On that day in 1981, the World Organization of the Scout Movement received the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education, sharing it with Mrs Helena Kekkonen, an adult educator from Finland. It was the first time that UNESCO awarded such Prize. The rules of the prize stipulate that: “the laureate … shall have distinguished himself or herself through outstanding and internationally recognised action extending over several years in the fields of: the mobilisation of consciences for the cause of peace, the implementation, at international or regional level, of programmes of activity designed to strengthen peace education … educational action to promote human rights and international understanding, … any other activity recognised as essential to the construction of peace in the minds of men.” Furthermore, the rules indicate that the laureate “shall be chosen for activities carried out in accordance with the spirit of UNESCO and the United Nations Charter”. At the awards ceremony, held at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris on 1 October 1981, the Director General of UNESCO declared: “…what has earned the Scouts the prize that is about to be awarded to them is their important contribution to the education of young people in a spirit of concord, peace, friendship and fraternity.”
(Source: Scouting and Peace Publication, p. 49)
