UN Chronicle | Youth at Risk: UNIS-UN Conference 2003

Youth at Risk: UNIS-UN Conference 2003
By Horst Rutsch for the Chronicle

Web Article

Organized and run by students from the United Nations International School (UNIS), the 27th annual UNIS-UN Conference will be held from 6 to 7 March 2003 in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations. Addressing the challenges faced by today's youth, this year's theme—"Youth At Risk: The Future in Our Hands"—will focus on the uncertain future that awaits young people in the 21st century. Many youths in the developed world are exposed to problems of child abuse, violence and rampant media influence, while children and teens in developing nations often fall victim to perhaps even greater social and political ills, manifested as child prostitution, slave labour and lack of education and health care. These all pose significant threats to the basic rights and well-being of the world's youth, and are topics of discussion at the Conference, which serves to elucidate the precise danger that these issues constitute, not only to the children themselves but to the future of mankind that they represent.

The UNIS-UN Conference is designed to provide students with expert knowledge through debate and participation in discussion groups, expressing their views in the most internationally significant gathering place on earth. It also offers lectures from respected authorities, such as keynote speaker Vanessa Redgrave, and other speakers, including children from war-affected countries who will attend with the help of the Utah Peace Institute, and Anna Grimaldi Colomer, who works with the Puerto Rico Committee for UNICEF.

The UNIS-UN Committee begins preparations for the conference nearly a year in advance, finding and developing a topic of global relevance, drawing up a list of speakers, inviting hundreds of students from schools around the world, organizing UNIS Tutorial House debates, and compiling a working paper of articles on the topic written and edited by Committee members. Broadcast live on the Internet, the UNIS-UN Conference seeks to inspire its international audience to actively engage in the critical issues that affect today's youth and tomorrow's leadership.

For more information, contact:
United Nations International School,
24-50 FDR. Drive,
New York, NY 10010

Tel: +1-212-584-3108
Fax: +1-212-889-8959
E-mail: unis-un@unis.org

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