The United Nations Cyberschoolbus and European Schoolnet launch The World Summit Event for Schools (WSIS)

Three-month-long event offers online activities to engage students from around the world to examine the impact of information and communication technologies on human rights

New York,  16 September 2003 – Event to culminate in first-ever gathering of educators from over 40 countries at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva this December to examine how school networks can be used to build a Culture of Peace 

WHO: ·Mr. Shashi Tharoor, Under Secretary General of the Department of Public Information (New York)
·Mr. Dzidek Kedzia, Chief, Research and Right to Development, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva)
·William Yotive, Project Manager, United Nations Global Teaching and Learning Project (New York)
·Brigitte Parry, European Schoolnet Networks Manager (Geneva)
·Students from Switzerland, Tanzania and Uganda will announce their cross-cultural project for the World Summit. 

WHAT: Children and youth from around the world to participate in the first ever, World Summit Event for Schools, co-organized by the United Nations Cyberschoolbus and The European Schoolnet. Three-month long event featuring online activities and a poster contest at www.cyberschoolbus.org will conclude with a live interaction via the internet between students and a Head of State at the World Summit in Geneva in December.

In addition, the UN Cyberschoolbus and the European Schoolnet will bring together educators from over 40 countries in Geneva on 12 December, 2003 to lay the foundation for creating a global infrastructure of school networks that can be used to build a Culture of Peace. They will also explore how schools, being the center of the community in many developing countries, can use their schoolnets to bridge the digital divide and achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.

WHERE: United Nations Headquarters in New York 
Room S-226
and
United Nations Office in Geneva
Salle 3 at the Palais des Nations

WHEN: Thursday, 18 September, 2003 
10h00 – 10h45 -- New York
16h00 – 16h45 -- Geneva

For additional information, please contact Lisa Sherman-Cohen in New York at 212-963-6769, shermanl@un.org  or Gary Fowlie in Geneva at 41-22-730-6135, gary.fowlie@itu.int 


**SIMULTANEOUS PRESS CONFERENCE FROM UN NEW YORK AND UN GENEVA**

About WSIS

The World Summit on the Information Society provides a unique opportunity for all key stakeholders to develop a common vision and understanding and to address the whole range of relevant issues related to the Information Society.

It aims to bring together Heads of State, Executive Heads of the United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, civil society entities, industry leaders and media representatives to foster a clear statement of political will and concrete plan of action to shape the future of the global information society and to promote the urgently needed access of all countries to information, knowledge and communication technologies for development.

The Summit has been endorsed by the UN General Assembly and will take place under the high patronage of Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, with the International Telecommunication Union taking the lead role in its preparation.
The Summit will be held in two phases: Geneva (10-12 December 2003) and Tunisia (16-18 November 2005).