Note to Correspondents

PHOTO EXHIBIT ON CHILD SOLDIERS OPENS 20 NOVEMBER AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS

 

A photographic exhibition entitled “Children of War:  Broken Childhood” will be formally launched in the South Gallery of the Visitors Lobby on Thursday, 20 November at 6 p.m.

It is estimated that some 250,000 children are unlawfully recruited to participate in armed conflicts as soldiers, messengers, spies, porters, cooks or to provide sexual services.  Many are pressed into combat where they may be forced to the front lines or sent into minefields ahead of older troops.  Some children are also used as suicide bombers.  This is taking place every day, in many countries around the world, violating children’s rights, destroying their childhood and compromising their future.

This exhibit is a call to stop this unbearable phenomenon.  It is based on a book called Child Soldiers, which features the work of prominent war photographers and contributing writers, such as International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo; children’s rights advocate for Human Rights Watch, Jo Becker; and musician and former child soldier, Emmanuel Jal.

The photo exhibit will be opened by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy.  Statements will also be made by the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Kiyo Akasaka; the Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations, Giulio Terzi; and the exhibit’s curator and author of the book Child Soldiers, Leora Kahn of Proof: Media for Social Justice.  A number of former child soldiers and youth advocates for children affected by war will also attend the opening, including Ishmael Beah, Grace Akallo, Kon Kelei and John Onama.

The “Children of War” exhibition was organized by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict with the support of the Government of Italy and in collaboration with the United Nations Department of Public Information.

For media inquiries, please contact Laurence Gérard, Communications Officer, Office of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, tel.: 212 963 0984, e-mail: gerardl@un.org, website www.un.org/children/conflict; Guiseppe Manzo, Press and Information Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations, tel.: 646 840 5366, e-mail: giuseppe.manzo@esteri.it.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, call Jan Arnesen, tel.: 212 963 8531, e-mail: arnesen@un.org; or Liza Wichmann, tel.: 212 963 0089, e-mail: wichmann@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record