E/CN.4/1999/58 page 5 rights values and the emergence of attitudes and behaviour which reflect tolerance and non-discrimination. Thus the schools, which are essential components of the educational system, constitute an essential and unique means of preventing intolerance and discrimination, through the dissemination of a culture of human rights. 9. It is worth recalling that the 1968 International Conference on Human Rights held in Tehran, which reviewed the progress made since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and formulated a programme for the future, asked States to ensure that all means of education should be employed so that youth might grow up and develop in a spirit of respect for human dignity and equal rights. Also in 1968, the General Assembly requested States Members to take steps, as appropriate and according to the scholastic system of each State, to introduce or encourage the principles proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in other declarations. In 1978, UNESCO held an international congress on teaching of human rights, and a similar meeting was held in Bangkok in 1987, under the auspices of the United Nations Centre for Human Rights. Since then, both UNESCO and the United Nations human rights services have sought to disseminate a culture of human rights, and hence tolerance, through various activities. It should also be noted that General Assembly resolution 49/184 of 23 December 1994 proclaimed the 10-year period beginning on 1 January 1995 the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education. 10. The Special Rapporteur notes with appreciation the following recent initiatives of the Commission on Human Rights and General Assembly: (a) The appointment of a Special Rapporteur whose mandate focuses on the right to education and includes the following: “(iii) To take into account gender considerations, in particular the situation and needs of the girl child, and to promote the elimination of all forms of discrimination in education.” (resolution 1998/33, para. 6 (a) (iii)); (b) The Commission's adoption of resolution 1998/21, entitled Tolerance and pluralism as indivisible elements in the promotion and protection of human rights. In the resolution, the Commission states that promoting a culture of tolerance through human rights education is an objective that must be advanced in all States, and that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and mechanisms of the United Nations human rights system have an important role to play in that regard; it reiterates the obligation of all States and the international community, in particular, to promote a culture conducive to promoting and protecting human rights, fundamental freedoms and tolerance, inter alia through education leading to genuine pluralism, a positive acceptance of diversity of opinion and belief, and respect for the dignity of the human person (para. 2 (f)); (c) The General Assembly’s adoption, on 4 November 1998, of resolution 53/22, entitled United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations, in which the Assembly “1. Expresses its firm determination to facilitate and promote dialogue among civilizations; 2. Decides to proclaim the year 2001 as the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations; 3. Invites Governments, the United Nations system, including the