The 6th Annual United Nations Student Conference on Human Rights was held on December 5th 2003. Six sites from around the world joined togehter via video conferencing for the all day student-run event. the Student Confernce on Human Rights seeks to promote awareness of, learning about, and action on human rights among student leaders. The conference provides opportunities for student leaders to network and develop important leadership skills, such as public speaking, team-and consensus-building, negotiation, research, and drafting. It also gives participants firsthand experience using current information technologies. Under the direction of the United Nations Department of Public Information and with

the cooperation and support of the Carol Baur Foundation, Global Education Motivators, Interconnections 21, LePage Educational Consultants,UNA Dominican Republic and UNA-USA, an all day live, interactive video conference was held bringing young people together from around the world to discuss Education for All. GEM brought eight students to the United Nations as student leaders for the conference. Sites involved were Vancouver, British Columbia; Mexico City, Mexico; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; North and South New Jersey, and the Philadelphia area. It was also seen world-wide via a live webcast coordinated with the UN CyberSchoolBus program. The CyberSchoolBus provided an interactive chat component to bring students into the conference that were able to watch via the webcast, but could not participate from any of the interactive videoconferencing sites. Visit:

www.un.org to watch the webcast of the program. The Opening Plenary was highlighted with remarks Mr. Raymond Sommereyns, Director, Outreach Division, UN Department of Public Information and Mr. Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. Students worked throughout the day on the 2003 Student Plan of Action for All, and students from each location were able to join in the deliberations through the video conferencing format. the action plan was completed in the afternoon session, and then submitted to Acting President fo the 58th General Assembly, H.E. Dirk Jan van den Berg, of the Netherlands. If you would like more information about the program, or would like to get involved in next year's program on December 3, 2004, please contact GEM at 215-248-1150 or [email protected].

GEM Highlights Two Partnerships

GEM is proud to work with a wide range of schools, organizations, and programs throughout the world. These include two special partnerships with the Fundation Carol Baur and Socially Responsible Business. Fundacion Cultural Baur Fundacion Cultural Baur, AC., is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI). The goal of Fundacion Cultural Baur is to offer an education aimed at heightning the awareness of young people on Human Rights and responsible participation in our global society. They are widely known internationally for supporting hands-on, innovative education through a curriculum originally developed by Carol Baur. The Fundacion has the

distinction of creating and hosting the Baur International Model United Nations (BIMUN), recognized as one of the most professional UN simulations anywhere. BIMUN is held annually in Mexico City, the weekend before the Easter holiday. For more information about the Fundacion Carol Baur, please visit www.carolbaur.edu.mx. Socially Responsible Business GEM's Socially Responsible Business project is active on several fronts. Dr. David Schwerin, GEM's SRB director, has extended a written invitation to Soochow University in China to establish a Socially Responsible Business Center. GEM has offered to provide Prof. Ping Ren of Soochow relevant background information on SRB as well as ongoing moral support. Prof. Ping is working to organize a group of Chinese businesspeople to visit the US to learn more about SRB practices (via lectures and company visits) as well as tour this country.

On February 26th David will be giving a SRB talk at International Place in Clarmont California. The audience is typically comprised of students and faculty from the seven colleges at Claremont College (including the Peter Drucker School of Management) plus interested community members. Schwerin's talk has the same title as his book, "Conscious Capitalism: Principles for Prosperity." David is in the process of completing a new book with the working title, "Going Naked in the Global Economy." In late 2002 he visited South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China (where he gave five SRB lectures) to do research for the book. Drawing on the authors 30 years of business experience, the book is aimed at understanding the globalization process and providing models and tools that dissolve and providing models and tools that dissolve global conflicts and enrich citizens everywhere.