12 december 2004

Children and the Media: International Children's Day of Broadcasting .

International Children's Day of Broadcasting (ICDB), celebrated on the second Sunday of every December, is a day when broadcasters around the world "Tune into Kids". They air quality programming for and about children. In addiction, most of all allow children to be part of the programming process, to talk about their hopes and dreams and share information with their peers.

The Day is a joint initiative of UNICEF and the International Council of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Broadcasters can play their part by: helping children become aware of what's
happening in their neighbourhoods; reporting on ways to safeguard children; developing programmes on child protection and child exploitation; celebrating the positive action taken by children, families and communities.

In addition, UNICEF has just released the "Top 10 Cartoons for Children's Rights", as selected by polling broadcasters and communicators, to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

This UNICEF broadcast initiative aims to inform people around the world about children's rights. Each PSA illustrates a right described in the global rights treaty. All the spots are non-verbal, in order to get the rights message across to everyone, regardless of language. The spots have aired on more than 2,000 television stations globally.

For more information, contact:

Tanya Turkovich
UNICEF Broadcast Unit
3 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA
Tel: + 1 212 326 7000
Email: tturkovich@unicef.org
Website: http://www.unicef.org

Links: http://www.unicef.org/videoaudio/video_icdb.html

Sion (Switzerland), Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (IUKB), 19-23 November 2004

Child trafficking: a fatality? From field reality to better practices.

This seminar aims to link theory and practice in the field of child trafficking. It gives an opportunity for different actors (including NGOs, jurists, state authorities, field workers etc.) to come together and exchange experiences, working towards increasing international action.

The seminar is organised by the Institut International des Droits de l'Enfants (IDE) in partnership with Fondation Terre des Hommes (www.tdh.ch), which launched the international campaign “Stop Child Trafficking” in October 2001.

The event will be organised in three parts:

• a first, introductive part focused on the issue's definition and geographical presentation of the phenomenon. A legal and institutional framework will be outlined.
• a second part, focused on themes such as trafficking and migrations, unaccompanied children in the EU, “exportation” of young girls in dangerous countries, organ trafficking, etc.
• the last part will try to propose solutions for the addressed questions, through dialogue between participants and the organisations of workshops aimed to compare theory and practice.

Agenda: http://ww.childsrights.org/site_fr/index.php?content=seminaires/sem-2004-10.php

Link: http://www.childsrights.org

Geneva ( Switzerland), 19 November 2004

This event is organised by the Women's World Summit Foundation (WWSF). It was first launched in 2000, to be commemorated every 19 November in synergy with the anniversary of the International Day for the Rights of the Child (20 November).
The event has as its objective to be a rallying point around the issue of child abuse and the need for urgent and effective prevention programs.

Child abuse (especially sexual abuse), in fact, is a universal and alarming problem and increased attention and efficient protection skills and prevention measures are necessary at family, local, national and international level. After a long tradition of silence, sexual child abuse is being more and more denounced and is becoming a public and political topic.
To make the Day a global call for action, WWSF launched in 2001 an international NGO coalition that marks the World Day with appropriate events and activities to focus on and increase prevention education.
The main purpose of the NGO Coalition is to contribute to the creation of a culture of prevention of child abuse and form a global partnership network to raise awareness, mobilise public opinion and action, and disseminate prevention programs.

For more information contact
Laure Domeniconi
Program Co-ordinator, Children's section
Women's World Summit Foundation, WWSF
P.O. Box 2001, 1211 Geneva 1, Switzerland
Tel: + 41 22 738.66.19; Fax: + 41 22 738.82.48
Email: dignity@vtxnet.ch

Link: http://www.woman.ch/children/1-introduction.asp#whycoalition

Osnabrück (Germany), 2-4 November 2004

Stop Child Trafficking, conference organised by Terre des Hommes Germany and City of Osnabrück.

The conference rounds off the activities of the international Terre des Hommes campaign against Child Trafficking. On the basis of the experience gained till date, representatives from politics, authorities, institutions, media and project work will discuss the present status of the problem, and will collectively draft restrictive measures to further curtail commercial exploitation of children. Workshops, lectures and discussions that are also open to the public at large will highlight the background and methods used in child trafficking. Legal and political issues in the fight against this crime, which knows no geographical boundary; are also on the agenda of the conference. The goal is an action-oriented dialogue between national and international specialists. This will also serve as a forum for knowledge exchange and further development in the existing activities. The conference should close with a common final document that includes recommendation to make the fight against child trafficking more effective. Ahead of this conference, a cultural program to be organized in co-operation with the city of Osnabrück will aim to publicize the theme of child trafficking to a wider audience using different instruments.

Agenda: http://www.stopchildtrafficking.org/site/Conferences.180.0.html

Link: http://www.stopchildtrafficking.org

Sion (Switzerland), Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (IUKB), 28-30 October 2004

La médiation familiale in Europe: état des lieux et perspectives.

Today family mediation is diffused in the majority of countries and it is recognised as being an alternative method to solve private conflicts. While it emerged as an informal and empirical practice, it has now acquired a formal recognition in various countries.

This symposium aims:

• to favour exchanges and reflections between practitioners, researchers and all professional actors implied in the management of inter-familiar conflicts at the European and international level
• to approach a comparative analysis of the different models
• to show ongoing researches and courses on the effects of mediation on family dynamics, the institutionalisation process, the profiles of professional actors etc…
• to put forward questions about the place and function of family mediation in policies

Presentations and exchanges during the event will be organised as plenary sessions, debates, workshops or round tables.

Agenda:http://www.iukb.ch/english/CFCE/simp04_fr.pdf

Link: http://www.iukb.ch

Salamanca (Spain), 27-29 October 2004

Juvenile Justice and the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency in a Globalised World - International Conference.

This international Conference is a preparatory one in view of The Second World-wide Congress on The Rights of Childhood and Adolescence , which will be held in Peru in November 2005. It is organised by the International Juvenile Justice Observatory (IJJO). The IJJO is a virtual service, conceived as a comprehensive interdisciplinary system for informing, communicating, debating, analysing and making proposals for the different areas that affect the development of Juvenile Justice all over the world.

Agenda:http://www.oijj.org/plantilla.php?pag=090000&idioma=en

Link: http://www.oijj.org

Brussels, 26 October 2004

In November 2000, the European Commission tabled a policy communication on crime prevention which presented some orientations and proposals for further action. The EU Forum on Organised Crime Prevention was foreseen in the above-mentioned Commission Communication on crime prevention. The Forum aims to bring together a wide range of interested stakeholders, such as national law-enforcement authorities, business and professional groups, academic researchers, non-governmental organisations and civil society as a whole to discuss new approaches in preventing organised crime, in an illustration of partnership at European level.

The October Workshop will concentrate on the discussion of the Draft report of the Experts Group on Trafficking in Human Beings. This consultative group was set up by a Commission Decision of 25 March 2003 (OJ L79, 26.3.2003, p.25). Its mandate is to assist and support the Commission in the elaboration of further concrete proposals at European level, in particular a communication on trafficking in human being that will probably be issued in 2005.

Agenda: http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/fsj/crime/forum/docs/26102004_agenda_en.pdf

Link: http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/fsj/crime/forum/fsj_crime_forum_en.htm

London (United Kingdom) Child in the City Conference, 20 to 22 October 2004

The purpose of this international conference is to bring together
social scientists, policy makers, planners and practitioners to share current thinking
and disseminate good practice on one of the most pressing challenges facing urban
governments: integrating the play and recreational needs of children within the planning,
design and governance of the modern city.

The conference is organised by The Child in the City Foundation and the National Children's Bureau . It will have a broad focus exploring the complex and multifaceted dimensions
and interrelationships of children's lives, play and the city. It will look at children's
social and environmental needs as young citizens and how they can be integrated more
effectively into community and local governance practices.

The conference will seek to identify guiding principles and practice for the realisation
of child friendly cities. One dimension may include issues concerning environmental
and social safety such as environmental hazards, street violence, traffic dangers,
community safety and crime. Another is the way children's participation contributes to
the quality of social life and urban planning.

Agenda: http://www.europoint-bv.com/child2004

Link: http://europoint-bv.com

Brussels (Belgium), 29 September 2004

Combating Child Poverty in Europe - Making it a Reality.
To explore the current issues of combating child poverty across Europe & to consider the content and impact of the National Action Plans on Social Inclusion.

The conference is organised by the not for profit organization EUROCHILD - Promoting the welfare and rights of children and young people.
The Conference aims at sending strong messages to countries across Europe about the importance of having a specific focus on children and young people when developing and implementing National Action Plans on Social Inclusion.  The conference will open with plenary presentations by leading experts in the field
of combating poverty and social exclusion.

The aims of the conference are:

• to explore the issues of combating child poverty at both national and European levels;
• to examine how the National Action Plans can be developed to ensure that there is sufficient focus on children and young people and to include their views
• to highlight some of the lessons that can be drawn from the success of work in countries across Europe

Agenda: Brussels_261004.pdf

Link: http://www.eurochild.org

Amsterdam (Netherlands), 30 September to 02 October 2004

Gender Borders – International Conference on Women and Immigration Law in Europe.

Organised by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs, the purpose of this conference is to analyse and evaluate immigration law in Europe from a gender perspective, keeping in mind the idea that women are involved in immigration in specific ways and that the rules regulating immigration have specific implications for them.

The conference aims to enhance the status of migrant women by analysing which aspects of immigration law are currently of importance for women on the national level, what can they expect from the ongoing
European harmonisation, what advances have women already made and what strategies can they arrange to ensure their interests will be addressed more effectively at both the national and the European levels.

Agenda: http://www.rechten.vu.nl/urlsearchresults.asp?itemnumber=2679

Link: http://www.rechten.vu.nl/urlsearchresults.asp?itemnumber=2679

Barcelona (Spain), 2 – 5 September 2004

Human Movements and Immigration (HMI) – World Congress Human Movements and Immigration.

The Human Movements and Immigration (HMI) World Congress is an opportunity to better understand the new reality with its own complexity and diversity by seeking to offer new and realistic ideas for future debates and the actions of policy makers.
The World Congress is conceived as a moment of communication, expression and reflection on ideas and experiences with a distinctly intercultural, transversal and plural approach and with a wide range of participants from the academic world, international organizations, government, local and regional authorities, NGOs, the public and private sectors and mass media from all over the world.

Agenda: http://www.mhicongress.org/programa.pdf

Link: http://www.mhicongress.org

Strasbourg (France), 24 June 2004

The situation of separated minors in Europe

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has invited the Commissioner for Human Rights “to conduct an investigation on the situation of separated children in Council of Europe member states”, on the base of the Recommendation 1596(2003) concerning the situation of young migrants in Europe.

With the aim of fulfilling the Assembly's request, the Commissioner has decided to organise a seminar in order to discuss two essential topics regarding the situation of children: the status of unaccompanied minors in the European asylum policies and the fight against child trafficking. Moreover, the seminar will gather representatives of NGOs, of International Organisations, experts of the Council of Europe and members of the Parliamentary Assembly, with the aim to collect diverse experiences in order to give a picture as accurate as possible of the unaccompanied minors' situation.


Agenda: Strasbourg_24June2004_programme.pdf

Link: http://www.coe.int/T/E/Commissioner_H.R/Communication_Unit/

Geneva (Switzerland), 9 – 11 June 2004

International Dialogue on Migration – Seminar on Health and Migration International Conference Center Geneva (CICG) Switzerland.

The Seminar organised and hold by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and co-sponsored by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will bring together health and migration officials and practitioners for an exchange of views on health and migration policy concerns, with a particular focus on the public health implications of increasingly mobile populations. The overall goals of the Seminar are to build capacity and to enhance understanding of the complex relationship between health and population mobility by providing a forum where policy makers,practitioners and other stakeholders from governments, intergovernmental agencies and nongovernmental organisations will have the opportunity to exchange and discuss information, perspectives and experiences.

Agenda: http://www.iom.int//DOCUMENTS/OFFICIALTXT/EN/agenda_en.pdf

Link: http://www.iom.int/en/know/idm/smh_200406.shtml

Sarajevo ( Bosnia and Herzegovina) ,13 – 15 May 2004

Second Intergovernmental Conference on Making Europe and Central Asia Fit for Children,
(co-hosted by the Governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Germany).

The Conference is a follow up to the First Intergovernmental Conference on Children in Europe and Central Asia, held in Berlin in 2001 and to the United Nations General Assembly's Special Session on Children, held in New York in 2002. The overall objective of the Conference is to reaffirm political commitment at national level to promote the respect and protection of children's rights through the integration of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and of A World Fit for Children into multi-sectoral policy and legislative frameworks.

In particular it aims to share and discuss innovative approaches to critical issues affecting children's rights, such as increasing budgetary allocation and investing in children, protection of children moving across borders, ending violence against children, tackling social exclusion in education and making cities suitable for children.

Agenda:http://www.welfare.gov.it/NR/rdonlyres/e5x57adgmmd776tsnahfbpcg6ofiurvedf6hiyx4c3e42
xqwvtazp42jawokvyt6hmu5dl72np24ly4jdaq2ble4umd/ProgramSarajevo.doc

Link: http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/de/aussenpolitik/menschenrechte/mr_inhalte_ziele/
sgv_programme_html

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