UNITED NATIONS DAY
AT CHESTNUT HILL COLLEGE

Fourth Annual Conference for Grades 8-12


From Words to Deeds …

On October 24th United Nations Day 2000 took place at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. It was co-sponsored by the college and Global Education Motivators (GEM) an NGO at the United Nations. In attendance were 271 secondary school students from the Greater Philadelphia area. The Opening Plenary was held in Martino Hall and was open to the public. Tonderai Chikuhwa, from the UN Office for Children and Armed Conflict gave the keynote address for Under-Secretary-General Olara Otunnu, who was delayed in Washington. He spoke about the important work the UN was doing to help end the use of child soldiers in conflict and how children could be reintegrated into post-conflict society. The students were then divided into small group discussions and worked with facilitators from GEM, the United Nations and the college to develop ideas for plans of action on various human rights topics.


After they finished their discussions, they proceeded to develop action plan ideas to help bring solutions for each problem. They emphasized alternative understandings for different cultures and people. They also focused on how they can help and cooperate with people who are in difficult situations. In their action plans they considered things like: Global Awareness Assemblies, a House of Cards project making greeting cards for sale and donating the money to help homeless children in Philadelphia, an Adopt-A-Minefield Project, Manifesto 2000 commitment drives, taking human rights surveys of their school and community and then looking at improving human rights locally. They also suggested local community service projects like soup kitchens, writing letters to elected officials to get them more committed to human rights issues, collecting money to help refugees, forming human rights clubs in their schools and more. It was emphasized that they “think globally but act locally. ”

In the Afternoon Plenary students presented their small group action plan ideas to the entire conference. Then, they returned to their schools to finalize action plans and give a written report to Global Education Motivators as partial preparation for participation in Human Rights Day at the United Nations on December 8th.




TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2000

REPORTED BY NAOKO MATSUMOTO


On Human Rights Day selected students will report to the UN and interact with more than four hundred students from around the world on their specific action plans. And will draft a Youth Declaration for a Culture of Peace. They will become messengers from their schools and will represent all children as they put their plans into action.

United Nations Day 2000 made us realize how important it is to think about situations in the world and that we need to get rid of any conflicts from this world forever through an understanding and respect of each other. When young people cooperate and work together, their power will help lead to solutions for human rights problems around the world. Our growing consciousness towards these issues will become a key towards solving global problems.

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION TOPICS:

A- Child Labor
How can we ensure that children are fairly compensated for their work and at the same time are treated fairly in the workplace?

B- Conflict Resolution
How can we stop or prevent conflict?

C- Criminal Justice
What steps can be taken to establish a criminal justice system that recognizes the differences between children and adults?

D- Education
What steps can be taken to help ensure that all children receive free, safe primary education?

E- Exploitation of Children
How can we help to end the exploitation and abuse of children?

F- Food, Shelter & Health Care
How can we help ensure that children are provided proper nutrition clothing housing and health care?

G- Landmines
What steps can be taken to ban the sale, production and distribution of landmines and to develop a universal movement to remove them?

H- Refugees
What steps can be taken to address the problem of child refugees whether they be refugees of war, famine disease or economics?

I - Rights of Children
What are the basic rights of children?

J- Rights and Responsibilities
What are some responsibilities that are essential for the promotion of human rights and a culture of peace?

K- War
What steps can be taken to help end the participation of children in all war related fighting?