basic information

Generation Next

In 1989, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Children, which offered a new definition of childhood based on human rights. 192 countries have ratified the Convention, and it has become almost universal acceptance. In spite of this acceptance, the world is still not safe place for millions of children, and the world is far from keeping its promise to future generations.

There are 2.2 billion children in the world today, 618,227 of them under the age of five. According to the recent UNICEF The State of the World's Children 2005 report, more than one billion children worldwide – every second child – lives in poverty, in countries torn apart by armed conflicts or in communities that are ravaged by the AIDS.

With this in mind, One World has selected a collection of emotionally powerful documentaries that bring highly disturbing testimonies about the plight of millions of children worldwide.

Since 1990, the world has witnessed 59 armed conflicts. According to the UN reports, 1.6 million children were killed in these conflicts. Twenty million others have been forced to leave their homes and become refugees or internally displaced persons. Those not killed or maimed have been left with the deep psychological scars. Two films “Death in Gaza” and “The 3 Rooms of Melancholia” portray the lives of children profoundly disrupted by wars in Palestine and Chechnya.

Around 15 million children under age of 18 have been orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Eight out of ten of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa as shown in “Orphans of Nkandla” and “Pandemic: Facing AIDS.” Millions of children live in dramatically inadequate conditions in slums, are deprived of proper nutrition, shelter, water, sanitation facilities, access to basic health-care services and education. Due to the poverty and dysfunctional family relations many of these children end up on streets with no protection or care, as shown in “The Youngest” and “The Children of Leningradsky.”

Instead of attending primary school, children end up as cheapest and least protected members of the work force, facts shown in the documentaries “The Devil's Miner” and “Arif Hossein-ETV Dhaka.” At times these children are forced by circumstances into the servitude, or recruited as child-soldiers into armies and paramilitary units. As child-soldiers they are exposed to the worst kind of violence, as seen in “Liberia: An Uncivil War.” Even schools become the place of conflict, violence and harassment documented in “Raw Youth” and “Johanna! Yohanna! – From Hell to Paradise.” From the earliest age, children become victims of the abuse and sexual violence, and in a majority of cases the perpetrators are family members or someone they know very well as shown in “My Beloved Child.”

The UNICEF Childhood Under Threat – The state of the World’s Children 2005 report ends with the conclusion, “It does not have to be this way. We have an unparalleled opportunity to fulfill the rights of children. Resources – knowledge, money, technology, strategies and people – are available in abundance. The targets are clear: Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and the broad aims of ΄A World Fit for Children΄ would do much to make the world a better place for children.”

To achieve this, only political will is needed. The estimated annual cost required to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 is approximately USD 40 billion. In comparison, world military spending in 2003 was USD 956 billion.

Apart from being screened as part of the regular festival program that is open for the general public, films from this section will be also offered to secondary and high schools as a part of a morning educational program. All educational screenings will be accompanied by debates with experienced moderators and with people who have first-hand experience with the problems that are addressed by the films.

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