Note to Correspondents

NORTH AMERICAN STUDENTS IN DIALOGUE WITH MEXICO, EGYPT, SIERRA LEONE

DURING DPI CONFERENCE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND CULTURE OF PEACE

‘Human Rights Are Foreign to No Culture and Native

To All Nations, They Are Universal’ -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan

The Department of Public Information will host for the fourth consecutive year a student conference on human rights and the culture of peace on 7 December in Conference Room 8.   This year, due to the tragic events of 11 September and concern about students travelling to New York and United Nations Headquarters, the Department decided to forego its past practice of bringing hundreds of high school students here for the programme.  Instead, the conference will take the form of a two-part video-conference, with a small, representative group of about 40 students here at Headquarters linked to thousands of others in Canada, Egypt, Mexico, Sierra Leone and the United States.

The DPI has chosen to use the fact that this is the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations as the theme for this year’s student conference: “Acknowledging Diversity and Promoting Respect:  Fostering a Dialogue among Civilizations”.  The one-day conference, which runs from 10 a.m.to 1 p.m. and again from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., provides students with an opportunity to learn more about the United Nations, to share concerns and network, as well as to develop a plan of action related to this Year’s theme, which will then be distributed to young people around the world through the United Nations Web site.  As part of the discussion, students will be asked to identify what they admire most about people from a different racial, ethnic or religious group and to explain why, in their view, it is important to foster diversity.

At the morning session of the Student Conference on Human Rights, which will be opened by the Interim Head of the Department of Public Information, Shashi Tharoor, guest speakers will include Nane Annan, lawyer and painter, at Headquarters and, from Geneva, Amir Zamaninia, Adviser in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran.  In the afternoon, the students will hear from Eva Olsson, a Holocaust survivor, speaking from Canada.  They will also vote on and present their Plan of Action to the Acting President of the General Assembly, Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo of South Africa, who will then address the students.  Entertainers from Mexico and Philadelphia will also perform from their respective sites as part of the programme.  

For further information call 212-963-6984.  For media accreditation call 212-963-6934.

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