United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Mexico

Our History

The role and mandate of the UNESCO cannot be understood without thinking about Mexico, which in addition of participating in the drafting of the Preamble to the Constitution Act, sent its petition to the Preparatory Conference in London in 1945. This Preamble proposed as priority actions education for peace and the establishment of a mechanism to protect the cultural heritage of peoples, which have oriented the path of the international cooperation with the organization. Different Mexicans illustrious participated in these actions, such as José Gorostiza, the philosopher Samuel Ramos, and the then Secretary of Foreign Affairs Jaime Torres Bodet, who was also the second Director General of UNESCO in the face of the promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and managed to consolidate the intergovernmental role of UNESCO.

Mexico, with its prolific seedbed of worldviews, the warp of its history and its exemplary social actors, artists and intellectuals, significantly nurtured the 1972 World Heritage Convention. By hosting the World Conference on Cultural Policies (Mondiacult) in 1982, it promoted the consolidation of a more comprehensive view in regards of culture: as the basis of identity and social development.

Since 1967, Mexico has had a national office in charge of promoting and working on projects that advance education, science, culture, communication and information in the Mexican Republic through different projects and collaborations, providing technical assistance as a strategic and specialized actor among the different powers of the State, levels of government, institutions, civil society organizations and communities.

Our Work

The actions of the Office have been aimed at incorporating the goals of the 2030 Agenda of Education to the different programs of the Mexican system, providing tools for students and teachers towards the consolidation of education for peace and a citizenship of the world, promoting equality in favor of women, the protection of and revitalization of cultural diversity and its positioning as an articulating axis of sustainable development, the strengthening of indigenous languages and their peoples, as well as the protection and reinforcement of the freedom of expression through a communication perspective for development, to name a few examples.

UNESCO’s office in Mexico strengthens local capacities by acting as a specialized nexus of technical assistance between the different powers of the State and levels of government, institutions, civil society organizations, communities and key social actors, thus forging an interdependent network aimed at social welfare.