A
Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in close association with
The United Nations Department of Public Information
Our changed world was certainly
reflected in the Annual UN Student Conference on Human Rights that was held on December 7th. “Normally”
students from throughout the United States and various countries would convene at the
United Nations to discuss selected human rights issues and develop a Plan of Action
to be submitted to the UN for their review. This year it was
different.
Because of the various security
concerns related to travel and UN operations, it was decided to hold this year’s UN
Student Conference on Human Rights in a videoconference format from different sites that
would be connected to the United Nations. Under the direction of
the UN Department of Public Information and with the cooperation and support of
ASPnet/USA, the Carol Baur Foundation, Global Education Motivators, Interconnections 21,
LePage Educational Consultants, and UNA-USA, a 5 ½ hour live interactive conference was
held bringing young people together from the Middle East, Latin and North America for a Dialogue Among Civilizations
on human rights issues.
GEM hosted three sites for
students working on the theme of Acknowledging Diversity and Promoting Respect. The sites were
Chestnut Hill College, Sterling HS in Somerdale, NJ and South Seneca HS in Ovid, NY. Thirty-one schools
were involved from Canada, Egypt, Mexico, Sierre Leone and the states of Georgia, Hawaii,
New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. The conference
was webcast live around the world and can be seen today by going to:
Nane Annan, wife of the UN
Secretary-General was part of the morning program and motivated everyone to the tasks at
hand which included: sharing their thoughts about our changed world, discussing human
rights work at their schools and developing a student action plan to submit to Ambassador
Dumisani Kumalo, Ambassador to the UN from South Africa. The following Action
Plan was the result of their interactive work that took place on December 7th
even though they were thousands of miles apart. UNDAY
| Student Conference on Human Rights | Bringing
the World Into the Classroom | Living
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