Young Global Leaders Promote Global Dignity; "Dignity Day in Davos" Precedes World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2007.

World Leaders Encouraged to Lead and Help Others Lead an Empowered and Dignified Life

DAVOS, Switzerland -- Bulleted information, Scott Freidheim's full title should read: Co-Chief Administrative Officer, Lehman Brothers, USA (sted Co-Chief Administrative Officer, USA).

The corrected release reads:

YOUNG GLOBAL LEADERS PROMOTE GLOBAL DIGNITY; "DIGNITY DAY IN DAVOS" PRECEDES WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM ANNUAL MEETING 2007

The Forum of Young Global Leaders (YGLs), which works in close cooperation with the World Economic Forum (WEF), furthered their campaign to defend the right of all human beings to lead a dignified and empowered life, by organizing "Dignity Day in Davos" for the WEF Annual Meeting 2007 on Tuesday, January 23. Over 2,000 leaders from business, politics, academia, the media and civil society are expected to attend the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting this year.

Global Dignity (GD) is an initiative founded by YGLs HRH Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of Norway; Pekka Himanen, Professor of Philosophy, University of Art and Design Helsinki and Visiting Professor, Oxford University; and "Silver Rights" movement activist and Operation HOPE, Founder, Chairman and CEO, John Hope Bryant last year during the WEF Annual Meeting 2006. A dozen YGLs will also visit local classrooms to promote "Dignity Day in Davos" activities.

GD strives for positive world change through a paradigm shift in thinking about global challenges, and creates a new language based on universal human communication, hoping to inspire solutions to world problems. Through a website developed for GD (www.globaldignity.org) it hosts a set of online teaching tools where hundreds of participants have signed on to the project since its launch.

John Hope Bryant, has shared the five Principles of Dignity with the children in the United States of America, Canada, India, Turkey, Rwanda and South Africa. He, along with the other YGLs, engages the audience in a dialogue about how to respect and reinforce the universal right to dignity of each human being regardless of their social and cultural circumstances.

"Operation HOPE supports Global Dignity through HOPE Global Initiatives -- our international division to support programs and projects globally. We are proud to promote, advocate, help advance and to partner with Global Dignity", said Bryant. "By formulating a globally shared dream, Global Dignity and HOPE Global Initiatives are perfectly aligned in promoting opportunity around the world, to empower each individual to believe in his or her fundamental right to dignity, respect, and freedom, to make their own decisions in life."

The YGLs promote GD through the five Dignity Principles; sharing their personal experiences, including their successes and failures, and instances related with aspects of self respect, dignity and human rights. In addition to Bryant, YGLs who have conducted the Dignity Day in Davos include:

* Scott Freidheim, Co-Chief Administrative Officer, Lehman Brothers, USA

* Frank Krings, Chief Operating Officer, Europe and Member of the Management Committee, Deutsche Bank, Germany

* Alja Brglez, Director and Founder, Institute for Civilization and Culture, Slovenia

* Erik Charas, Director, Endowment and Investments, Foundation for Community Development (FDC), Mozambique

* Pekka Himanen, Philosopher and Professor, Helsinki Institute of Information Technology, Finland

* Sandile Zungu, Executive Chairman, Zungu Investments Company, South Africa

* Bozidar Djelic, Head, Eastern Europe, Credit Agricole, Serbia and Montenegro 

* Motohisa Furukawa, Member, House of Representatives of Japan

About the Forum of Young Global Leaders

Established in 2004 by Professor Klaus Schwab, The Forum of Young Global Leaders (www.younggloballeaders.org) is a unique, multi-stakeholder community of the world's most extraordinary young leaders who dedicate a part of their time to jointly address global challenges and who are committed to devote part of their knowledge and energy to collectively work towards a better future. Together, they engage in the 2030 Initiative, a comprehensive endeavor, to understand current and future trends, risks and opportunities both at global and regional levels, formulate a positive vision for the world in 2030 and put forward concrete strategies and workstreams to translate their vision into action.

About Global Dignity

Co-founded by Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of Norway, Professor Pekka Himanen, University of Art & Design Helsinki and Visiting Professor at Oxford University, and John Hope Bryant, Founder, Chairman and CEO from Operation HOPE, and the mission of the Dignity is to implement globally the universal right of every human being to lead a dignified life. It is an autonomous, non-profit and non-partisan project linked to the 2020 process of the World Economic Forum's Forum of Young Global Leaders, where young global leaders from politics, business, academia, and civil society have joined together to work for the improvement of the state of the world and people based on five principles of dignity. For more information on about Global Dignity, see www.globaldignity.org.

About World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests. The World Economic Forum is under the supervision of the Swiss Federal Government. For more information, visit www.weforum.org.

About HOPE Global Initiatives

HOPE Global Initiatives was developed out of the organization's leadership role in hosting Ambassadors and Heads of State visiting Southern California, as well as the founder's former role with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Geneva, Switzerland, as their first ever goodwill ambassador to the United States. The role of HOPE Global Initiatives is to promote and advocate the benefits of education, financial literacy, self-reliance, economic empowerment and dignity as tools for vastly improving the quality of life in developing countries, with a particular focus on developing countries on the African continent. The role has expanded to serve underserved communities throughout the world. HOPE Global Initiatives is a program of Operation HOPE. For more about Operation HOPE and its programs to go www.operationhope.org.