United Nations Universal Children's Day 20 November 2004

Universal Children's Day celebrated in Brussels, Belgium, with over 50 young delegates from different European countries, who met to discuss solutions to lack of human rights education in schools.

(PRWEB) November 27, 2004 -- On 20 November over 50 young representatives from many European as well as African and Asian nations gathered together to support the international human rights movement, Youth for Human Rights, which met in Brussels to celebrate United Nations Universal Childrens Day at a dual location event.

The purpose was that at the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Childrens Rights Convention, conditions for many children in the World are extremely bad. Over 100 million children still do not receive any education and more than 10 million children die each year before they reach 5 years, whilst another 2 million children are involved in commercial sexual exploitation, which human traffickers (slave owners) are earning millions on.

The first part of the events took place indoors in the Church of Scientology Internationals European Human Rights Office at 91 rue de la Loi whilst the second part was at Place de la Monnie in Brussels where a stage was constructed to pass out a simplified version of the UN Declaration of Universal Rights for young people, as well as speeches and sketches about human rights.

20 November 2004 represents the 50th anniversary since the United Nations declared Universal Childrens Day. It is also marks the day when the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 1989.

The key events that highlighted the day in order to encourage the improvement of human rights around the world were the European release of an anti-discrimination video 'United. Directed by Taron Lexton, it has stars such as Isaac Hayes, Jenna Elfman, Erika Christensen, Catherine Bell and Lynsey Bartilson making guest appearances. Craig Mokhiber, Deputy Director of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights announced the video as Brilliant. An important contribution to human rights education."

The Youth for Human Rights Award, to be presented next year to young people working in the field of human rights was launched, as was a new campaign to get human rights education put onto the curricula of schools as a mandatory subject

"Child trafficking, child soldiers are child abuse along with the complete absence of any kind of education in many countries are issues of serious concern to the young people of Youth for Human Rights. We feel that besides directly addressing these issues, which is vital and must be done even more vigorously, one of the key ways to undercut this is to start with a determined human rights education campaign", said Quintin Michel 16 year old Youth for Human Rights delegate from France

Irving Sarnoff, Vice President of Friends of the United Nations said What a wonderful way to celebrate Universal Childrens Day. Youth for Human Rights is at the forefront of the campaign to educate young people about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The distribution of the Youth for Human Rights booklet to thousands of young people in over 15 languages is a remarkable accomplishment. Youth for Human Rights activities have made a significant contribution to the United Nations Decade for human rights education. Whether it is in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine or the United States the rights of Children continue to be violated. As L. Ron Hubbard said 'Human rights must not only be a dream, they must become a reality."

Contact:
Mr. Faisal Saeed
Telephone 02 231 1596

Photos as well as copies of the 'United' video available on request

Related website:
http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/children_day/
http://www.youthforhumanrights.org/

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