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 no wended 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 dictrine of
theinequality ofmenandraces;
that the wide diffusion of culuture,and the education of humanity
for justice and liberty and peace are indispesable to the dignity
of man and constitute a sacred duty which all the nations must
fulfillin a spiritof mutualassistance and concern;
that a peace based exclusively upon the political and economic
arrangements of governments would not be a peace which could se-
cure 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 intellectualandmoralsolidarity ofmankind.
FORTHESEREASONS,
the States 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,areagreed and determinedto develop and toincrease 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 ofeach other's lives;
IN CONSEQUENCE WHEREOF
they do hereby create the United Nations Educational,Scientific
andCultural Organisationforthepurposeof 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 Organisa-
tion was established and which its Charter proclaims.