6/7/2008 - Petition for Global Education Youth Programs Delivered to United Nations Alliance of Civilizations

A Petition Presentation Ceremony took place on June 6, 2008 at the United Nations, during which representatives of AFS presented 397,332 petition signatures to Dr. Thomas Uthup, a representative at Alliance of Civilizations, which aims to improve understanding and cooperative relations among nations and peoples across cultures and religions and, in the process, to help counter the forces that fuel polarization and extremism.

The Petition Presentation Ceremony was attended by members of the diplomatic corps, representatives of the organizations that supported the Petition, and AFS participants, Board members, and staff. It gave the UN community the opportunity to learn the impact that AFS and youth exchanges have youth and communities that are working for peace.

Speaking at the Ceremony, Ashley Zimmerman, a former participant in the Global Leadership for the 21st Century program, told the audience that when people support youth exchanges, “It’s not really an organization you’re supporting. You’re supporting an actual movement that’s supporting understanding and supporting youth who have the power, not starting when they grow older, but starting today, to work toward understanding peace in their communities.”

Mercedes Coronado, the Director of San Juan Bautista school in the Dominican Republic gathered 34,000 signatures for the Petition. During her speech at the UN, she said that “when we learned about the Petition to promote more intercultural exchange programs for our youth and the collection of signatures around the world, we recognized that we had an opportunity. We recognized that we could take action, at the regional level, to promote the kind of transformative experience that AFS exchange programs offer.”

As the Petition campaign showed, the result of each of our small actions is both large and important. As great leaders have said in the past, “Instead of worrying about the future, let us labor together to create it.”