Children's
Art Exhibition on Human Rights
Speaking Notes for David Kilgour
Secretary of State (Latin America and Africa)
at the Launch of the Children's Art Exhibition
on Human Rights
National Arts Centre, Ottawa
Friday, October 2, 1998
Good morning
ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls:
It gives
me great pleasure to welcome the winners
of the National Arts Centre contest as Canada's
newest ambassadors to Latin America and
the Caribbean.
That is exactly
what you are. By entering this contest,
and by being part of this tour through the
countries of Latin America and the Caribbean,
you are sharing with other children what
the Universal Declaration of Human rights
means to you. More importantly, you are
sending a message to the world that human
rights are important to all children and
all children need to be made aware of their
rights.
Il s’agit
d’une année importante pour
le Canada et le monde. Comme vous le savez,
elle marque le 50e anniversaire de la Déclaration
universelle des droits de l’homme des
Nations unies. En vertu de cette déclaration,
les droits de toutes les personnes sont
protégés par la loi, quels
que soient leur race, la couleur de leur
peau, leur sexe, leur langue ou leur religion.
But there
is also another important United Nations
agreement. In 1989, the General Assembly
of the United Nations adopted a special
human rights convention for children: The
Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It says that
every child has a right to good food, shelter,
education and play, the right to say what
they think and to be listened to, and the
right to protection from abuse.
More than
180 countries have signed this convention
on the rights of children. But children
around the world still die from diseases
that can easily be treated or immunized
against, still have to work long hours instead
of going to school or playing, still are
recruited into armies as soldiers, still
are discriminated against because of their
gender, race or ethnic background, still
are neglected, abused, and exposed to violence
and harmful drugs.
The pictures
you have drawn will make a difference. By
showing these pictures you are telling others
that discrimination is wrong, that having
to go to work instead of to school is wrong,
and that children who are forced to serve
in armies is wrong.
Dans tous
les pays où vos oeuvres seront exposées,
les enfants seront invités à
les voir, et à dessiner une oeuvre
qui montre au reste du monde pourquoi chacun
d’entre nous doit avoir le droit de
s’exprimer librement.
These drawings
by other children in Latin America and the
Caribbean will then join your drawings as
part of the tour. When all of the pictures
will come back to Canada -- probably around
the middle of the year 2000, you will be
invited to come back and see your work again,
as well as the drawings of children from
all over Latin America and the Caribbean.
We are all
very proud of the work that you have done,
and you make Canada proud when your work
is displayed in other countries. Congratulations.
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