Honorary Membership
Foundation Culture of Peace President / Former Director-General of UNESCO
Federico Mayor Zaragoza
Honorary Membership
In recognition of his life commitment on a Culture of Peace, Education for Sustainable Development, Human Rights and Democracy
Javier Collado Ruano along Former Director-General of UNESCO and Foundation Culture of Peace President, Federico Mayor Zaragoza in Madrid, July 2015.
Federico Mayor Zaragoza was born in Barcelona in 1934. He holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacy from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (1958). In 1963, he became a Professor of Biochemistry at the Facultad de Farmacia of the Universidad de Granada. In 1968, he became Rector of that institution, a job he held until 1972. The following year, he was named Professor in his specialty at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. In these years it started up the National Plan of Prevention of Mental Handicap, to avoid, by means of precocious diagnosis, diseases that can evolve with serious mental deterioration. In 1974, he was co-founder of the Molecular Biology Centre Severo Ochoa at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (High Council for Scientific Research, or CSIC). Among his other political responsibilities, Professor Mayor has been Undersecretary of Education and Science for the Spanish Government (1974-75), Member of the Spanish Parliament (1977-78), Adviser to the Prime Minister (1977-78), Minister of Education and Science (1981-82) and Member of the European Parliament (1987). In 1978, he became Assistant Director-General of the UNESCO. In 1987, he was elected Director-General of UNESCO, and was reelected for a second term in 1993. In 1999, he decided not to run for a third term and, upon returning to Spain, created the Fundación Cultura de Paz, of which he is Chairman.
During the twelve years he spent as head of UNESCO (1987-1999), Professor Mayor Zaragoza gave new momentum to the Organization’s mission, “to build the bastions of peace in the minds of men”. It became an institution at the service of peace, tolerance, human rights and peaceful coexistence, by working within its areas of authority and remaining faithful to its original mission. Following Professor Mayor’s guidelines, UNESCO created the Culture of Peace Program, whose work falls into four main categories: education for peace, human rights and democracy, the fight against exclusion and poverty, the defense of cultural pluralism and cross-cultural dialogue, and conflict prevention and the consolidation of peace.
Within the framework of this strategy, many international meetings and conferences were held on education for non-violence, eradicating discrimination and promoting pluralism and international cooperation. These meetings resulted in a considerable number of Declarations (thirty), expressing a will to promote education, science, culture, research and teaching, as well as justice and “intellectual and moral solidarity”, referred to the Constitution of the UNESCO. On September 13, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly approved the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, which constitutes, from a conceptual and practical standpoint, the greatest aspirations of Professor Mayor Zaragoza.
With the Fundación para una Cultura de Paz, founded in Madrid in March, 2000, Professor Mayor continues with the work he started as Director-General of UNESCO: to promote, in every area of human life, the transition from a culture of violence and imposition to one of peace and tolerance. In December, 2000, he organized an International Meeting, which was attended by well-known personalities who have fought for justice, freedom and peace. At the end of that meeting, the Madrid Declaration was unanimously approved and it was published, with the interventions, the book “El Contrato Global”.
In December of 2002, the Danish Presidency of the European Union named him Chaiman of ERCEG (European Research Council Expert Group) for the “knowledge-based economy” that Europe would reach the leadership in 2010. In October 2005 be was appointed by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan co-chair of the High-Level Group for the “Alliance of Civilizations“. The Report of the HLG was presented in Istambul in November 2006. Chairman of “Initiative for Science in Europe” (ISE), January 2007. In June of 2008, Federico Mayor has been named Chairman of the Agency of News “Inter Press Service (IPS)”. Among other activities of national and international cooperation, it emphasizes the creation, in the Univesidad Politécnica de Cataluña, of the World-wide Forum of the Civil Society, “UBUNTU“, intended as a network of networks, an organisation of organisations to combine official notices, positionings and proposals, since 2001 concentrates its dedication to the Reform of International Institutions.
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Director of the Philippine Center of International Theater Institute/Earthsavers UNESCO DREAM Center
Cecile Guidote-Alvarez
Honorary Membership
In recognition of her preeminence in the Interdisciplinary Development of the Theatre, Literature, and Creative Arts Therapeutic Emergency Response.
Cecile Guidote-Alvarez born on 13 November 1943 and she founded the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA), a pioneering theater group that honed creative artists and audiences through children’s, college, and community theater. She was recognized as National Artist for Theater in 2009.
Cecile Guidote Alvarez graduated AB-BSE – summa cum laude at St. Paul’s College in 1962 and in the first select group of Ten Outstanding Students. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Theater and took special Communications Arts Studies in the State University of New York in Albany, on a Fulbright-Hays and John D. Rockefeller III Fund Scholarship at the Dallas Theatre Center. She then proceeded to Trinity College in Texas where she finished an M.A. with honors.
She is married to former senator and secretary of Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Heherson Alvarez.
Form her experiences as drama and English teacher at St. Paul’s College in Manila and her broad background in the theater, she conceived a practical program for a natioanl theater and organized it in 1967. This became the Philippine Educational Theater Association, better known as PETA. For 38 years, PETA has depicted social issues through original Filipino plays, using the language of the masses and alternative theater spaces. Today, as Executive Director of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Cecile has been described as a “cultural caregiver”.
Aside from being the chairperson of the Central Institute of Theater Arts in the Philippines (CITAP), she was also the producer-director of the Kalinangan Ensemble primarily devoted to the development and presentation of Filipino plays and the setting up of people’s theater program popularized by peso tickets and even free performances. She also produced Balintataw (Pupil of the Eye), a television drama which serves as a valuable laboratory and training ground for students and young talents in various areas of TV, stage, and movie production. She is also the founder of Earthsavers DREAMS Ensemble, a performing group composed of disadvantaged youth recognized as UNESCO Artists for Peace.
Cecile Guidote-Alvarez has received many awards and citations, as for example: Balagtas Awardee for the significant contribution of PETA in promoting he national language and the cultural heritage, Ramon Magsaysay Public Service Awardee for the Arts in 1972, Patnubay ng Kalinangan and TOWNS Award, UN Human Rights Day Award from the Fund for Free Expression, Bantayog Awardee-Hall of Fame in 1997, Ninoy Aquino Awardee for nationalism, Carlos P. Romulo Award for international understanding, and the Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Services for her numerous contributions in promoting Philippine art and culture.
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Director-General of UNESCO
Irina Bokova
Honorary Membership
In recognition of her life commitment on Education, Peace, Human Rights, and Sustainable Development
Irina Bokova, born on 12 July 1952 in Sofia (Bulgaria) has been the Director-General of UNESCO since 15 November 2009, and reelected for a second term in 2013. She is the first woman to lead the Organization.
Having graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations, and studied at the University of Maryland (Washington) and the John F. Kennedy School of Government (Harvard University), Irina Bokova joined the United Nations Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria in 1977. Appointed in charge of political and legal affairs at the Permanent Mission of Bulgaria to the United Nations in New York, she was also a member of the Bulgarian Delegation at the United Nations conferences on the equality of women in Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985) and Beijing (1995). As Member of Parliament (1990-1991 and 2001-2005), she participated in the drafting of Bulgaria’s new Constitution, which contributed significantly to the country’s accession to the European Union.
Irina Bokova was Minister for Foreign Affairs, Coordinator of Bulgaria-European Union relations and Ambassador of Bulgaria to France, Monaco and UNESCO and Personal Representative of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria to the “Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie” (OIF). As Secretary of State for European integration and as Foreign Minister, Irina Bokova has always advocated for European integration. Active member of many international experts networks, active in civil society and especially President and founding member of the European Policy Forum, she has worked to overcome European divisions and to foster the values of dialogue, diversity, human dignity and human rights.
As Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova is actively engaged in international efforts to advance quality education for all, gender equality, cultural dialogue and scientific cooperation for sustainable development and is leading UNESCO as a global advocate for safety of journalists and freedom of expression.
Irina Bokova is Executive Secretary of the Steering Committee of the UN Secretary-General’s Global Education First Initiative (GEFI) and co-Vice-Chair of the Broadband Commission.
Irina Bokova has received state distinctions from countries across the world and is Doctor honoris causa of leading universities.
In addition to her mother tongue, she speaks English, French, Spanish and Russian.
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Basarab Nicolescu
Honorary Membership
In recognition of his preeminence in the Theory and Practice of Transdisciplinarity and Complexity
Dr. Basarab Nicolescu, Dr. Cristina Núñez-Madrazo and Javier Collado Ruano in Taichung (Taiwan), June 9, 2014.
Basarab Nicolescu (born March 25, 1942 in Ploieti, Romania) is a theoretical physicist at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Energies, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris. He is also Professor in Babe-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and Doctor in Physical Sciences (Ph.D.), 1972, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris. He was appointed Professor Extraordinary at Stellenbosch University, South Africa for the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2013 and was elected as Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) Fellow in 2011.
He is president and founder of CIRET (International Center for Transdisciplinary Research), a nonprofit organization (163 members from 26 countries).
He co-founded, with René Berger, the Study Group on Transdisciplinarity at UNESCO (1992) and the founder and Director of the Series “Transdisciplinarity” Rocher Editions, Monaco and “Romanians of Paris” Oxus Editions, Paris.
He also specializes in the theory of elementary particles. Basarab Nicolescu is the author of over eighty articles in leading international journals; He has made numerous contributions to science anthologies, and has participated in several dozen French radio and multimedia documentaries on science.
Basarab Nicolescu is a major advocate of the transdisciplinary reconciliation between science and the humanities. He has published many articles on the role of science in contemporary culture magazine from France, Romania, Italy, UK, Brazil, Argentina, Japan and the United States.
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Peace Nobel Award 1993 (along with Nelson Mandela)
Federik Willem de Klerk
Honorary Membership
In recognition of his preeminence in the ending of apartheid and the democratization of South Africa
Peace Nobel Award 1993, Frederik Willem de Klerk, along with Javier Collado Ruano and Bradly Ryan Lawrence, Cape Town (South Africa), November 2013.
Frederik Willem de Klerk (born 18 March 1936) is a South African politician who served as the country’s State President from September 1989 to May 1994. He was the seventh and last head of state of South Africa under the apartheid era. De Klerk was also leader of the National Party (which later became the New National Party) from February 1989 to September 1997.
De Klerk brokered the end of apartheid, South Africa’s racial segregation policy, and supported the transformation of South Africa into a multi-racial democracy by entering into the negotiations that resulted in all citizens, including the country’s black majority, having equal voting and other rights.
In 1990, de Klerk gave orders to end South Africa’s nuclear weapons programme; the process of nuclear disarmament was essentially completed in 1991.
He won the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize in 1991, the Prince of Asturias Award in 1992 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 along with Nelson Mandela for his role in the ending of apartheid.
After the first universal elections in 1994, de Klerk became deputy president in the government of national unity under Nelson Mandela, a post he kept until 1996. In 1997 he resigned the leadership of the National Party and retired from politics.
