We have established some important partnerships with the World Future Council, the Portuguese Society of International Law, the Portuguese Association for the United Nations and Jacques Delors European Information Centre. Mr. Sándor Fülöp, the Hungarian Ombudsman for Future Generations, Dr. Axel Gosseries (University of Louvain, Belgium), Mr. Sebastien Jodoin  (Centre for International Sustainable Development Law/World Future Council, Canada), Dr. Maja Göpel (World Future Council), Mrs. Lucy Stone (UNICEF, UK), Prof. Dr. Marques Guedes (Portuguese Society of International Law), Prof. Dr. Almeida Ribeiro (Portuguese Association for the United Nations), Prof. Dr. Viriato Soromenho-Marques (Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and University of Lisbon), Prof. Dr. Francisco Pereira Coutinho (University Autónoma of Lisbon), Mr. Abel de Campos (European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg) and Dr. Marisa Matias (CES, Coimbra) and Judge Shlomo Shoham (former Ombudsman for Future Generations in the Israli Parliament, Israel) have already confirmed their presence.

We are sponsored by Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Foundation Calouste Gulbenkian, Tribal DDB and Olissipo Marquês de Sá Hotel. The Conference will be held in English at the Foundation Calouste Gulbenkian and is expected to have about 130 participants.

Please register for free entrance. Nevertheless, registration at the Conference is required. This policy applies to all attendees.

We are pleased to inform that 2 Euro per registered attendee will be donated to UNICEF projects, supporting children in countries vulnerable to climate change. You can help UNICEF donating more!

 More information at http://www.futuregenerations-lawconference.com/

For more information, please click here.

We are looking for young people in the age group of 15-21 of Asian, Middle Eastern and African descent to be be part of this forum that has been designed to help build understanding about cross-cultural issues. We want to recognise and address the specific issues faced by immigrant youths in Aotearoa/New Zealand, while providing a space where they can talk openly about the challenges of living in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

There will be workshops on topics such as cultural “juggling”, racism and bullying, family violence, love and safety and gender issues as well as presentations by groups who provide support services for immigrant youths.

This is an event organised by youth for youth to support each other and strategise to build a safer world for ourselves. 

WHEN: 9:30am – 4:30pm Thursday 27th May 2010

WHERE: Kelston Community Centre, 135 Awaroa Rd, Sunnyvale

Geographic focus: Asia

AREP is a non governmental organization, providing services in the areas of Youths Development and Integration, Women Empowerment and community Development.

Website: www.arep.org.af

Address: House#762, 5th street, Taimany, kabul – Afghansitan

Phone: 0093(0)777999932

Email: rahim.jsh@gmail.com

Contact person: Abdul Rahim

In the inaugural Foreign Affairs Essay Contest, a panel from the Foreign Affairs editorial staff will select one undergraduate’s essay to be published on the Foreign Affairs Web site. The winner will also receive a prize of $500, and five honorable mentions will receive a free year-long subscription to Foreign Affairs.

Deadline: Entries must be submitted by June 1, 2010.

Essay Topic: What is likely to be the most interesting development in international politics over the next decade?  

Writing Guidelines: Submissions should be between 1,200 and 1,500 words. All quotations or uncommon facts should be appropriately cited. Entries must be original, unpublished work written by contestants themselves.

Eligibility: Open to all undergraduate students of accredited colleges and universities graduating no earlier than May 2010.

Submissions: Only one essay is allowed per participant. Please send entries to FAEssay@cfr.org with your essay included in the body of the e-mail and attached as a Word document. Your entry should include your name, phone number, e-mail address, institution of enrollment, and a scanned copy of your student identification or other proof of enrollment.

Students enrolled in institutions outside the United States should also include in their submission the full address and phone number of the academic department in which they are currently enrolled.

Every person who submits an essay to FAEssay@cfr.org  will be entered in the contest. All entries must be received by 11:59 PM on June 1, 2010, and entries must be completed in full to be eligible. Submissions shorter than 1,200 words or longer than 1,500 words will be automatically disqualified.

Submissions sent by mail will not be accepted. No purchase necessary to enter.

Selection of winner: Entries will be evaluated and chosen by the Foreign Affairs editorial staff using the same evaluation methods and quality control standards required of authors. Decisions of the editorial team are final.

Copyright: All materials submitted for the contest become the property of Foreign Affairs and may appear on www.ForeignAffairs.com. By submitting his/her work to FAEssay@cfr.org, the contestant permanently transfers to Foreign Affairs and the Council on Foreign Relations all rights, title, and interests therein, whether or not copyrightable or legally protectable or established as forms of property and whether or not fulfilled or put into practice, together with all rights under copyright and the exclusive rights to print, publish, distribute, and sell the contestant’s essay in all editions and formats in any form or medium throughout the world, which contains, but is not limited to, all formats of print, electronic, digital, optical, magnetic, or laser-based media, alone or in combination with other contributions, in whole or in part, in any language, throughout the world, together with the right to make such changes as Foreign Affairs deems appropriate. Foreign Affairs assumes no responsibility for lost, late, delayed, damaged, incomplete, illegible, unintelligible, inaccurate, or misdirected entries.

Notification of a winner: All decisions made by Foreign Affairs are final and binding. Foreign Affairs will not be held liable for late, lost, or misdirected notifications. If Foreign Affairs is unable to contact the prospective winner and a prospective honorable mention within ten (10) business days of the first attempt, or if it is found that the prospective winner or a prospective honorable mention has failed to comply with the official rules, that individual’s prize will be forfeited. Prizes left unclaimed ninety (90) days after notification will be forfeited, and Foreign Affairs shall not be held responsible for contacting a prospective winner or prospective honorable mention who did not supply an address or provided an incorrect one. Any prospective winner or prospective honorable mention who fails to notify Foreign Affairs with any complaint or problem within ninety (90) days after prize notification, forfeits the right to do so.

The prospective winner and prospective honorable mentions may be required to sign (or the chosen contestant’s legal guardian or parent if such a contestant is not of legal age in his/her state/country of residence) a publicity release within thirty (30) days of notification, which will allow Foreign Affairs to use their names, biographical information and/or pictures for the purpose of advertising, trade, or promotion without further compensation or consideration in any and all media throughout the world, unless prohibited by law. If required by Foreign Affairs, the prospective winner and prospective honorable mentions must sign (or the chosen contestant’s legal guardian or parent if such a contestant is not of legal age in his/her state/country of residence) and return a release of liability, declaration of eligibility within thirty (30) days of receipt. If a chosen contestant is not of legal age in the state of residence, the prize will be awarded in the name of a parent of legal guardian.

Additional terms and conditions: By completing the essay and sending it to FAEssay@cfr.org , the contestant is submitting his/her information to Foreign Affairs. Foreign Affairs will not be contacting the contestant except to notify him/her if he/she is the winner of the contest. By submitting an essay, the contestant fully and unconditionally agrees to and accepts these rules. This contest is void where prohibited.

Foreign Affairs reserves the right to, without prior notice and at any time, terminate or cancel the contest, in whole or in part, or modify the contest in any way.

Foreign Affairs is not accountable for

• any events beyond its control that may cause the contest to be interrupted or corrupted;
• any injuries, losses, or damages of any kind occurring with or as a result of the prize, or from participation in the contest.

Contact Foreign Affairs with your contest questions at FAEssay@cfr.org.

Geographic focus: All Regions
CISV educates and inspires action for a more just and peaceful world.

CISV offers a range of local activities, international camps, family-hosted exchanges and community-based projects, each with a Peace Education focus. These are know as our Programmes and they are organised every year by our volunteers for young people and adults from over 60 countries.

Peace Education provides us with the Attitudes, Skills and Knowledge we need to become agents of change. In other words, to become Active Global Citizens.

Website: http://www.cisv.org

Address: CISV International Ltd MEA House Ellison Place Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8XS England

Phone: (+44) 191 232 4998

Email: international@cisv.org

Contact person: Denise Farrar

The media greatly influence the level of trust and mutual understanding among religious groups. In view of this, the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) has been engaging journalists on interfaith issues since 2005. In September 2009, the 7th Journalists’ Colloquium in Seoul recommended that the younger generation be drawn into the conversation. Accordingly, the 8th ASEF Journalists’ Colloquium on 5-6 April 2010 brought together 15 young journalists and religious leaders from Asia and Europe for a two-day dialogue in partnership with Casa Asia in Madrid.The participants reported that their respective societies face different challenges. Some societies suffer a history of religious-related violence; others enjoy religious peace, but may be letting minority groups be marginalised through neglect and ignorance. While their experiences differed, however, all societies need urgently to address the communication challenges associated with religious diversity.

Even as participants tried to find ways for journalists and religious leaders to improve communication around religious issues, they stressed that they often faced major political and social obstacles outside of their control. Two particular problems were highlighted. First, some states are overly restrictive in their management of public discussion of religion, in the name of preserving stability and harmony. Second, dominant social norms and values in some populations are intolerant of difference, including of minorities within religious communities.

In such contexts, independent media need the freedom to make principled editorial decisions that may sometimes challenge the preferences of governments, religious authorities and even popular opinion. However, freedom of the press should be voluntarily exercised with a sense of social responsibility. Freedom of expression is not absolute. It has limits including the right of minorities to be protected from hate speech.

Participants acknowledged that both journalists and religious leaders had not done enough to provide a balanced and holistic picture of various religions to broader publics. This goal tends to be taken more seriously in societies emerging out of conflict. However, participants felt strongly that journalists and religious leaders should not wait for tragic wake-up calls before they start responding to the challenges of diversity. Countries now fortunate enough to enjoy religious peace have enough evidence from other countries to suggest that such stability cannot be taken for granted.

Therefore, in training and developing the next generation of journalists as well as religious leaders, the opportunity should not be missed to introduce skills and mindsets in tune with the realities of a religiously diverse planet.

The Colloquium recommended the following.

1. News media must build their own knowledge of religion in order to inform and educate the public, and at the very least to avoid circulating erroneous impressions and stereotypes about religious groups. They should recognise religion as a specialised area of coverage requiring the same depth and seriousness of coverage that they traditionally give to politics and business.

2. Conflict and controversy are integral to the definition of “hard news”, and will continue to be so. Yet, coverage of religion need not be limited to times when it makes the news for the wrong reasons. The journalistic repertoire includes not only hard news but also human interest stories, opinion columns, features, photo essays, interviews and so on. Journalists should use their full repertoire more creatively to offer more balanced and holistic coverage of religion. In many societies, people are increasingly interested in personal spiritual growth as a lifestyle. Media that under-cover this dimension of life may be missing an opportunity to increase their appeal.

3. Media should make special efforts to cover the many interfaith projects that are on-going. While these projects do not have the immediacy of hard news, interfaith projects can have positive long-term impact and deserve due attention.

4. Professional codes of ethics should include guidance on how to cover religion. At present, very few do so. The lack of ethical guidance leads to various mistakes, such being too quick to label a group by its main religion, when other dimensions of its identity may be more relevant to the story and provide better insight into a problem. Independent press councils and associations of journalists should be cultivated as vehicles for promoting better coverage of religion.

5. National and regional awards for journalistic excellence are one way in which the profession pushes for higher standards. Organisations that already give out prestigious awards, such as the Society of Publishers in Asia, should be encouraged to add a category for the coverage of religious diversity.

6. Religious groups must improve their understanding of how media work, in order to reach out more effectively to broader publics. Such training can vary from formal university programmes to short workshops, or meeting editors about the media’s practical needs and priorities.

7. Better-resourced religious groups can consider using professional public relations officers and official spokesmen to engage the medi . Government organisations, universities and NGOs could help to improve the media literacy of smaller and less well-resourced religious groups in their societies.

8. The internet, including social media, is an important platform for religious groups and interfaith projects to present themselves to journalists and wider publics. Religious leaders should use this opportunity to provide clear, user-friendly information about their groups. Younger, tech-savvy members of religious groups have a special contribution to make here.

9. On-going, regular dialogues between religious groups and media are essential. Networking should take place in times of stability and calm, and not start only when there is controversy and conflict. Contact building is a standard way in which journalists and newsmakers improve the quality of coverage in other spheres. Religion should not be an exception. Third parties such as NGOs and universities could provide a neutral and trusted forum for such dialogue.

All the above steps require that media and religious groups change their prevailing mindsets. Religious leaders must recognise that the world is more crowded and connected, and that they can no longer limit their communication only to their own followers. They must make the effort to translate their interests and aspirations into universal language that others can understand, and work towards reducing the risk of provoking suspicion and misunderstanding. Media need to recognise the urgent global priority to promote a culture of tolerance of diversity, without which the foundations of social life on which they themselves depend will be threatened. While they are not obliged to promote any one religion and should remain objective and balanced in their coverage, they have a responsibility to help avoid religious conflict.

Geographic focus: Africa

YHRI-Ghana is a not-for-profit educational organization dedicated to teaching young people their human rights in Ghana. Through local chapters and clubs, YHRI trains and equips youth to become supporters and advocates for tolerance, peace and the elimination of human rights abuses. We deliver in youth, leadership experience and life-long skills through teams competing to create, deliver and document effective public human rights awareness campaigns that influence stakeholders nationwide.

Website:  http://www.africanleadershipcampaign.org www.youthforhumanrightsinternational.org www.youthforhumanrightsinternational.org

Address: ICCHRA Human Rights Centre 2nd floor, Christian Council of Ghana Building Osu-Accra

Phone: +233(0)208 333 095

Email: maawuah@yahoo.com

Contact person: Michael Amoah Awuah

Date: 23-30 May 2010

Brief: This Training Course is organised by the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe within the framework of the Partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the field of Youth and in co-operation with the Africa Institute of South Africa, the European Youth Forum and the Pan African Youth Union. Those from Africa fulfilling the criteria and interested to participate should send the enclosed application form to nsc.africaeurope-youthsummit@coe.int

Deadline: 19 /April /2010

Sponsor/Host: North-South Centre of the Council of Europe

Website: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/nscentre/Youth_en.asp

Additional contact information:nsc.africaeurope-youthsummit@coe.int vania.freitas@youthforum.org

From: bahanakisaac@yahoo.fr

Geographic focus: Africa
Cultural Waves Uganda uses ICT and creative arts as a way of creating dialogue among youth of different cultures and religion We promote youth participation in OVC work in communities of Masaka district Uganda, through youth forums, which will act as the custodianship of knowledge, ideas and experiences with youth which aim at tapping and influence decision making, livelihood change and realizing millennium development goals among youth of different cultures. The vibrancy of the youth forums mitigates their thinking. , the forums also create electronic dialogue; these include, group emails, chart room experience, and feed back news forms, e-news. Social networking blogs Through our creative art programs we use theatre instrumental role in development, awareness creation will inevitably change the perception of youth especially in rural and urban slum areas to promote and plan development based on good cultural practices. We mobilize and train Ugandan music, dance and drama arts to exhibit Uganda’s diverse cultural heritage among youth.

Website: n/a

Address: Cultural Waves Uganda p.o box 1234 masaka Uganda , plot 23 Kyassonko Business Centre

Phone: +256-752-963590, 711963590

Email: culturalwaves.uganda@gmail.com

Contact person: Kakeeto Henry