Note to Correspondents                                      Note No. 5653

                                                            14 March 2001

DPI PUBLIC RELATIONS FORUM TO ADDRESS YOUTH AND VIOLENCE

The third DPI Public Relations Forum, entitled "Youth and Violence: addressing the problem through public relations", co-sponsored by the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) International Section, the United Nations Association (UNA) of New York City, with the support of ATT Public Relations and Barbara Burns and Associates, will take place on Thursday, 15 March, at 3 p.m. in Conference Room 1.

Shashi Tharoor, Interim Head of the Department of Public Information, will make opening remarks, followed by a round-table discussion.  Participants include James Finckenauer, Director, International Center, United States Department of Justice; Michael Greene, Executive Director, Violence Institute of New Jersey; Daphne White, Executive Director, The Lion & Lamb Project, a Washington, D.C.-based non-governmental organization dedicated to stopping the merchandising of violence to children; Judy Lewis, Executive Vice President, Strategic Objectives, a Toronto public-relations firm which created an anti-violence campaign for The Body Shop Canada; Liliana Mayorga Salas, Ministry of Education (MINEDUC), Chile, one of the contributors to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) publication Violence at School: Global Issues and Interventions; and Krishika Acharya, a tenth-grade student at the United Nations International School (UNIS).  The round-table will be moderated by Ian Williams, United Nations Editor for The Nation.

In 1995, the General Assembly adopted the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond in order to address more effectively the problems of youth and to increase opportunities for their participation in society.  That document called on governments and other relevant organizations to consider, among other things, organizing information campaigns and educational and training programmes to sensitize youths to the detrimental effects of violence, and to teach them how to communicate without violence and to protect themselves against violence.

The first DPI Public Relations Forum took place in 1998.  The forum is one of a number of initiatives undertaken by the Department to develop greater cooperation between the United Nations and the private sector in achieving the goals of the Organization.

For further information, please contact Ms. Graciela Hall at (212) 963-6923; for media accreditation, (212) 963-6934.

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