Note No. 5710

                                                            26 February 2002

Note to Correspondents

UNIS-UN CONFERENCE TO FOCUS ON RACISM, PREJUDICE

NEW YORK, 26 February (UNIS) -– The theme of the twenty-sixth annual United Nations International School (UNIS)-United Nations Conference is:  “Prejudice:  How Racism and Bigotry Scar Our World.”  The conference will be held on

28 February and 1 March in the United Nations General Assembly Hall.  This year’s topic focuses on the cold realities of racism in the dawn of the new millennium and reveals the socio-cultural practices, socio-political pathologies, and the socio-economic problems that still cause prejudice-motivated persecution around the world.

In this era of increasing global interdependence and cultural mixing, the conference examines the dynamics of racism:  the instances where it has appeared and the means by which to combat it.  Now, more than ever, as elements of mainstream media inflate the notion of the ‘clashing of civilizations,’ a conference in an international forum to promote and discuss racial and ethnic harmony is vital.

The UNIS-UN Conference is organized and run by UNIS students.  The UNIS-UN Committee begins preparations for the conference nearly a year in advance, finding and planning a topic of global relevance, drawing up a list of speakers, inviting hundreds of students from schools all across the world, organizing UNIS Tutorial House debates, and compiling a working paper of articles on the topic written and edited by members of the UNIS-UN Committee.  The Conference will be broadcast live on the Internet.

The structure of the UNIS-UN Conference is designed for students and young thinkers to receive expert knowledge from the guest speakers, but it also gives students a platform to debate and express their own opinions and views in the most internationally significant assembly hall.  Lectures from known authorities and leaders, such as keynote speaker Danny Glover, will be interspersed with student discussion groups.  Over 600 students from six continents will attend.

It is expected that the two-day interaction will achieve its goal of stimulating and enriching the minds while expanding the perspectives of the numerous students in attendance.  By outlining the means to combat racism and bigotry, the UNIS-UN Committee hopes that the Conference will inspire its international audience to actively oppose stereotyping and persecution as well as racial, cultural and socio-economic inequalities around them -– thus helping to bring about a more harmonious, fulfilling, caring world.

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                                                            26 February 2002

Participants will include:  Danny Glover, Actor, Human Rights Activist and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassador; Randolph McLaughlin, Civil Rights Attorney, Professor, Social Justice Center at Pace University, School of Law; Ivan Šimonović, Ambassador, Republic of Croatia and President of the Economic and Social Council; Avram Bornstein, Assistant Professor, John Jay College, CUNY; Monica Hernandez, Singer, Fundacion Cultural Carol Baur, Mexico; Dorothy Davis, UNDP; Monique Gilliam, April Gu, Josh Lasky, Members of United States Delegation UNA-USA; Dulce Maria Pereira, Brazilian Ambassador to the Executive Secretariat of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, Lisbon, Portugal; Tom Porter, Spokesman and Chief Spiritual Leader of the Mohawk Community of Kanatsiohareke.

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