions or in the dissemination of information.
organization
The commission has 20 members, including the President, who is appointed by the Federal Council for a term of office (four years). The members of the commission undertake to promote interdisciplinarity, interculturality and internationality and to work for the promotion and dissemination of the ideals of UNESCO. The members are employed in the form of a militia mandate.
The Commission has two organs that ensure that its activities run smoothly: the General Assembly and the Secretariat. The commission convenes a general meeting once or twice a year.
The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) provides the Commission with a secretariat and an operational budget. The Secretariat supports the Commission in its role as an advisory body to the federal authorities on all questions relating to Switzerland's relations with UNESCO.
Areas of activity
education
UNESCO believes that learning in the first years of life is the basis for human development. On this basis, the Swiss UNESCO Commission has been working since 2006, among other things, to improve equal opportunities and quality in early childhood education in Switzerland. She commissioned the first Swiss basic study on early childhood education and, together with the Swiss network for extra-family care, published the first educational reference document on early childhood, the framework for training, reception and early childhood education . In cooperation with the Swiss Extrafamilial Care Network and the CH Parent Training, the commission carried out the Early Promotion Project Platform. She has also organized various regional and national networking and exchange meetings and participated in various expert panels.
science
International scientific cooperation is at the heart of UNESCO's mandate. UNESCO's scientific activities are mainly implemented through its international scientific programs, which enable UNESCO to contribute to knowledge transfer and dissemination of results. A particular focus is on sustainable development , for example through the "People and Biosphere" (MAB) program, which includes the UNESCO biosphere reserves. These flagship regions promote the ecologically sustainable economic development of the local population. Switzerland currently has two biosphere reserves : the UNESCO Biosphere Entlebuch (canton Lucerne) and the Biosfera Val Müstair (canton Graubünden).
With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015, science is at the center of fundamental questions. Many of the goals of the 2030 Agenda require substantial scientific support for their implementation.
UNESCO deals with both natural and social and human sciences.
Culture
The drafting and adoption of the UNESCO conventions in the field of culture stem from the request of the Member States to develop international standards which can serve as a basis for defining their national cultural policy and deepening their cooperation. The cultural conventions of UNESCO complement one another due to their different thematic orientations and form a reference norm for national cultural policy. Switzerland has ratified 5 of the 6 UNESCO cultural conventions.
In the area of world heritage, the commission coordinates all the actors involved domestically, it mediates the world heritage sites as a whole and sensitizes the public to the values of world heritage.
History and key data
Switzerland joined UNESCO on January 28, 1949. On May 6, 1949, the Swiss UNESCO Commission (SUK ) was affiliated to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs ( EDA ) by resolution of the Federal Council .
Key data
In 1945, Switzerland was represented by two observers at the United Nations Conference on the Establishment of an Educational and Cultural Organization, which took place in London from November 1 to 16, 1945. They were the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (first President of the SUC and Director of the International Office for Education in Geneva) and Jean Weigle, professor at the University of Geneva. In November 1946, Switzerland sent Jean de Salis, professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, as an observer to the first UNESCO general conference in Paris. There he applied for membership on behalf of the Federal Council. The United Nations Economic and Social Council ( ECOSOC ), which dealt with the application in March 1947, had no objections to Switzerland's accession. At its meeting in April 1947, the UNESCO Executive Committee decided to recommend that Switzerland join the UNESCO General Conference. At its second session in Mexico City on November 7, 1947, the General Conference unanimously adopted the Executive Council's proposal. The Federal Council set up a study committee and an advisory board, which had to take care of the constitution of a future Swiss UNESCO commission. In its message of August 20, 1948, the Federal Council called on the Federal Assembly to sign the Convention establishing UNESCO of November 16, 1945 and to accept the federal decision on Switzerland's accession to UNESCO.
1949: Switzerland becomes a member of UNESCO on January 28, 1949. On May 6, 1949, the Federal Council constituted the Swiss Commission for UNESCO on the basis of Article VII of the UNESCO Constitution. Jean Piaget (1949–1952) was named first president. For the first ten years, the SUC did not have a full-time Secretary General. This task was taken over by the deputy head of the Department of International Organizations at the FDFA. They were successively Maurice Bastian (1949–1953), Fernand Bernoulli (1953–1954), Max König (1954–1956) and Sven Stiner (1956–1959). The National Councilor Ernst Börlin , Director of Public Education in the Canton of Basel-Landschaft and President of the SUC (1958–1968), encouraged the Federal Council by resolution of the Presidium of the SUC on June 20, 1959 and by Max Petitpierre , Head of the FDFA September 1959 a motion to create a permanent post of Secretary-General of the Commission. The first Secretary General appointed by the Federal Council took office in 1960. It was Jean-Baptiste de Weck (1960–1966) from Freiburg. From 1970 to 1972 the Geneva philosopher Jeanne Hersch was a member of the Executive Council of UNESCO . At the same time she was a member of the SUK.
After the resignation of Edgar Tripet, the Federal Council appointed former National Councilor Doris Morf in 1993 as President of the Swiss Commission for UNESCO for the period 1993–1996. The former Swiss representative in the Council of Europe was the first woman to head the Commission in this role. In November 1997, Francesca Gemnetti was appointed President of the SUC. This appointment enabled the Italian-speaking minority to lead the SUC for the first time. With Madeleine Viviani, the Swiss UNESCO Commission got its first Secretary General in 2003. Jean-Bernard Münch, former Director of the Union of European Broadcasting Companies and former President of SRG , took office as President of the SUC in 2012; Nicolas Mathieu took over the office of General Secretary.
Publications
- World Heritage in Switzerland (2012) . Bern: Swiss UNESCO Commission, ISBN 978-3-905782-73-8 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Swiss UNESCO Commission. Retrieved January 26, 2018 .
- ↑ Swiss UNESCO Commission. Retrieved January 25, 2018 .
- ↑ Swiss UNESCO Commission. Retrieved February 8, 2018 .
- ↑ Swiss UNESCO Commission. Retrieved February 8, 2018 .
- ↑ Swiss UNESCO Commission. Retrieved February 8, 2018 .
- ↑ Federal Office of Culture FOC: UNESCO Convention ratified by Switzerland. Retrieved February 8, 2018 .
- ↑ Switzerland | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved January 25, 2018 .