The World Photography Organization and UNICEF are launching a global initiative to raise awareness of children’s rights and mark the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Together, they are calling on people around the world to pledge one photo, accompanied by a written pledge, portraying one of the five fundamental children’s rights:- The right to survival
- to education
- to health
- to protection from harm, abuse and exploitation
- and to be heard

World renowned photographers Reza, Mary Ellen Mark, Bruce Davidson, Carol Allen Storey and Jonathan Torgovnik have already made photo-pledges along with celebrity UNICEF Ambassadors including David Beckham, Jemima Khan and Ewan McGregor who have pledged powerful images personally chosen from field-trips they have taken as part of their role. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20th November 1989 and established a set of fundamental rights for all children and young people that protect them against violence, discrimination and harm. Today, the CRC has been signed by almost every single country, making it the most widely ratified human rights agreement in the world.

Great progress has been made in the past 20 years, including improvements to under-five child mortality and falling numbers of children working in hazardous labour. However, major challenges remain. Between 500 million and 1.5 billion children experience violence annually; 150 million children aged between five and 14 are engaged in child labour and more than 1 million children are detained through justice systems around the world at any one time.

Everyone has a shared responsibility to uphold the values and promises made to children in the CRC.  Amateur and professional photographers can show their support by making photo-pledges via http://www.worldphotographyawards.org/ where they will receive details of how to enter. All photo-pledges will form a special online exhibition showcased on the World Photography Awards website. Selected images will also be exhibited alongside the UNICEF Ambassadors’ images and those taken by World Photography Academy Members at the annual Sony World Photography Awards Festival in Cannes, April 2010. These images will then go on a global tour with the awards’ touring exhibition. Everyone who submits a photo will receive emails suggesting actions they can take to change the policies and practices that deny children their rights.

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