In conjunction with International Children's Day on Friday 20 November 2015, SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde and the Utopia Group of cinemas will be holding an event for high school students to help educate them on the many injustices children around the world face on a daily basis.
International Children's Day is observed by countries across the globe as a day of activity devoted to promoting the fundamental rights and welfare of youth. Celebrated on 20 November, the date marks the day on which the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959, and the following Convention on the Rights of the child thirty years later in 1989.
"The one thing all children have in common is their rights," stated UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. "Every child has the right to survive and thrive, to be educated, to be free from violence and abuse, to participate and to be heard."
To this end, SOS Villages and Utopia will be offering two school sessions with the 2013 French film by Pascal Plisson 'Sur le chemin de l'école' ('On the Way to School') at 09:00 and the 2015 movie 'He Named Me Malala' by Davis Guggenheim, which will be broadcast in the original English with French subtitles.
Both films tackle the issues of right to education and after each screening, a small roundtable will be held in French and German as an opportunity for high school students to ask questions on the rights of the child in this respect. Speakers present will be:
- Yves Almeida Fonseca: A former child of SOS Villages d'Enfants in Dakar, Master 2 in project management and intern at EY Luxembourg
- Jeanne Mukaruhogo: Spokesperson for SOS projects in Africa
- René Schlechter: president of the Ombuds-Committee for Children's Rights
Eva-Maria Schmid, Education Development Officer at SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde, will moderate. The event is reserved for school students and is not open to the general public.
Photo by SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde
