Paris, August 28 {No. 2000-74} - A delegation of five youths, representing the World Children's Parliament, will present the Youth Manifesto for the 21st Century to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, and to the Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments which will take place at UN Headquarters in New York from August 30 to September 1.

The Youth Manifesto for the 21st Century was adopted on October 24, 1999, by the World Children's Parliament, and presented by the youths to the 30th session of UNESCO's General Conference on October 26, 1999. Initiated and organised by the French National Assembly and UNESCO, the World Children's Parliament first met in Paris from October 21 to 27, 1999. It brought together 350 young people, aged 14 to 16, from 175 of UNESCO's 188 Member States.

The Manifesto reflects the desires, hopes and proposals of the youths to turn the nascent century into "a century of peace among nations". It bears testimony to their faith in the ideals enshrined in the 1789 Declaration of Human Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.

In its six chapters (peace and non-violence; education; environment; economic development, human development; solidarity; culture, communication and inter-cultural dialogue), it calls on the international community to accept and transcend national, language and ethnic differences to prepare the future for the coming generations. It emphasises the prevention of conflict through dialogue, favouring universal access to education, tackling the effects of technological progress on the environment, improving the distribution of wealth among all the regions of the planet, promoting and supporting solidarity and, finally, the need to provide access for all to the new information technologies.

The young representatives of the World Parliament - accompanied by the President of the French National Assembly, Raymond Forni, and by Ahmed Sayyad, representing the Director-General of UNESCO - will ask the Secretary-General of the United Nations to be their spokesman to the Heads of State or Government assembled in New York on the occasion of the Millenium Summit that will be held as part of the UN General Assembly.