Join UNICEF Ambassadors and World Renowned Photographers to Make a Photo-Pledge for Children’s Rights
– Sony World Photography Awards and UNICEF Mark the 20th Anniversary of
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
The World Photography Organisation and UNICEF are launching a global
initiative to raise awareness of children’s rights and mark the 20th
anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
(UNCRC) on
Together, the World Photography Organisation and UNICEF, supported by
Sony, are calling on people around the world to pledge one photo, accompanied
by a written pledge, portraying one of the five fundamental children’s rights:
- The right to survival;
- to education;
- to health;
- to protection from harm, abuse and exploitation;
- and to be heard
World renowned photographers Reza,
Allen Storey
with celebrity UNICEF Ambassadors including
field-trips they have taken as part of their role.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted by the UN
General Assembly on
rights for all children and young people that protect them against violence,
discrimination and harm. Today, the CRC has been signed by almost every
single country, making it the most widely ratified human rights agreement in
the world.
Great progress has been made in the past 20 years, including improvements
to under-five child mortality and falling numbers of children working in
hazardous labour. However, major challenges remain. Between 500 million and
1.5 billion children experience violence annually; 150 million children aged
between five and 14 are engaged in child labour and more than 1 million
children are detained through justice systems around the world at any one
time.
The World Photography Organisation is privileged to work with UNICEF on this
initiative which aims to use the powerful medium of photography to
commemorate the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child (UNCRC). We consider it our obligation to use the
powerful tool of photography to communicate important global issues each year
and are fortunate to be joined in this effort by so many amazing supporters “.
that the Convention of the Rights of the Child has been chosen by the World
Photography Awards this year as the focus of its annual campaign. Inviting
young people from around the world to participate offers an opportunity for
children’s visual expressions to be seen internationally. Additionally there
is a possibility of winning participation in a photography workshop with
their peers in a developing country.”
Everyone has a shared responsibility to uphold the values and promises
made to children in the CRC. Amateur and professional photographers can show
their support by making photo-pledges via
http://www.worldphotographyawards.org where they will receive details of how
to enter. All photo-pledges will form a special online exhibition showcased
on the World Photography Awards website. Selected images will also be
exhibited alongside the UNICEF Ambassadors’ images and those taken by World
Photography Academy Members at the annual Sony World Photography Awards
Festival in
with the awards’ touring exhibition. Everyone who submits a photo will
receive emails suggesting actions they can take to change the policies and
practices that deny children their rights.
Notes to Editors
Youth Category
Additionally, in a special Youth Category judged by the supporting World
Photography Academy Members, six photo-pledge winners, aged 12-18 years, will
receive a day of mentoring with a professional photographer in
2010
six young photographers will travel on a once-in-a-lifetime EYE SEE
photographic workshop to
children all over the world training so they may learn photographic skills.
EYE SEE is supported by Sony Corporation and the Japan Committee for UNICEF
and the goal of its workshop in
techniques and provide them with a fun, compelling tool with which to capture
the images of their lives.
About EYE SEE
EYE SEE is a digital photography project that encourages young people in
developing countries to take photographs of social issues in their day-to-day
lives. The aim of the project is to provide an exciting opportunity for the
youth to tell their stories and express their world through images captured
with photography; to inspire the youth to learn about the social issues that
they will be the key to solving them in the future; and help people around
the world better understand the issues faced by these youth and their
communities. EYE SEE is supported by Sony Corporation and the Japan Committee
for UNICEF.
Press access to photo and written pledges
Written pledges and accompanying photographs from World Photography
Academy Members Bruce Davidson,
Deeley,
use.
All images and written pledges are embargoed until 00.01 (GMT), Friday
November 2009
please go to: http://www.worldphotographyawards.org/press.aspx Scroll to the
bottom of the page to SWPA image downloads and enter password: wpapress
Written and photographic pledges include:
children’s rights. It shows a woman in a feeding centre I visited in
Leone
she just looks so worried. The child was malnourished and the woman had a cup
of special, fortified milk to help the child regain its strength. The
UNICEF-supported centre is the only one in the northern part of
which means thousands of children still can’t get the health care they need.
Every child has the right to be healthy. We can’t turn a blind eye to the
tens of thousands of young children who die every day in the developing
world, mostly from causes that are preventable .I pledge my make support to
fulfil children’s rights. Please do the same if you can. Thank you.”
“I first met
was homeless. He lived in shelters and sometimes he lived with his entire
family (and their pit bull) in a car. He was extremely stressed and he cried
a lot.
“This photograph of Jesse was taken in 1994 on the roadside in
California
sisters Chrissy, Summer & Ashley, his mother Linda, and his step-father Dean
were again homeless. They were squatting in a deserted ranch in a canyon.
Eventually, his abusive step-father left and his mother remarried and the
family found a home. But, Jesse never recovered from the horrible insecurity
and stress of his childhood.
“As he grew, he spent many years drifting around and although he stayed
out of trouble with the police, he was just surviving and always on the edge.
One night, while defending his sister from her ex-boyfriend, Jesse somehow
got a hold of a gun and shot and killed the ex-boyfriend. He plead guilty and
is now serving a 9-year-sentence. When I contacted him last Christmas to see
if I could send him anything, he said all he wanted was a photograph”.
rights. It tells a story. These children are orphaned and vulnerable children
in a community based childcare centre in
having an afternoon nap in a centre that’s been set up to provide them with a
meal, toys and childcare and a time and place to be children. It looks basic.
It is. But the centre is helping give these children their rights – care,
support, education and more. I pledge my absolute support for children’s
rights. I hope you’ll do the same”.
Reza
Reza pledged: “Every child has the right to a childhood” and quoted the
following poem:
I said what about my eyes?
Keep them on the road.
I said what about my passion?
Keep it burning.
I said what about my heart?
Tell me what you hold inside it.
I said pain and sorrow.
He said. Stay with it.
Rumi (1207-1273)
Media enquiries
Rachel Duffield / Jill Cotton
Colman Getty on behalf of the World Photography Organisation
Tel: +44-(0)20-7631-2666
Email: rachel@colmangetty.co.uk / jill@colmangetty.co.uk
SOURCE World Photography Organisation