The congress is an opportunity for 15-20 year olds, who have a strong interest in world issues and are passionate about the rights of children globally, to come together and learn how to transform this passion into action.
The theme of this year’s congress is ‘Living in harmony with our environment and each other’ and ties into the introduction of the new United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), due to be launched in September. These new goals will set the development agenda for the next fifteen years and have implications globally as well as for New Zealand.
During the weekend, attendees will also participate in a Child Rights Youth Consultation that will contribute to a shadow report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Congress participants will also have a chance to take part in a New Zealand first: using virtual reality technology to experience what life is like for Syrian refugee children. This powerful, immersive and deeply-moving experience is invoked through a groundbreaking new film shot for the United Nations by filmmaker Chris Milk.
The innovative technology will take congress attendees on a journey with a young girl, a Syrian refugee, into the refugee camp in which she lives in Jordan. She’s tells you of her family and the conditions for them inside the camp. Users sit beside her in her makeshift school classroom and watch children tramp through the muddy streets in the encampment. The film makes you feel as if you can smell the bread being baked in front of you at the camp’s bakery.
Jacqui Southey, Child Rights Education Advisor at UNICEF NZ, said, “2015 is an exciting year to be taking part in the UNICEF NZ Youth Congress as we usher in the new SDGs. Examining the issues surrounding children and youth in this context will provide the participants with a strong foundation and hopefully a curiosity and impetus to take this further.
“Guiding and having ownership over developing the Youth Consultation is also an important milestone as it is children themselves advocating on behalf of other children. The information and opinions gathered from the young Kiwis will be added to the Youth Consultation that will meaningfully contribute to the UN’s monitoring process on children’s rights.
“We’re preparing for an action packed weekend and our hope is that the ‘advocates in training’ will leave the congress equipped with the tools, skills and confidence they need to bring the issues they care most about to the fore.”
