Constitution of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
The Governments of the States Parties to
this Constitution on behalf of their peoples
declare:
That since wars begin in the minds of men,
it is in the minds of men that the defences
of peace must be constructed;
That ignorance of each other's ways and lives
has been a common cause, throughout the history
of mankind, of that suspicion and mistrust
between the peoples of the world through
which their differences have all too often
broken into war;
That the great and terrible waｒ which has
now ended was a war made possible by the
denial of the democratic principles of the
dignity, equality and mutual respect of men,
and by the propagation, in their place, through
ignorance and prejudice, of the doctrine
of the inequality of men and races;
That the wide diffusion of culture, and the
education of humanity for justice and liberty
and peace are indispensable to the dignity
of man and constitute a sacred duty which
all the nations must fulfil in a spirit of
mutual assistance and concern;
That a peace based exclusively upon the political
and economic arrangements of governments
would not be a peace which could secure the
unanimous, lasting and sincere support of
the peoples of the world, and that the peace
must therefore be founded, if it is not to
fail, upon the intellectual and moral solidarity
of mankind.
For these reasons, the State Parties to this
Constitution, believing in full and equal
opportunities for education for all, in the
unrestricted pursuit of objective truth,
and in the free exchange of ideas and knowledge,
are agreed and determined to develop and
to increase the means of communication between
their peoples and to employ these means for
the purposes of mutual understanding and
a truer and more perfect knowledge of each
other's lives; In consequence whereof they
do hereby create the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization for
the purpose of advancing, through the educational
and scientific and cultural relations of
the peoples of the world, the objectives
of international peace and of the common
welfare of mankind for which the United Nations
Organization was established and which its
Charter proclaims.
ARTICLE I. PURPOSES AND FUNCTIONS
1. The purpose of the Organization is to
contribute to peace and security by promoting
collaboration among the nations through education,
science and culture in order to further universal
respect for justice, for the rule of law
and for the human rights and fundamental
freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples
of the world, without distinction of race,
sex, language or religion by the Charter
of the United Nations.
2. To realize this purpose the Organization
will: a. Collaborate in the work of advancing
the mutual knowledge and understanding of
peoples, through all means of mass communication
and to that end recommend such international
agreements as may be necessary to promote
the free flow of ideas by word and image;
b. Give fresh impulse to popular education
and to the spread of culture; by collaborating
with Members at their request, in the development
of educational activities; by instituting
collaboration among the nations to advance
the ideal of equality of educational opportunity
without regard to race, sex or any distinctions,
economic oｒ social; by suggesting educational
methods best suited to prepare the children
of the world for the responsibilities of
freedom; c. Maintain, increase and diffuse
knowledge; by assuring the conservation and
protection of the world's inheritance of
books, works of art and monuments of history
and science, and recommending to the nations
concerned the necessary international conventions;
by encouraging cooperation among the nations
in all branches of intellectual activity,
including the international exchange of persons
active in the fields of education, science
and culture and the exchange of publications,
objects of artistic and scientific interest
and other materials of information; by initiating
methods of international co-operation calculated
to give the people of all countries access
to the printed and published materials produced
by any of them.
3. With a view to preserving the independence,
integrity and fruitful diversity of the cultures
and educational systems of the States members
of this Organization, the Organization is
prohibited from intervening in matters which
are essentially within their domestic jurisdiction.
ARTICLE II. MEMBERSHIP
1. Membership of the United Nations Organization
shall carry with it the right to membership
of the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization.
2. Subject to the conditions of the Agreement
between this Organization and the United
Nations Organization, approved pursuant to
Article X of this Constitution, States not
members of the United Nations Organization
may be admitted to membership of the Organization,
upon recommendation of the Executive Board,
by a two thirds majority vote of the General
Conference.
3. Territories or groups of territories which
are not responsible for the conduct of their
international relations may be admitted as
Associate Members by the General Conference
by a two thirds majority of Members present
and voting, upon application made on behalf
of such territory or group of territories
by the Member or other authority having responsibility
for their international relations. The nature
and extent of the rights and obligations
of Associate Members shall be determined
by the General Conference.
4. Members of the Organization which are
suspended from the exercise of the rights
and privileges of membership of the United
Nations Organization shall, upon the request
of the latter, be suspended from the rights
and privileges of this Organization.
5. Members of the Organization which are
expelled from the United Nations Organization
shall automatically cease to be members of
this Organization.
6. Any Member State or Associate Member of
the Organization may withdraw from the Organization
by notice addressed to the Director-General.
Such notice shall take effect on 31 December
of the year following that during which the
notice was given. No such withdrawal shall
affect the financial obligations owed to
the Organization on the date the withdrawal
takes effect. Notice of withdrawal by an
Associate Member shall be given on its behalf
by the Member State or other authority having
responsibility for its international relations.
ARTICLE III. ORGANS
The Organization shall include a General
Conference, an Executive Board and a Secretariat.
ARTICLE IV. THE GENERAL CONFERENCE
A. Composition
1. The General Conference shall consist of
the representatives of the States members
of the Organization. The Government of each
Member State shall appoint not more than
five delegates, who shall be selected after
consultation with the National Commission,
if established, or with educational, scientific
and cultural bodies.
B. Functions
2. The General Conference shall determine
the policies and the main lines of work of
the Organization. It shall take decisions
on programs submitted to it by the Executive
Board.
3. The General Conference shall, when it
deems desirable and in accordance with the
regulations to be made by it, summon international
conferences of States on education, the sciences
and humanities or the dissemination of knowledge;
non-governmental conferences on the same
subjects may be summoned by the General Conference
or by the Executive Board in accordance with
such regulations.
4. The General Conference shall, in adopting
proposals for submission to the Member States,
distinguish between recommendations and international
conventions submitted for their approval.
In the former case a majority vote shall
suffice; in the latter case a two thirds
majority shall be required. Each of the Member
States shall submit recommendations or conventions
to its competent authorities within a period
of one year from the close of the session
of the General Conference at which they were
adopted.
5. Subject to the provisions of Article V,
paragraph 5c, the General Conference shall
advice the United Nations Organization on
the educational, scientific and cultural
aspects of matters of concern to the latter;
in accordance with the terms and procedure
agreed upon between the appropriate authorities
of the two Organizations.
6. The General Conference shall receive and
consider the reports sent to the Organization
by Member States on the action taken upon
the recommendations and conventions referred
to in paragraph 4 above or, if it so decides,
analytical summaries of these reports.
7. The General Conference shall elect the
members of the Executive Board and, on the
recommendation of the Board, shall appoint
the Director-General.
C. Voting
8. (a) Each Member State shall have one vote
in the General Conference. Decisions shall
be made by a simple majority except in cases
in which a two thirds majority is required
by the provisions of this Constitution. A
majority shall be a majority of the Members
present and voting.
(b) A Member State shall have no vote in
the General Conference if the total amount
of contributions due from it exceeds the
total amount of contributions payable by
it for the current year and the immediately
preceding calendar year.
(c) The General Conference may nevertheless
permit such a Member State to vote, if it
is satisfied that the failure to pay is due
to conditions beyond the control of the Member
Nation.
D. Procedure
9. (a) The General Conference shall meet
in ordinary session every two years. It may
meet in extraordinary session if it decides
to do so itself or if summoned by the Executive
Board, or on the demand of at least one third
of the Member States.
(b) At each session the location of its next
ordinary session shall be designated by the
General Conference. The location of an extraordinary
session shall be decided by the General Conference
if the session is summoned by it, or otherwise
by the Executive Board.
10. The General Conference shall adopt its
own rules of procedure. It shall at each
session elect a President and other officers.
11. The General Conference shall set up special
and technical committees and such other subordinate
bodies as may be necessary for its purposes.
12. The General Conference shall cause arrangements
to be made for public access to meetings,
subject to such regulations as it shall prescribe.
E. Observers
13. The General Conference, on the recommendation
of the Executive Board and by a two thirds
majority may, subject to its rules of procedure,
invite as observers at specified sessions
of the Conference or of its Commissions representatives
of international organizations, such as those
referred to in Article XI, paragraph 4.
14. When consultative arrangements have been
approved by the Executive Board for such
international non-governmental or semi-governmental
organizations in the manner provided in Article
XI, paragraph 4, those organizations shall
be invited to send observers to sessions
of the General Conference and its Commissions.
ARTICLE V. EXECUTIVE BOARD
A. Composition
1. The Executive Board shall be elected by
the General Conference from among the delegates
appointed by the Member States and shall
consist of forty members, each of whom shall
represent the Government of the State of
which he is a national. The President of
the General Conference shall sit ex officio
in an advisory capacity on the Executive
Board.
2. In electing the members of the Executive
Board the General Conference shall endeavour
to include persons competent in the arts,
the humanities, the sciences, education and
the diffusion of ideas, and qualified by
their experience and capacity to fulfil the
administrative and executive duties of the
Board. It shall also have regard to the diversity
of cultures and a balanced geographical distribution.
Not more than one national of any Member
State shall serve on the Board at any one
time, the President of the Conference excepted.
3. Members of the Board shall serve from
the close of the session of the General Conference
which elected them until the close of the
second ordinary session of the General Conference
following that election. They shall not be
immediately eligible for a second term. The
General Conference shall, at each of its
ordinary sessions, elect the number of members
required to fill vacancies occurring at the
end of the session.
4. In the event of the death or resignation
of a member of the Executive Board, his replacement
for the remainder of his term shall be appointed
by the Executive Board on the nomination
of the Government of the State the former
member represented. The Government making
the nomination and the Executive Board shall
have regard to the factors set forth in paragraph
2 of this Article.
B. Functions
5. (a) The Executive Board shall prepare
the agenda for the General Conference. It
shall examine the programme of work for the
Organization and corresponding budget estimates
submitted to it by the Director-General in
accordance with paragraph 3 of Article VI
and shall submit them with such recommendations
as it considers desirable to the General
Conference.
(b) The Executive Board, acting under the
authority of the General Conference, shall
be responsible for the execution of the programme
adopted by the Conference. In accordance
with the decisions of the General Conference
and having regard to circumstances arising
between two ordinary sessions, the Executive
Board shall take all necessary measures to
ensure the effective and rational execution
of the programme by the Director-General.
(c) Between ordinary sessions of the General
Conference, the Board may discharge the functions
of adviser to the United Nations, set forth
Article IV, paragraph 5, whenever the problem
upon which advice is sought has already been
dealt with in principle by the Conference,
or when the solution is implicit in decisions
of the Conference.
6. The Executive Board shall recommend to
the General Conference the admission of new
Members to the Organization.
7. Subject to decisions of the General Conference,
the Executive Board shall adopt its own rules
of procedure. It shall elect its officers
from among its members.
8. The Executive Board shall meet in regular
session at least twice a year and may meet
in special session if convoked by the Chairman
on his own initiative or upon the request
of six members of the Board.
9. The Chairman of the Executive Board shall
present, on behalf of the Board, to each
ordinary session of the General Conference,
with or without comments, the reports on
the activities of the Organization which
the Director-General is required to prepare
in accordance with the provisions of Article
VI, paragraph 3.b.
10. The Executive Board shall make all necessary
arrangements to consult the representatives
of international organizations or qualified
persons concerned with questions within its
competence.
11. Between sessions of the General Conference,
the Executive Board may request advisory
opinions from the International Court of
Justice on legal questions arising within
the field of the Organization's activities.
12. Although the members of the Executive
Board are representative of their respective
Governments they shall exercise the powers
delegated to them by the General Conference
on behalf of the Conference as a whole.
C. Transitional Provisions
13. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph
3 of this Article,
(a) Members of the Executive Board elected
prior to the seventeenth session of the General
Conference shall serve until the end of the
term for which they were elected.
(b) Members of the Executive Board appointed,
prior to the seventeenth session of the General
Conference, by the Board in accordance with
the provisions of paragraph 4 of this Article
to replace members with a four-year term
shall be eligible for a second term of four
years.
ARTICLE VI. SECRETARIAT
1. The Secretariat shall consist of a Director-General
and such staff as may be required.
2. The Director-General shall be nominated
by the Executive Board and appointed by the
General Conference for a period of six years,
under such conditions as the Conference may
approve, and shall be eligible for reappointment.
He shall be the chief administrative officer
of the Organization.
3. (a) The Director-General, or a deputy
designated by him, shall participate, without
the right to vote, in all meetings of the
General Conference, of the Executive Board,
and of the Committees of the Organization.
He shall formulate proposals for appropriate
action by the Conference and the Board, and
shall prepare for submission to the Board
a draft programme of work for the Organization
with corresponding budget estimated.
(b) The Director-General shall prepare and
communicate to Member States and to the Executive
Board periodical reports on the activities
of the Organization. The General Conference
shall determine the periods to be covered
by these reports.
4. The Director-General shall appoint the
staff of the Secretariat in accordance with
staff regulations to be approved by the General
Conference. Subject to the paramount consideration
of securing the highest standards of integrity,
efficiency and technical competence, appointment
to the staff shall be on as wide a geographical
basis as possible.
5. The responsibilities of the Director-General
and of the staff shall be exclusively international
in character. In the discharge of their duties
they shall not seek or receive instructions
from any Government or from any authority
external to the Organization. They shall
refrain from any action which might prejudice
their position as international officials.
Each State member of the Organization undertakes
to respect the international character of
the responsibilities of the Director-General
and the staff, and not to seek to influence
them in the discharge of their duties.
6. Nothing in this Article shall preclude
the Organization from entering into special
arrangements within the United Nations Organization
for common services and staff and for the
interchange of personnel.
ARTICLE VII. NATIONAL COOPERATING BODIES
1. Each Member State shall make such arrangements
as suit its particular conditions for the
purpose of associating its principal bodies
interested in educational, scientific and
cultural matters with the work of the Organization,
preferably by the formation of a National
Commission broadly representative of the
Government and such bodies.
2. National Commissions or National Cooperating
Bodies, where they exist, shall act in an
advisory capacity to their respective delegations
to the General Conference and to their Governments
in matters relating to the Organization and
shall function as agencies of liaison in
all matters of interest to it.
3. The Organization may, on the request of
a Member State, delegate, either temporarily
or permanently, a member of its Secretariat
to serve on the National Commission of that
State, in order to assist in the development
of its work.
ARTICLE VIII. REPORTS BY MEMBER STATES
Each Member State shall report periodically
to the Organization, in a manner to be determined
by the General Conference, on its laws, regulations
and statistics relating to educational, scientific
and cultural life and institutions, and on
the action taken upon the recommendations
and conventions referred to in Article IV,
paragraph 4.
ARTICLE IX. BUDGET
1. The Budget shall be administered by the
Organization.
2. The General Conference shall approve and
give final effect to the budget and to the
apportionment of financial responsibility
among the States members of the Organization
subject to such arrangement with the United
Nations as may be provided in the agreement
to be entered into pursuant to Article X.
3. The Director-General, with the approval
of the Executive Board, may receive gifts,
bequest, and subventions directly from Governments,
public and private institutions, associations
and private persons.
ARTICLE X. RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED NATIONS
ORGANIZATION
This Organization shall be brought into relation
with the United Nations Organization, as
soon as practicable, as one of the Specialized
Agencies referred to in Article 57 of the
Charter of the United Nations. This relationship
shall be effected through an agreement with
the United Nations Organization under Article
63 of the Charter, which agreement shall
be subject to the approval of the General
Conference of this Organization. The agreement
shall provide for effective cooperation between
the two Organizations in the pursuit of their
common purposes, and at the same time shall
recognize the autonomy of this Organization,
within the fields of its competence as defined
in this Constitution. Such agreement may,
among other matters, provide for the approval
and financing of the budget of the Organization
by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
ARTICLE XI. RELATIONS WITH OTHER SPECIALIZED
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND AGENCIES
1. This Organization may cooperate with other
specialized intergovernmental organizations
and agencies whose interests and activites
are related to its purposes. To this end
the Director-General, acting under the general
authority of the Executive Board, may establish
effective working relationships with such
organizations and agencies and establish
such joint committees as may be necessary
to assure effective cooperation. Any formal
arrangements entered into with such organizations
or agencies shall be subject to the approval
of the Executive Board.
2. Whenever the General Conference of this
Organization and the competent authorities
of any other specialized intergovernmental
organizations or agencies whose purposes
and functions lie within the competence of
this Organization, deem it desirable to effect
transfer of their resources and activities
to this Organization, the Director-General,
subject to the approval of the Conference,
may enter into mutually acceptable arrangements
for this purpose.
3. This Organization may make appropriate
arrangements with other intergovernmental
organizations for reciprocal representation
at meetings.
4. The United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization may make suitable
arrangements for consultation and cooperation
with non-governmental international organizations
concerned with matters within its competence,
and may invite them to undertake specific
tasks. Such cooperation may also include
appropriate participation by representatives
of such organizations on advisory committees
set up by the General Conference.
ARTICLE XII. LEGAL STATUS OF THE ORGANIZATION
The Provisions of Articles 104 and 105 of
the Charter of the United Nations Organization
concerning the legal status of that Organization,
its privileges and immunities, shall apply
in the same way to this Organization.
ARTICLE XIII. AMENDMENTS
1. Proposals for amendments to this Constitution
shall become effective upon receiving the
approval of the General Conference by a two
thirds majority, provided, however, that
those amendments which involve fundamental
alterations in the aims of the Organization
or new obligations for the Member States
shall require subsequent acceptance on the
part of two thirds of the Member States before
they come into force. The draft texts of
proposed amendments shall be communicated
by the Director-General to the Member States
at least six months in advance of their consideration
by the General Conference.
2. The General Conference shall have power
to adopt by a two thirds majority rules of
procedure for carrying out the provisions
of this Article.
ARTICLE XIV. INTERPRETATION
1. The English and French texts of this Constitution
shall be regarded as equally authoritative.
2. Any question or dispute concerning the
interpretation of this Constitution shall
be referred for determination to the International
Court of Justice or to an arbitral tribunal,
as the General Conference may determine under
its rules of procedure.
ARTICLE XV. ENTRY INTO FORCE
1. This Constitution shall be subject to
acceptance. The instruments of acceptance
shall be deposited with the Government of
the United Kingdom.
2. This Constitution shall remain open for
signature in the archives of the Government
of the United Kingdom. Signature may take
place either before or after the deposit
of the instrument of acceptance. No acceptance
shall be valid unless preceded or followed
by signature.
3. This Constitution shall come into force
when it has been accepted by twenty of its
signatories. Subsequent acceptances shall
take effect immediately.
4. The Government of the United Kingdom will
inform all Members of the United Nations
of the receipt of all instruments of acceptance
and of the date on which the Constitution
comes into force in accordance with the preceding
paragraph. In faith whereof, the undersigned,
duly authorized to that effect, have signed
this Constitution in the English and French
languages, both texts being equally authentic.
Done in London the sixteenth day of November,
one thousand nine hundred and forty-five,
in a single copy, in the English and French
languages, of which certified copies will
be communicated by the Government of the
United Kingdom to the Governments of all
the Members of the United Nations.