OSCE expert meeting: education is key element to promote respect and fight intolerance

DUBROVNIK, Croatia, 23 October 2006 - Teacher training, improved curricula and education about the Holocaust are central elements in the fight against racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, speakers said at the opening of an international OSCE meeting in the Croatian coastal town of Dubrovnik today.

The two-day event brings together decision-makers, senior officials from education ministries and non-governmental organizations from the OSCE's 56 participating States.

"In our debates on intolerance of the past few years, time and again education and youth have come forward as key elements in our efforts," said Pierre Chevalier, Special Envoy of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office. "Indeed, education is seen by most actors as the most efficient long term instrument for promoting mutual respects and understanding.

"We are all members of the OSCE family because we share the same values: we are resolved to promote a climate of confidence, of respect and understanding within and among societies. These values are the essence, the backbone of our Organization. It must be a major part of our task, indeed a duty, to pass on these values to future generations."

Croatia's Minister of Science, Education and Sports, Dragan Primorac, added: "Croatia is one of the rare countries which in a very short time has been able to reach consensus with its minority citizens, the Serb community, on how history is being taught to both Croatian and Serbian pupils.

"To be tolerant does not mean to tolerate cultural injustices. It means to be free to stick to ones convictions, but also to accept that others can stick to their convictions. Croatia will continue with its efforts in the field of tolerance education."

Ambassador Christian Strohal, director of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, which will present an assessment report containing recommendations to OSCE participating States on diversity education, said:
"Our societies have to protect themselves against the threats to security and stability emanating from racist violence, hate crimes and intolerant speech. With this meeting, the OSCE draws attention to the crucial role of education for societies that seek to protect their pluralism against such threats.

"Education is only out of many ways of tackling the disconcerting development of intolerance, hate and discrimination. All 56 OSCE States are committed to undertake specific actions to combat hatred and encourage tolerance. Among these efforts, we find strengthened legislation, improvements in the field of data collection, and special training programmes for law enforcement officers."

The Dubrovnik meeting was preceded by a one-day gathering of non-governmental organizations, which spotlighted different educational approaches and identified policy recommendations for the participating States' governments. These recommendations were also presented to the participants at the Dubrovnik meeting today.

On 9 and 10 November, the OSCE will hold in Vienna a third experts meeting, which will focus on the collection of hate crime data. The results of all three events will eventually form the basis for discussions at the next OSCE Ministerial Council meeting, to be held on 4 and 5 December in Brussels.

Speeches, documents as well as photographs of the meeting, which is entirely open to the press, can be found on the OSCE website at www.osce.org/conferences/tolerance2_2006.html.