The Corporation also provided a $250,000 grant for educational outreach and dissemination of the documentary film Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey broadcast on PBS in 2001. Bunche, a scholar-activist involved in civil rights, race relations, international peacekeeping and human rights, helped create the United Nations in 1945 and had a central role in the adoption of the UN Charter. For two decades, he served as under secretary-general for the United Nations, the highest post held by an American.

Bunche was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950—the first African-American to receive the honor—for his role as United Nations mediator in the 1949 Rhodes armistices between Israel and its Arab adversaries. Of particular interest to the Corporation, Bunche was a key member of the research team assembled by Swedish scholar Gunnar Myrdal that produced An American Dilemma, the historic study of race in America. In 2004, a Corporation grant of $40,000 supported the City University of New York’s public education and outreach activities commemorating the accomplishments of on the 100th anniversary of Bunche’s birth.

Simply bringing people together from the far corners of the world to work toward a common goal has led to many of the UN’s less publicized, yet arguably more satisfying accomplishments. For instance, a World Youth Assembly was held at UN headquarters in New York City in 1970 to commemorate the organization’s twenty-fifth anniversary. The Assembly aspired to “assess the current situation of the world, to define what young people want…and to propose a strategy aimed at creating new attitudes and finding new patterns for joint youth action.” Six hundred delegates attended, and the Corporation provided a grant of $25,000 for representatives from Commonwealth countries.

The Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 addressed the fact that by almost every indicator of social development, women in all countries tend to fare less well than men. Held in Beijing, the conference received a $100,000 Corporation grant toward its activities, which centered on the theme “Action for Equality, Development and Peace.”

In response to a call by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2000, the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual leaders took place at the United Nations, with the Corporation’s $25,000 grant facilitating attendance of Muslim leaders. The summit’s purpose was to coordinate this leadership to serve as an interfaith ally in the UN’s quest for peace, understanding and international cooperation, forming an International Advisory Council of Religious Leaders to function as a resource for the secretary-general in conflict resolution efforts.

The following year, Kofi Annan invited Vartan Gregorian to be part of an international group of eminent persons participating in a “Dialogue Among Civilizations,” which had been called for in 1998 in an address by Iranian President Mohammed Khatami. Their mission was to consider such issues as identity, diversity and intergroup relations. A $25,000 grant was provided in support of the meeting, which took place at Seton Hall University.

In 2001, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights held a World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. The event, which took place in Durban, South Africa, was attended by government leaders and representatives from key human rights organizations, and was led by Mary Robinson, the High Commissioner for Human Rights who was previously president of the Republic of Ireland. This action-oriented event was designed to focus on practical measures for eradicating racism including prevention, public education and reinforcement of existing protections. Because of the Corporation’s longstanding commitment to human rights and social justice, a $500,000 grant was provided to support participation of young people in the conference.

Many other major UN projects that have received Corporation support did not directly target conflict reduction. Between 1984 and 1990, for example, the Corporation provided funds totaling $471,450 to the United States Committee for UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund) toward a wide variety of educational programs designed to increase public awareness about child health and survival in developing countries. In 2004, a $100,000 grant to the UN Assistance Mission benefited the public library in Kabul, Afghanistan. And in 2005 half of the Corporation’s $1 million for aid to tsunami victims was distributed through UNICEF, to meet the long-term needs and sustainability of children’s educational needs that will follow initial disaster relief.

Preamble to the United Nations Charter

We the peoples of the united nations determined:

• To save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
• To reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
• To establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
• To promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

And for these ends:

• To practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and
• To unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and
• To ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
• To employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,

Have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims.

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