Reply to the Fourth Report of UNESCO to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- (a) Subject introduced on 15th September 1957 by the tabling of the Fourth Report of UNESCO to the Consultative Assembly,Doc. 696.<br>(b) 30th April 1958, tabling of the Report of the Cultural Committee,Doc. 825.<br>(c) 3rd May 1958, debate in the Assembly (see 9th Sitting of the 10th Session). The Resolution was adopted unanimously.
1. The Consultative Assembly wishes to thank UNESCO for its Fourth Report which it has noted with the greatest interest. It is particularly glad to see the great expansion of the activities of UNESCO and would like to extend its heartiest congratulations on this achievement.
2. The Assembly notes with satisfaction that frequent meetings between the Secretariats of the Council of Europe and UNESCO and the regular exchange of observers have succeeded in increasing the very close collaboration which already existed between the two organisations in the European cultural field. In this reply the Assembly would like to concentrate on suggesting points on which there might be further fruitful co-operation.
3. With reference to
Resolution 118 (1957), which contained various recommendations to the Committee of Ministers designed to further the programme adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO, the Assembly has pleasure in reporting below the decisions taken on them by the Committee of Ministers. These decisions were included in the Supplementary Report to the Eighth Report of the Committee of Ministers to the Consultative Assembly transmitted in pursuance of Article 19 of the Statute of the Council of Europe.
I. International Computation Centre
4. The Committee of Ministers stated, to the great regret of the Assembly, that it was unable to take action on
Recommendation 127 (1957) concerning this Centre.
II. The International Bureau of Education
5. The Committee of Ministers also decided that it was unable to take action on
Recommendation 126 (1957), in which the Assembly had invited Member States to become full members of the International Bureau of Education.
III. The UNESCO Institute for Social Sciences in Cologne
6. In reply to
Recommendation 129 (1957) concerning this Institute, the Committee of Ministers informed the Assembly that it had noted the opinion of the Committee of Cultural Experts on
Recommendation 129 (1957) and had instructed the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe to look into the possibilities of co-operating with the UNESCO Institute for Social Sciences, Cologne.
7. It should be mentioned in this connection that the Committee of Cultural Experts decided to make a grant of 400,000 French francs to the UNESCO Institute for Social Sciences out of the cultural budget for 1957.
IV. Major Project "Mutual Appreciation of Eastern and Western Cultural Values"
8. The Committee of Ministers informed the Assembly that "having noted the opinion of the Committee of Cultural Experts with regard to Assembly
Recommendation 128 (1957), the Committee of Ministers, sharing the Assembly's views on the importance which should be attached to the implementation of Major Project 4 A of UNESCO and the advisability of member countries of the Council of Europe participating in this project, but considering that the Council of Europe should not at the present stage take any active partinits implementation, has instructed the Committee of Cultural Experts:
a The Committee of Ministers informed the Assembly that "having noted the opinion of the Committee of Cultural Experts with regard to Assembly
Recommendation 128 (1957), the Committee of Ministers, sharing the Assembly's views on the importance which should be attached to the implementation of Major Project 4 A of UNESCO and the advisability of member countries of the Council of Europe participating in this project, but considering that the Council of Europe should not at the present stage take any active partinits implementation, has instructed the Committee of Cultural Experts:
b to follow closely the development of this Major Project in order to ascertain at what stage and by what means the Council might be able to contribute thereto".
9. The Consultative Assembly believes that it is not too soon to start work now on the contribution of the Council of Europe to the Major Project and that the following activities, which already appear in the programme of the Committee of Cultural Experts or of the Assembly's Cultural Committee, could play a useful part in presenting European cultural values to other parts of the world, particularly the East.
(1) PUBLICATIONS
(a) "Europe and the Europeans" by Professor Max Beloff
10. This work - which is the fruits of the Round Table discussion held in Rome in 1953 and was the result of the work of the Study Group which met in Strasbourg in 1956 - was published by Chatto & Windus, London, in October 1957. Translations into the following European languages are planned for the near future: German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.
(b) A work summarising the conclusions of the conferences on the revision of history textbooks
11. These conferences took place between 1953 and 1958, and it is planned to publish their conclusions by 1960. It is also intended to prepare a glossary of about 60 terms used in the textbooks which require clarification.
(c) The catalogues of European exhibitions
12. These catalogues have been richly illustrated and, in addition to the list of works exhibited, contain explanatory notes written by some of the greatest authorities on art. The following exhibitions have already been held or are in course of preparation: Brussels 1954 : Humanist Europe; Amsterdam 1955 : The Triumph of Mannerism : in Europe; Rome 1956 : Classicism, Realism and Baroque in the 17th century; Munich 1958 : European Rococo; London 1959 : The Romantic Movement in Europe, 1750 - 1850.
(d) "The Europe We Live in"
13. This book, which is intended for use in European schools, is to be published in 1958 by the Paris publishing house of ODE under the auspices of the Cultural Committee of the Consultative Assembly. It will contain a preface by M. Dehousse, President of the Consultative Assembly, and contributions by prominent European figures such as M. Schuman, President of the European Parliamentary Assembly. It is planned to publish this work in German, English and French as a beginning.
(e) Collection of texts illustrating European folklore and pseudo-historical or religious themes
14. If this project, which forms part of the programme of the Committee of Cultural Experts, comes to fruition, the work might usefully be included in the material compiled by UNESCO with a view to presenting European culture to the East.
(2) ART GALLERY
15. The Assembly considers that the member countries of the Council of Europe could make an important contribution to the Major Project by helping to found a gallery of European works of art in an Asiatic country. This contribution could take the form of long-term loans of the originals of works representative of European culture.
16. The Assembly is glad that UNESCO has shown interest in this idea. It therefore hopes that it will prove possible to put this scheme into practice and recommends further exchanges of views between the two organisations for that purpose.
(3) FILMS
17. In connection with the European exhibitions mentioned earlier, the Secretariat-General of the Council of Europe is making arrangements in co-operation with the organising Governments for colour films as well as film strips and transparencies to be shown at every exhibition. This material might perhaps be made available to UNESCO.
18. Among the other UNESCO activities described by the Director-General in his Fourth Report, the Assembly was particularly interested in the information concerning the following three international conventions and agreements prepared by UNESCO:
V. Convention on the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict
19. The Assembly noted with interest that the Convention and Protocol on the Protection of Cultural Property in the event of Armed Conflict, to which the Assembly had already given its support in
Recommendation 19 of 8th December 1951, came into force on 7th August 1956. It also noted that France is the only member country of the Council of Europe which has so far ratified the Convention and Protocol (June 1957)
Note.
20. It proposes to submit a recommendation to the Committee of Ministers requesting Member States to accede to the Convention and Protocol (see
Recommendation 162).
VI. International agreement on the exchange of publications
21. The Consultative Assembly is paying close attention to the question of the International Agreement on the Exchange of Publications. It has noted with satisfaction that two separate Conventions have been drawn up for official and unofficial publications. As soon as the final texts of these international agreements have been settled, the Assembly would be glad to have knowledge of them in view of its great interest in the question.
VII. International agreement on the importation of materials of an educational, scientific or cultural character
22. The Assembly has twice already recommended that the Committee of Ministers invite Member Governments to accede to this Agreement (
Recommendation 25 (1949) and
Recommendation 33 (1950) which entered into force in 1952, when 10 States had deposited their instruments of ratification.
23. The Agreement has now been ratified by 20 States, including the following member countries of the Council of Europe: Greece, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In addition, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands will implement it by decree. The Assembly proposes to do so again, owing to the importance it attaches to the question (see
Recommendation 163).
VIII. Translations
24. The Consultative Assembly is keenly interested to hear of the translations of representative literary works undertaken by UNESCO. The programme of translations is in fact similar, as regards European literature, to that of the Committee of Cultural Experts, although there are certain differences in methods of execution, The Assembly nevertheless considers the two schemes to be complementary and welcomes the co-operation recently begun between the two Secretariats in this field.
25. For the record, it would inform UNESCO that the following are among the literary works in the lesser known European languages of which the Committee of Cultural Experts has decided to commission translation:
translation into English of selected works by J. U. Jensen (Denmark);
translation into English of the novel Maria Spermalie by Herman Teilrinck (Belgium);
translation into English of Menneske Og Maktene by Olav Duun (Norway);
translation into French of the works of Anghelos Sikelianos (Greece).
