New York – The annual UN General Assembly is always a good forum to promote the active citizenship of young people, and in recent years, governments have been increasing their efforts to support youth participation.

This year’s STAND UP and SPEAK OUT challenge is taking place on October 16th and 17th, with a number of important actions planned by the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) and the UN Millennium Campaign to maintain momentum and pressure on leaders in both rich and poor countries to honour the commitments they have made to end poverty and to meet and exceed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Dear sister and brother Scouts,
The International Day of Peace is an opportunity to reflect on how we can contribute to creating a more peaceful world.

As Scouts we make a Promise of duty to others, of loyalty to one's country in harmony with the promotion of local, national and international peace, understanding and cooperation, and of participation in the development of society with recognition and respect for the dignity of one's fellow-man. We promise to follow the Scout law, which states that a Scout is a friend to all and a brother (and sister) to every other Scout. It is these fundamental values that make us the peace movement we are.

Scouts worldwide are invited to celebrate International Peace Day on 21 September. This day, established by the United Nations (UN) in 1981, is devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace.

Throughout the world, millions of Scouts are working for Peace, taking action within their communities through Gifts for Peace projects and speaking out, sharing their thoughts and wishes through multi-media peace messages.

Scouts from many countries joined other young environmental leaders of the world at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) International Youth Conference in Leverkusen, Germany from the 27th to 30th August. The participants had the opportunity to share their projects with 150 young people aged between 15 - 24 from 100 countries, showcasing a great variety of projects being lead by young people to tackle the world's environmental challenges.

The e-learning resource on 'Keeping Scouts Safe From Harm' which was developed for Adults and the International Service Team (IST) of the recently concluded World Scout Jamboree in the UK, is now available online for global use. Inspired from the E-learning resources on Child Protection, created by NSOs, the tool, which is available in English and French, has been designed to develop worldwide awareness on the important subject.

The Amahoro Amani International Gathering has been a historical event that will remain for a long time in the minds and in the hearts of the hundreds of participants. 550 young people came from Africa and Europe, and had the opportunity to share the experiences of the Community Mediators and celebrate together the Centenary of the Scout Movement. The participants from 11 countries (Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, and Finland) met one another on the hill of Bungere (which means 'the Shepard' in Kirundi, language of Burundi), at the hearth of Burundi… and of Africa!

Geneva – 2 August 2007 – If you associate Scouts only with camping and tying knots, think again! As part of its Centenary celebrations, World Scouting has today launched a partnership with World Community Grid™ in a joint effort to create a better world through information technology.

The 21st World Scout Jamboree opens in only a few days and Scouting's Sunrise, 1st August is therefore just around the corner! Find out how you can follow all the excitement of these events. Here all of your questions are answered!

The International Forum for Peace represents the final phase of the “Amahoro Amani” project, and it aims at strengthening the exchange of experiences between young people, on a broader level, regional and international one. It comes within the framework of the two-year project who's main purpose is to foster a movement of rejection of ethnic prejudices among young people and getting them to contribute concretely to social change for a lasting peace advent in the Great Lakes region (Burundi, Rwanda, The Democratic Republic of The Congo). Amahoro is also a project that aims at developing the “international solidarity” dimension among the young people from the South and their peers from industrialised countries.