A Selection from the Courier: UNESCO 40th anniversary issue

As a contribution to the celebrations marking Unesco's 40th anniversary, the Editors of the Unesco Courier have compiled for readers an anthology of articles and illustrations which have appeared in the magazine since it began publication almost 39 years ago. All the articles have been shortened. (Above, cover of the first number, published in February 1948.) Although any such selection is bound to be to some extent arbitrary, we have been guided by a number of criteria.

Firstly, we have given coverage to major Unesco preoccupations and spheres of activity such as hunger and world peace, racism and human rights, the environment and the cultural heritage, science and technology, education and literacy, youth and the condition of women.

Secondly, we have tried to reflect the magazine's aspiration to be a "window open on the world", through which peoples and countries can be viewed on equal terms, irrespective of geographical position or demographic, economic or political weight, with the main focus on their cultural riches and their human and ecological problems.

Thirdly, we have included a selection of work by writers occupying a leading position in their own culture or internationally, and who by virtue of their contributions to the Courier have also signalled their attachment to the ideals of Unesco.

Editor-in-chief: Edouard Glissant

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