p In spreading the ideas of education for peace and disarmament much is done by international organisations, which vary in character, influence, membership and political views.

p Some of them, such as the World Federation of United Nations Associations, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and Pax Christi, are not, strictly speaking, educational or research institutions.

p Others, such as the International Peace Research Association (IPRA), the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PR 10), the Consortium on Peace Research, Education and Development (COPRED), and the World Future Studies Federation (WFSF), do research into problems of peace and the theory of peace education.

p The International Institute for Peace (IIP) in Vienna founded on the initiative of the World Peace Council in 1953, is of special importance in promoting dialogue and co-operation between scientists belonging to different social systems, in finding ways of safeguarding and strengthening peace, and in deepening detente and reaffirming the principles of peaceful coexistence.

p Such educational bodies as the International Federation of Teachers’ Associations (I FT A), the International Association of Universities, the World Federation of 336 Scientific Workers, the International Federation of Free Teacher’s Union (IFFTU), and others are now involved in peace education work.

p In the last decade, new organisations have been set up specifically to spread education for peace and disarmament, like the World Association for the Schools as an Instrument of Peace, the World Council for Curriculum and Instruction (WCCI), the Association for World Education (AWE), and others.

p A large number of universities in the West have institutes, research centers, faculties and departments that study problems of peace and try to involve students and even large sections of the public in their activities.

p To a certain extent, it was these non-governmental organisations, including many democratic ones, that insisted on putting the question of education for peace and disarmament on the agenda at a number of international conferences, symposia, seminars, summer schools, etc.

p With the active participation of the socialist countries UNESCO also does a lot to spread the ideas of education for peace and disarmament.

p In 1974, the 18th Session of the UNESCO General Conference adopted a Recommendation Concerning Education for International Understanding, Cooperation and Peace and Education Relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

p In Paris, in April 1978, UNESCO held a Seminar on the Obstacles to Disarmament and the Ways of Overcoming Them, which recommended convening a World Congress on Disarmament Education in 1980. The Tenth Special Session of the UN General Assembly approved this recommendation. The Special Session’s Final Document called on UNESCO "to step up its programme aimed at the development of disarmament education as a distinct field of study through the preparation, inter alia, of teacher’s guides, textbooks, readers and audio-visual materials."  [336•1  Member states were recommended to take all necessary steps for such materials to be included in their school and university curricula.

p This was the first time that an official document of the 337 UN General Assembly recommended that governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations take steps to develop curricula at all academic levels on peace and disarmament education.

p The 33rd Session of the UN General Assembly (1978), adopted the Declaration on the Preparation of Societies for Life in Peace proposed by the Polish People’s Republic, which said that "every nation and every human being, regardless of race, conscience, language or sex, has the inherent right to life in peace".  [337•1  The Declaration called on states "to ensure that their policies relevant to the implementation of the present Declaration, including educational processes and teaching methods, as well as media information activities, incorporate contents compatible with the task of the preparation for life in peace of entire societies and, in particular, the young generations.”  [337•2  The 34th Session of the UN General Assembly adopted a Declaration on International Cooperation for Disarmament, proposed by the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. These initiatives of the socialist countries have had a wide political response.

p In June 1980, in Paris, UNESCO held a World Congress on Disarmament Education. The Congress stated, in part, that disarmament education within the educational system was not developing satisfactorily, except in the socialist countries.

In capitalist countries, the problems of disarmament are to be found in virtually no school curricula, and are studied in only a limited number of universities. Most of the special courses on problems of disarmament developed to date are concentrated in a handful of research centers and colleges. Such programme receive practically no support from the government in capitalist countries.