Adoption of the UNESCO-endorsed Call by Young People for a New Culture of Peace

France welcomes the endorsement today by the Executive Board of UNESCO of the Call by Young People for a New Culture of Peace in the Minds of Women and Men for the 21^st Century. This summer, 145 young people from 135 countries proposed practical recommendations to UNESCO for strengthening its action and impact to build the defences of peace in the minds of men and women. On 3 September 2026, M. Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, was officially handed the text by young people at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

Young people are asking to have some power of decision, with representation in decision-making, conflict-prevention and mediation mechanisms, and above all they are asking for a public follow-up of the recommendations and their implementation. It is not a traditional call for peace centred solely on war and armed conflict. 

The text considers that the new threats to peace are also played out in classrooms, social media, information, memory, science and now artificial intelligence. It explicitly links conflicts, polarization, disinformation, discrimination, the digital divide and technology. 

The Call is intended to feed into UNESCO’s strategic thinking, particularly the UNESCO80 Roadmap, whose goal is to reform the organization to make it more effective and agile.

On 20 October, to respond to the Call, UNESCO’s Executive Board decided to launch a process towards issuing, in 2027, a Recommendation on youth and digital environments in the age of AI, in coordination with the Coalition for Children’s Rights and Protection in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. 

France will continue mobilizing States and international organizations to ensure that young people all over the world are listened to and fully take part in a more effective multilateralism.