PH Launches ‘Karapat-Dapat’ Children’s Book in UN Geneva

GENEVA 04 July 2018 – The Philippines launched an exhibit on Filipino children’s book “Karapat-Dapat: Child Know Your Rights” at the United Nations in Geneva to highlight efforts to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which will mark its 30th anniversary in 2019.

At the launch of the exhibit on 20 June 2018 at Palais Des Nations, Permanent Representative to the UN Evan P. Garcia emphasized that educating children and adults about child rights is “a fundamental first step in implementing the Convention,” and is especially important at a time when the children of the world faces challenges of exploitation and abuse, and in contexts of migration and refugee movements.

UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Chairperson Renate Winter of Austria, speaking about the book said that “to assist children in knowing their rights is the most important thing one can imagine, and the book, makes it possible for children to be informed from their earliest age such that the rights are in their conscience and in their thinking.”

Ambassador Garcia said that the book attests to the power and responsibility of writers and artists to créate media products that illuminate the humanity of young people, by appreciating their humanity through an appreciation of their rights.

“Karapat-Dapat” is a bilingual book in English and Filipino with interactive exercises produced by Filipino non-profit organization The Center for Art, New Ventures and Sustainable Development (CANVAS), and illustrated by Filipino artista group Illustrador ng Kabataang (Ang INK). It is inspired by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and was launched in Manila in May 2018.

The flagship program of CANVAS to promote children literacy is the “One Million Books For One Million Children,” which distributes free children’s books to hospitals, schools, and communities in the Philippines.

The exhibit ran from 18 to 29 June 2018 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, as a side event of the 38th Session of the Human Rights Council, and was co-organized by the Philippine Mission in Geneva together with UNICEF, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and the UN Cultural Committee. END

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Karapat Dapat is available via Looking for Juan, where every purchase will be matched by 2 book donations in support for CANVAS' One Million Books for One Million Filipino Children Campaign.