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Media Advisory

UNESCO WITHDRAWS FROM CONFERENCE

Paris, September 15 - UNESCO has decided it will no longer sponsor nor take part in a conference it had been due to co-organize with the Institute of Sathya Sai Education (ISSE, Thailand) and The Flinders University Institute of International Education (Australia), in Puttaparthi, India, from September 25 to 29. The decision means UNESCO is no longer associated in any way – through sponsorship, organization or participation of any kind – with the conference on Strengthening Values Education: Innovative Approaches to Teacher Education for Peace and International Understanding.

UNESCO’s withdrawal was prompted by several factors. Certain decisions were taken by the ISSE without consultation, such as plans to hold some of the sessions at the Ashram of the Sathya Sai movement in Puttaparthi, and the inclusion of some speakers in the conference programme without their previous consent. Furthermore, the Organization is deeply concerned about widely-reported allegations of sexual abuse involving youths and children that have been levelled at the leader of the movement in question, Sathya Sai Baba. Whilst it is not for UNESCO to pronounce itself in this regard, the Organization restates its firm moral and practical commitment to combating the sexual exploitation of children, in application of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires States to protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and violence.

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To know more


Click on 'To Know More' above to view Notice of Withdrawal by UNESCO

The said pages are stored on the internet wayback archive, (but when the site is busy it can sometimes take some time to open)

http://web.archive.org/web/20031003020809/http://www.unesco.org/education/highlights/media_advisory.htm

This URL was recently moved from its location by the web archive http://web.archive.org/web/20001207234100/www.unescobkk.org/news/aceid-withdrawal.htm but the main content is available here

The wayback archive machine shows this:-
UNERSCO's Note of  withdrawal from Sathya Sai Baba Educational Conference
One may also search the wayback machine UNESCO pages for any links that chane at
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http:/www.unesco.org/education/highlights/media_advisory.htm