Int’l Day for Tolerance to be celebrated today
By Adnan Rafique

ISLAMABAD—The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is set to celebrate the International Day for Tolerance on November 16.
It was proclaimed by UNESCO during the 28th session of its General Conference in Paris (France) held between October 16 and November 1995. The UNESCO member States had adopted the Declaration of Principles on Tolerance and Follow-up Plan of Action for the Year. An International Day for Tolerance can serve as an annual occasion for tolerance education as well as for wider social and political reflection and debate on local and global problems of intolerance, Unesco.Org reported.
Building tolerance and trust in diverse communities is not done overnight, but takes time and commitment. Building tolerance requires access to education. It is a moment to take stock of the progress made during the year and to propose fresh policies to close remaining gaps. Education is the most effective means of preventing intolerance. The first step in tolerance education is to teach people what their shared rights and freedoms are, so that they may be respected and to promote the will to protect those of others.
Education policies and programmes should contribute to development of understanding, solidarity and tolerance among individuals as well as among ethnic, social, cultural, religious and linguistic groups and nations. But we should not forget that education does not end in school, that adults - firstly as individuals capable of committing acts of intolerance but more importantly in their capacity as parents, law-makers and law-enforcement officials - also need to be considered a priority target of our educational efforts.
Tolerance at the State level requires just and impartial legislation, law enforcement and judicial and administrative process. It also requires that economic and social opportunities be made available to each person without any discrimination. Exclusion and marginalization can lead to frustration, hostility and fanaticism. In order to achieve a more tolerant society, States should ratify existing international human rights conventions, and draft new legislation where necessary to ensure equality of treatment and of opportunity for all groups and individuals in society.
It is essential for international harmony that individuals, communities and nations accept and respect the multicultural character of the human family. Without tolerance there can be no peace, and without peace there can be no development or democracy. Intolerance may take the form of marginalization of vulnerable groups and their exclusion from social and political participation, as well as violence and discrimination against them. Intolerance is often rooted in ignorance and fear: fear of the unknown, of the "other", other cultures, religions and nations.