Students meet at UN to discuss challenges facing youth in 21st century

Five hundred high school students are set to gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York tomorrow for a conference aimed at addressing the challenges youth confront growing up in the twenty-first century.

The twenty-seventh UN International School (UNIS)-UN Student Conference, "Youth at Risk: The Future in Our hands," will seek to address the trials and tribulations that pose significant threats to the basic rights and well being of the world's youth.

The two-day UNIS-UN annual conference, run and organized by UNIS students, selects topics pertinent to young people but also relevant to the world at large. Conference organizers said young people in the developed world suffer from acute child abuse, violence and rampant media influence, while those in developing nations fall victim to social and political unrest that often manifest in prostitution, slave labour, and lack of education and healthcare.

The conference aims to elucidate the precise danger that these issues constitute, not only to the children themselves, but also to the future of mankind. The UN General Assembly setting will provide an ideal platform for the young people to express and debate their own opinions and also tap into expert knowledge through featured guest lecturers, including keynote speaker Vanessa Redgrave.