Elaboration of the Youth Manifesto for the Twenty-first Century

Each State participating in the World Children's Parliament transmitted at first a draft manifesto to the National Assembly and UNESCO. These documents had then been handed to a selection committee composed of experts, senior lecturers from the Institut d'études politiques in Paris, UNESCO representatives and National Assembly administrators.

This committee had chosen among the drafts received six contributions on each of the six topics selected by common agreement between the National Assembly and UNESCO:

- Education,

- Peace and non-violence,

- Economic development, human development,

- Culture, communication and intercultural dialogue,

- Environmental matters,

- Solidarity.

A reading committee composed of personalities from a variety of backgrounds and different cultures selected in September three texts on each of the six topics. They served as the basis for discussions by the youths during their stay in Paris.

Twelve workshops were thus held (two per topic) in the rooms of the château de Versailles. Deputies from the World Children's Parliament were able to amend the texts. On the basis of the three texts chosen by the reading committee each workshop elaborated a draft giving, for the topic in question, its analysis of the challenges of the twenty-first century, its proposals, its commitments and what it expected of the other players of the national and international communities.

After translation, the twelve texts produced by the twelve workshops (two on the same topic) were presented in the morning of 23 October to all of the children convened in the Congress hemicycle at the château de Versailles. For each of the six topics the wording deemed most appropriate was chosen following a show of hands.

The formal adoption of the manifesto took place in the National Assembly on 24 October.

Two days later, on 26 October, the manifesto was presented at the opening of UNESCO's General Conference in the presence of the highest dignitaries of the Member States.

THE READING COMMITTEE: The reading committee was tasked with choosing three texts among the six selected by the selection committee. Its members were as follows:

Isabelle Autissier, Boutros Boutros Ghali, Georges Charpak, Hisanori Isomura, Zoé Valdès, Theodore Zeldin, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar.