Federico Mayor Zaragoza (27 Jan 1934 – 19 Dec 2024): A Tribute
OBITUARIES, 30 Dec 2024
UNESCO - TRANSCEND Media Service
Federico Mayor, Director General de la UNESCO, con la Embajadora de Venezuela ante la UNESCO, Ruth Lerner de Almea, durante la firma de un acuerdo educativo en beneficio de zonas desfavorecidas de Venezuela, 9 de noviembre de 1992.
UNESCO / Michel Claude
A Legacy for Peace and Education: The former director of UNESCO (1987-1999), passed away at the age of 90. RIP
During his tenure at UNESCO, Mayor Zaragoza promoted numerous cultural and educational initiatives, including the recommendation that led to the conversion in 1997 of the Regional Centre for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (CRESALC) into the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC).
His vision and leadership were instrumental in strengthening the links between UNESCO and educational institutions in the region, promoting quality and access to higher education.
In 1997, he wrote the foreword to the volume Higher Education in the 21st Century: Vision of Latin America and the Caribbean, published within the framework of UNESCO’s Regional Conference on Higher Education, held in Havana, Cuba. ‘Because education is more than informing or instructing; it is forging the mind and character of a human being and providing him or her with sufficient autonomy to be able to reason and decide as freely as possible, free from outside influences, clichés and commonplaces. It is to foster the development of a spiritual and differentiated life of authentic tastes and criteria. Education is the foundation of liberty’, proclaimed Simón Bolivar almost two centuries ago and is reiterated today by UNESCO, whose constitution reads: “…the wide diffusion of culture and the education of humanity for justice, liberty and peace are indispensable to human dignity…”.
Federico Mayor Zaragoza’s legacy will live on in the policies and programmes he helped establish, and his impact on higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean will continue to be an inspiration for future generations.
Recently, he had been working on the creation of the Global Network of Universities and Scientific and Artistic Institutions Supporting Chairs in Education for Peace, Democratic Coexistence, Human Rights, Education and Sustainability, a project that reflected his ongoing commitment to building a more just and peaceful world.
Tags: Biography, Education for Peace, Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Obituary, Peacebuilding, UNESCO, United Nations
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