Ground breaking audio-visual presentation of world’s foremost human rights charter launched in Geneva

GENEVA - Presented today at the International Conference Center of Geneva was the European premiere of a unique new human rights education tool - 30 short films which are part of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights awareness campaign implemented on five continents, produced by Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) and the Human Rights Office of the Church of Scientology International.

The premiere was organized by Youth for Human Rights International and Peace and Cooperation [ECOSOC Special Consultative Status since 1999] with the support of European Human Rights Office, Church of Scientology International and the European Foundation for Human Rights and Tolerance.

Translated in 17 languages, these short films are part of a global effort to bring a new age of understanding and implementation of human rights standards around the world. “The PSAs [Public Service Announcements] are something entirely new,” said Taron Lexton, the director of this human rights production. “They bring to life the very human rights you actually have right now.”

Today’s event comes a few days after an historic Day of General Discussion, organized by the UN Child’s Rights Committee where 30 young human rights advocates from all over the world officially met with members of the UN body to discuss their right to be heard, as laid out in article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

One of the key recommendations of that day was the need for a significant increase in the implementation of human rights education. “These new 30 PSAs are timely and effective,” said Angelo Kreuzberger, YHRI delegate who was selected to attend the Discussion Day at the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, “the demand for them by attendees of the conference was amazing. Right after I showed them people were requesting copies so they could use them in their campaign.”

The need for broad-scale human rights education could not be more urgent. Across the globe today, an estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year as a commodity for exploitative labor or sex slavery, over 300,000 child soldiers – some as young as 8 – are exploited in armed conflicts at any given time, and 115 million primary school-aged youth are out of school.

Some 450 actors and actresses appear in the short films. The time and effort involved in shoots was equivalent to what it takes to shoot a full, feature length film; five months of post production followed and, in the end, the 30 short films were produced – start of scripting to finish – in seven months.