Rótarý og Sameinuðu þjóðirnar
Rotary and the United Nations have a special relationship since Rotary was one of the founders of the United Nations. It started in November 1943, when Rotary sponsored a conference in London with ministers and observers from twenty-one governments. This group began laying plans for what was to become UNESCO. During the foundation of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945, forty-nine Rotarians helped to draft the United Nations Charter in and many of the international delegates from around the world were Rotarians. Upon founding the United Nations, Rotary became one of the original 42 Non Governmental Organizations that were invited to participate, apposition that Rotary still maintains. You can read more about Rotary and the United Nations on the internet at the following links:
www.rotaryfirst100.org/history/history/un/
http://nyrotaryunitednations.blogspot.com/
Rotarians will celebrate Rotary UN Day at the United Nations in New York on November 8, 2008 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is slated to give a special presentation to the Rotarians at the Rotary UN Day. You can read more about Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the internet at www.un.org/sg/.
There will also be presentations and panel discussions about Rotarian issues like water, health, literacy, and hunger. You can read the full announcement from Rotary International on the internet at
www.rotary.org/en/Members/Events/Pages/081508_announce_rotaryunday.aspx.
You can see the schedule for Rotary UN Day on the internet at www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/riun2008.pdf.
If you want to attend Rotary UN Day, you can register online or submit a registration form via e-mail, fax, or with regular mail. The registration deadline is October 24, 2008. You can download the registration form at www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/un_day08_reg_form.pdf.
Rotary/UN Day 2008 Includes a Special Program for High School Students
There is also a Rotary Youth Program, which runs from 9:30 to 12:30. It is developed specifically for a High School audience, including Interact, Rotaract, RYLA and Youth Exchange panelists. Following is a message from Rotary International Alternate Representative to the United Nations Helen Reisler, who is in charge of organizing Rotary Youth Programs:
Dear Rotarians,
I created a Committee of 10 Rotarians with various individual skills, from different Rotary clubs. Our "team" has worked together all summer long, to create a program specifically geared to a High School audience, to prevent them from falling asleep
Students will be interviewed, at the door, by "Radio Rotary" as they walk in. They will be asked what they expect from the day. They will be interviewed, once again, as they exit at the end, and asked what they came away with.
We have all Rotary's Youth Programs represented on Interact, Rotaract, RYLA, and Youth Exchange panels with 22 "Presenters", in all., some coming in from California, Long Island and all parts of the New York tri-state area. The presentations will be no longer than 5 minutes each (except for "Junior UN" which will show, through students, how UN delegates actually make decisions) and snappy, colorful, informational "Hip-Hop" videos will break in, throughout. There will be two moderators, a young Rotaract college student, and a senior Rotary PDG, to represent our wide age range in the Rotary World. The topic of "Child Mortality" will be covered to honor Rotary International President D.K. Lee's emphasis, as well.
The presentations will cover a full range of life-changing experiences and show the 400+ high school audience how it is possible for them to start making significant changes in their own communities, and those around the world, through Interact clubs, and follow the Rotary path to Rotaract and Rotary. They will learn how they can be part of the Rotary/United Nations partnership ....and they will see and hear it from their own peers.
We consider this audience the "future leaders" of the next generation and our potential "tools" to create peace and better understanding." We hope to give this audience new concepts to consider to "Make Their Dreams Real" and give them a new path of "Hope" in their complex world.