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UNESCO’s standard-setting mandate stems from Article IV, paragraph 4, of its Constitution, which provides that the General Conference “shall, in adopting proposals for submission to the Member States, distinguish between recommendations and international conventions submitted for their approval ...”. From these simple words, the Organization has built upon an impressive legal framework, which constitutes one of the main pillars of its action to promote collaboration among Nations through education, science and culture.

UNESCO’s standard-setting instruments take the form of conventions, recommendations and declarations.

• Conventions

UNESCO Conventions are multilateral treaties, i.e. international agreements concluded between States in written form and governed by international law. By becoming parties to a UNESCO conventions, States obtain rights and accept obligations under international law. These conventions, in other words, define rules in the fields of education, science and culture, with which States take the legal commitment to comply.

UNESCO Conventions are usually adopted by the General Conference, through a pre-established procedure. In certain cases, the General Conference has rather opted to convene a separate International Conference of States entrusted with the examination and adoption of a convention.

UNESCO conventions are open to Members States of the Organization, but in some instances also to other States. They are binding upon States only when these have consented to it, through their ratification, acceptance, approval or accession. However, under the UNESCO Constitution, Member States undertake to submit any convention to their competent authorities within one year of adoption for their consideration and to submit to the Organization periodic reports on the action taken upon it.

• Recommendations

Recommendations are instruments by which the General Conference formulates principles and norms for the international regulation of any particular question and invites Member States to take whatever legislative or other steps which may be required to apply them. Since they emanate from the UNESCO’s governing body consisting of all representatives of the States Members of the Organization, recommendations possess great authority and are intended to influence the development of national laws and practices in the fields of education, science and culture.

Contrary to conventions, recommendations are not binding under international law. Under the UNESCO Constitution, however, Member States undertake to submit recommendations to their competent authorities within one year of adoption for any possible steps (legislative or other) which may be required in conformity with their constitutional practice and the nature of the specific matter. UNESCO Member States also undertake to submit to the Organization periodic reports on the action taken upon recommendations.

UNESCO recommendations are always adopted by the General Conference and are not subject to ratification, acceptance, approval or accession by Member States.

• Declarations

Similar to recommendations, declarations (as well as charters and other similar instruments) aim at setting standards in the fields of education, science and culture, but are not binding under international law. They set forth universal principles to which the community of States wishes to attribute the greatest possible authority and afford the broadest possible support.

Declarations are not explicitly foreseen in the UNESCO Constitution, but are an integral part of the Organization’s standard-setting mandate. A similar practice is followed by other organizations, including the United Nations where the General Assembly has adopted several similar instruments (see, for example, the ). In a 1962 legal advice, the United Nations Legal Adviser took the position that “a ‘declaration’ is a formal and solemn instrument, suitable for rare occasions when principles of great and lasting importance are being enunciated” (Report of the Commission on Human Rights, United Nations document E/3616/Rev. l, paragraph 105, eighteenth session, Economic and Social Council, 19 March -14 April 1962, United Nations, New York).

Having said that, given the UNESCO Constitution’s silence, Member States have no obligation to submit declarations to their national authorities for possible action nor to report to the Organization thereon.

UNESCO declarations are adopted by the General Conference and are not subject to ratification, acceptance, approval or accession by Member States.

Procedure for conventions and recommendations

As early as in 1950, the General Conference established a standardized procedure for the preparation, adoption and promotion of UNESCO’s conventions and recommendations, which is contained in the Rules of Procedure concerning Recommendations to Member States and International Conventions covered by the terms of Article IV, paragraph 4, of the Constitution.

The procedures for the preparation and adoption of conventions and recommendations are identical:

• A proposal for a new convention or recommendation is prepared by the Director-General, together with a preliminary study of the technical and legal aspects of the problem under consideration, which are submitted to the Executive Board;
• The Executive Board examines the proposal and communicate to the General Conference any comments it deems necessary (in so doing, it may also instruct the Secretariat or experts to carry out a thorough study on the matter to be communicated to the Conference);
• The General Conference examines the proposal, together with the Executive Board’s comments, and decides whether the question should be regulated at the international level and, if so, whether such regulation should take the form of a convention or a recommendation;
• If the General Conference decides to go forward with the proposal, the Director-General prepares a preliminary report setting forth the position with regard to the problem and to the possible scope of the regulating action proposed, which is accompanied by a first draft of the convention or recommendation;
• Member States are invited to make comments and observations to the preliminary report;
• On the basis of the comments and observations received, the Director-General prepares a final report containing one or more drafts of the convention or recommendation;
• The final report is either directly communicated to the General Conference or submitted to a special committee of technical and legal experts appointed by Member States, which may then submit a draft to the Conference;
• The General Conference examines the draft texts submitted to it and adopts the convention or recommendation. The majority required for adoption of a convention is two-thirds; a simple majority suffices for a recommendation.

Once a convention or recommendation is adopted, two copies are authenticated by the signatures of the President of the General Conference and of the Director-General. Certified copies are transmitted, as soon as possible, to Member States for them to submit the convention or recommendation to their competent authorities for any action they see fit. Conventions are open for ratification, acceptance, approval or accession from the moment of their adoption.

Member States then shall submit, according to a calendar set by the General Conference, reports on the measures they have adopted in relation to each convention in force and each recommendation adopted. For those conventions and recommendations for which no specific institutional mechanism is provided, the examination of such reports is entrusted to the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations of the Executive Board. The Executive Board transmits to the General Conference reports and analytical summaries of this examination, together with its observations and comments and any that the Director-General may make. The Director-General also regularly informs the General Conference and Executive Board with respect to the implementation of the conclusions and decisions adopted by the General Conference concerning reports on conventions and recommendations.

Procedure for declarations

The preparation and adoption of declarations, charters and similar standard-setting instruments follows a simplified procedure. In 2005, the General Conferences adopted a Multi-stage procedure for the elaboration, examination, adoption and follow-up of declarations, charters and similar standard-setting instruments adopted by the General Conference and not covered by the Rules of Procedure concerning recommendations to Member States and international conventions covered by the terms of Article IV, paragraph 4, of the Constitution ().

Under this procedure, the General Conference requests the Director-General to submit, on a date that it shall determine, a draft declaration, charter or similar standard-setting instrument drawn up in consultation with Member States. The Conference may also specify the steps to be followed in the preparation of this draft, which may include the convening of intergovernmental meetings and committees of experts.

The General Conference then examines and discusses the draft, together with the recommendations of the Executive Board thereon, and adopts the declaration, charter or similar standard-setting instrument by resolution. The Multi-stage procedure indicates that every effort shall be made to adopt these instruments by consensus.

Declarations, charters and similar standard-setting instruments are disseminated as widely as possible. If their text does not provide for a follow-up mechanism, the General Conference may invite the Director-General to submit to it reports on the measures taken by Member States to give effect to the principles set forth therein.

The Director-General is the safekeeper of the original texts of the conventions and recommendations adopted by UNESCO.

For conventions, she is usually designated as the depositary of conventions (in rare cases, this responsibility may be vested in the United Nations Secretary-General, when conventions are adopted under the joint auspices of UNESCO and another organization)

In her capacity as depositary of UNESCO conventions, in addition to keeping custody of the original texts, the Director-General receives the instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession submitted by States and informs all States accordingly, thus performing an essential function for the life of the convention. The authoritative information on the state of ratification of UNESCO conventions, together with the texts of any reservations or declarations by States and information on the entry into force of conventions, is found on this website, under each convention.

In 2019, the Director-General launched a new initiative, known as the UNESCO Conventions Ceremony, in which she invited representatives of States to submit their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, or to sign UNESCO conventions, in the course of a special ceremony held on the margins of the biennial session of the General Conference.