Recalling General Assembly resolution 50/173 of 22 December 1995, entitled "United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education: towards a culture of peace", in which it expressed satisfaction with the transdisciplinary project adopted by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization entitled "Towards a culture of peace",

Recalling also General Assembly resolution 51/101 of 12 December 1996 on a culture of peace, in which it called for the promotion of a culture of peace based on the preamble to the Charter of the United Nations and the purposes and principles of the United Nations,

Expressing its deep concern about the persistence and proliferation of violence and conflicts of a diverse nature in various parts of the world,

Emphasizing the link between peace and development and the need for a culture of peace that can lead, through education, science and communication, to respect for all human rights and the promotion of democracy, tolerance, dialogue, reconciliation and solidarity, as well as to international cooperation and economic development, and thus to sustainable human development,

Aware of the need to mobilize public opinion at the national and international levels for the purpose of establishing and promoting a culture of peace and the central role that the United Nations system could play in this regard,

Bearing in mind the memorandum of understanding between the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, signed in Paris on 19 October 1995,

Convinced that an international year for the culture of peace at the turn of the millennium would provide the opportunity to boost the efforts of the international community to establish and promote an everlasting culture of peace,

1. Recommends that the General Assembly, at its fifty-second session, proclaim the year 2000 as International Year for the Culture of Peace;

2. Also recommends that the programme of activities and the scope of the Year should focus on respect for cultural diversity and promotion of tolerance, solidarity, cooperation, dialogue and reconciliation and should be based on activities at the national and international levels;

3. Further recommends that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization should be designated as the focal point for the Year and should bear the responsibility for coordinating the inter-organizational aspects of the programmes and activities of the other bodies within the United Nations system and other organizations concerned and for mobilizing resources to meet the budgetary requirements for the Year;

4. Requests the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to submit to the Council, at its substantive session of 1998, a report on the state of preparations for the Year to enable it to make appropriate proposals to the General Assembly at its fifty-third session.