EWC Special Adviser Gunnar Mandt participated in a meeting within the framework of the Euro-Arab Dialogue in Strasbourg, France this month. The meeting on "a comparative study of school books" was jointly organized by the Council of Europe and UNESCO. The Euro-Arab Dialogue is an initiative from UNESCO and sponsored by the MBI Al Jaber Foundation.

High officials and academic representatives from countries in Europe and the Arab region took part in this event, including Germany, The United Arab Emirates, France, Hungary, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Poland, Qatar, Slovenia and Tunisia. Organizations present were ISESCO, UNESCO, Council of Europe, MBI Al Jaber Foundation and The EWC.

On the agenda was the presentation of country reports on national school textbooks. It aimed at shedding light on stereotypes contained in school books in the countries concerned with the study. Examples from several countries were given. All country reports will be completed within the next six months. A working group was set up to facilitate the process.

The meeting agreed on a road map for the work ahead, with the next meeting planned for late autumn. This will include more comparative studies of school textbooks. The final conference will be held in autumn 2011.