This report surveys the steps taken by the Council of Europe's Council for Cultural Cooperation (CDCC) to combat the increasing problem of intolerance and xenophobia in Western Europe. The outbreak of xenophobic sentiment is attributed to two facts: large immigrant communities from outside Europe have settled permanently in Europe, and there has been a mass influx of political refugees from the Asian countries. The paper suggests that immigration is not the sole explanation. The rise in intolerance is occurring at a time when the European countries are undergoing crises in urban development, education, culture, and economics. The changing ethnic composition of Europe is surveyed as are the forces that help to maintain cultural identities and those that are useful in changing cultural identities. In order to confront the needs of an ethnically diverse continent, the CDCC has proposed three main lines of thrust for educational and cultural systems: (1) the cognitive knowledge to be transmitted; (2) the abilities or skills to be fostered; and (3) a number of educational models to which prominence should be given. The report also discusses some of the many projects the CDCC has undertaken to combat intolerance and highlights the thinking emerging from the CDCC work. In this regard, four specific areas are discussed: the revision of history teaching, media education, teaching and intercultural education, and education in human rights and democratic values. One hundred and ten endnotes are listed and a selected bibliography of texts and studies on human rights education in schools is included. (DB)