Defence for Children International in holding 3 side-events in November to celebrate both its 40^th anniversary and the 30^th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

1) Children’s Rights Award: “Hear my Story, know my rights”

Defence for Children International (DCI) is a leading child rights-focused grassroots Movement founded in 1979, the first International Year of the Child. We promote and protect the human rights of children at the local, national, regional and international levels across 5 continents. In 2019, we will be celebrating 40 years of DCI’s active contribution to protecting and promoting the rights of children worldwide. DCI’s work focuses on 4 thematic priorities namely Justice for Children, Violence Against Children, Children on the Move and Children Affected by Conflicts. It also prioritizes 3 cross-cutting issues which include children deprived of liberty, child participation and gender.

Objectives:

2019 marks the 30th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 40th of DCI. On this occasion, we would like to celebrate with children!

The objective of the Children’s Rights Award 2019 is to foster children’s participation and to include the whole DCI Movement in doing so. This edition calls upon the participation of all children between ages of 12-17 years in all the countries in which DCI is present. This will also include the involvement of National Sections who will be participating in the award in partnership with the DCI International Secretariat in Geneva. Through this DCI Award process DCI aims to highlight how children’s rights are perceived by those who are most directly concerned – children themselves. More than that, DCI wishes to use the process at the National level to interact with children in their communities to encourage a better understanding of their rights enshrined in UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, more specifically the articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on which DCI focuses their work. Given that 2019 is also the 30th anniversary of this UN Convention, there will be also celebrations at the National level, with which the Award may be associated. The objective is to include as many children as possible through a wide participation of the DCI Movement worldwide in the competition entitled: HEAR MY STORY, KNOW MY RIGHTS.

DCI’s priority on child participation is underpinned by the Convention of the Rights of the Child, both Article 12 (respect for the views of the child) and Article 13 (right of every child to 12 express his or her views, also in judicial and administrative proceedings) as well as the Optional Protocol 3 to the Convention, which allows individual children to submit complaints regarding specific violations of their rights under the Convention and the Protocols. The Sustainable Development Goals (target 16.7) also call for responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. Additionally, Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child calls for non-discrimination of any kind and allows for the application of measures to ensure that children are protected from these discriminations which may occur.

The 2019 edition of the Children’s Rights Award aims to provide a platform for children to express their ideas, opinions, views, hopes and visions in regard to children’s rights. The two categories enable both an illustrative and detailed outlook of what children’s rights mean from the perspective of a child. There is broad range of issues and challenges that children face. For example, millions of children worldwide are affected by violence which means that what one child may see as a right to them may mean something completely different to another child in different country. As a grass-roots organisation promoting the rights of children, it is important to acknowledge the different barriers faced by children worldwide at voicing out their opinions whether due to language barriers or lack of opportunities to do so. Moreover, this will attract a wider range of participation both in terms of geographical diversity, eliminating potential language barriers and strengthening cooperation between National Sections and the DCI International Secretariat in Geneva.

Activities:

Child Rights from a Child’s Perspective:

DCI’s priority on child participation is underpinned by the Convention of the Rights of the Child, both Article 12 (respect for the views of the child) and Article 13 (right of every child to 12 express his or her views, also in judicial and administrative proceedings) as well as the Optional Protocol 3 to the Convention, which allows individual children to submit complaints regarding specific violations of their rights under the Convention and the Protocols. The Sustainable Development Goals (target 16.7) also call for responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. Additionally, Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child calls for non-discrimination of any kind and allows for the application of measures to ensure that children are protected from these discriminations which may occur.

The 2019 edition of the Children’s Rights Award aims to provide a platform for children to express their ideas, opinions, views, hopes and visions in regard to children’s rights. The two categories enable both an illustrative and detailed outlook of what children’s rights mean from the perspective of a child. There is broad range of issues and challenges that children face. For example, millions of children worldwide are affected by violence which means that what one child may see as a right to them may mean something completely different to another child in different country. As a grass-roots organisation promoting the rights of children, it is important to acknowledge the different barriers faced by children worldwide at voicing out their opinions whether due to language barriers or lack of opportunities to do so. Moreover, this will attract a wider range of participation both in terms of geographical diversity, eliminating potential language barriers and strengthening cooperation between National Sections and the DCI International Secretariat in Geneva.

Scope:

This competition will be open to children between the ages of 12 – 17 years old which will be split into 2 categories who reside in one of the countries where DCI is present:

• Category A: a piece of artwork including video-clips, songs, and any other form of electronic creation.
• Category B: a creation of a comics, pictures, posters or drawings of any form.

*See “Rules & Regulations” for specific delivery methods.

The two categories shall aim to express what child rights are to them. Participants have the freedom to interpret this question as they wish however the piece must clearly present a link and has to be apparent in order for judges to be able to provide an objective assessment.

Participants are also encouraged to link their submissions to one of DCI’s thematic priorities and cross-cutting issues:

 Justice for Children

 Violence Against Children

 Children on the Move

 Children affected by Conflict

 Children Deprived of Liberty

 Gender

 Children’s Participation

Child participation

This competition will be open to children between the ages of 12 – 17 years old residing in one of the countries where DCI is present. The first two winners of the International Round (the first winner of the Category A, and the first winner of the Category B) will receive as a prize, the opportunity to come to Geneva (probably during the week of the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, TBC). During this week in Geneva, the international community will organize several events regarding the 30th anniversary, in which DCI will be able to participate. Therefore, the two winners will have the opportunity to attend to some of these events according to their age. DCI will also publish in the DCI Website, and other relevant media and publications, the winners and the best national participations.

This event will take place in Swiss Press Club (Geneva) on 15th November 2019 from 15h to 18h followed by a reception. 

 

2) Screening of “Voices from the inside” and debate on children deprived of liberty

This event will take place in Swiss Press Club (Geneva) on 18th November 2019 from 18h30 to 21h30.

 

3) Group Discussion on Girl Human Rights Defenders

This event will take place in Palais des Nations, UN (Geneva) on 19th November 2019 from 14h30 to 15h30. 

UN registration necessary

If you are interested to attend any of those events, please register here.