News
20.02.2009
Mirim-Brasil celebrates 18th Anniversary
2008 was a special year for Mirim-Brasil (The Child and Youth Reinvindication Movement). It was the year that Mirim-Brasil reached “adulthood.” It has been 18 years of action in defense and promotion of children and youth rights.
In 2008, Mirim also celebrated 18 years of the Brazilian Child and Adolescent Law. Unfortunately, until nowadays, many Brazilian children and youngsters do not know the law which places the child and youth populations as a central concern for society, and guides the creation of public policies in all governmental spheres.
In order to raise awareness about children and youth rights, the organization developed the project “ECA (Brazilian Child and Adolescent Law): Absolute Priority!”. During the last year, about 240 children and youngsters, all of them students of public schools in Recife, Brazil, attended workshops on children’s rights, access to justice, education, information, culture, sports and leisure.
The 18th anniversary celebrations included a seminar: “Effectiveness of children’s rights around the globe” which took place in Recife, in past December. About 50 people from Mirim-Brasil as well as Latin American and European organizations attended the event to discuss international solidarity as a tool to improve children and youth lives, making their rights more effective. South-south cooperation and IFM-SEI internal democracy were other issues discussed.
“The international action requires that people respect and treat each other with equality, regardless of cultural differences. We strongly believe that this is necessary in order to make social change happen”, says one of IFM-SEI (International Falcon Movement - Socialist Educational International) Vice-Presidents in Latin America, Anna Maria Forsberg de Paula (Brazil).
The seminar also had the participation of IFM-SEI Vice-Presidents in Latin America, Anna Maria Forsberg de Paula and Marcela Careño (Chile), and the Secretary General of IFM-SEI, Tamsin Pearce. After the event, the international delegations visited some neighborhoods in Greater Recife where Mirim-Brasil has been developing projects with the cooperation of local entities.
Source: Communication Coordination - Mirim-Brasil
