The 99th showing of the Disability Film Festival, We Care, was held in Jaipur at the Step-by-Step School, co-organized by the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) New Delhi and the Prabha Khaitan Foundation, in collaboration with the NGO Brotherhood. We Care is a travelling festival of films on disability rights issues.
 
Margaret Alva, Governor of Rajasthan, graciously inaugurated the Festival. She said that this issue of integrating persons with disabilities into mainstream society was very close to her heart because she herself was patron of many disability initiatives. She spoke of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and said that India was a signatory and had ratified it, but better enforcement and implementation was necessary. “The We Care Film Festival is an important vehicle that is leading to a change in mindset and of hearts,” she said, adding it was a wonderful platform which needed to be taken to an even higher level.
 
The films had the undivided attention of 400 students, testifying to its significance as an awareness raising exercise. “People with disabilities are invisible because we keep them that way”, said UNIC Director Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman. “They are kept away from public places, either because we consider them an unnecessary burden or we do not know how to address their needs, or even if we do, we just do not have the facilities and infrastructure in place”, she noted. “And what initiatives like We Care do is to bring these people, these issues, out in the open, starkly, yet creatively”.
 
Ms. Mehra-Kerpelman thanked Step-By-Step School Principal Jayshree Periwal and her team for hosting the event and the students for putting their creativity to work by preparing paintings and disability issues. Differently-abled students from two organizations, Disha and Umang, also presented dance and music performances.
 
Sandeep Bhutoria of the Prabha Khaitan Foundation also pledged his support to future activities with UNIC on these issues. Festival director Satish Kapoor gave a passionate presentation of the results being achieved through these showings and reaffirmed his personal commitment to the cause.
 
The We Care festival – of which UNIC is a founding partner – reached another milestone soon after, with the 100th showing being organized in New Delhi in collaboration with the city’s municipal authorities. Nearly 800 students from Delhi’s Municipal Corporation schools viewed the films and cheered the spirit behind the films. Organized on 25 April, the screening was attended by Archana Arora, Chairperson of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), and UNIC National Information Officer Rajiv Chandran, among others.
 
The next presentation of films – the awards ceremony at the conclusion of the 10th edition and the launch of the 11th edition – took place on 8 May at the state-of-the-art Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC), New Delhi. It was hosted by ISIC founder and chairperson Maj. Gen. H.P.S. Ahluwalia. This former soldier has been a role model and inspiration for the We Care festival. A mountaineer, Maj. Gen. Ahluwalia climbed Mt. Everest on 29 May 1965 with his friends Rawat, Phu Dorji and Sir Edmund Hillary. Four months later in the 1965 India-Pakistan war, he was shot in the spine, as a result of which he is now confined to a wheelchair.
 
Also showing their support for the initiative were Stuti Kacker, Secretary in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Department of Disability Affairs; A.K. Lal, Joint Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities from the same Ministry; and Poonam Natarajan from the National Trust, all of whom pledged their support to take the festival forward.
 
“As we approach the deadline for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in 2015, it is clear that the Goal of reducing poverty and hunger cannot be achieved without the participation of persons with disabilities,” said UNIC Director Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman. “This film festival is an unprecedented effort to bring the rights of persons with disabilities to the forefront”, she added.

The UN Office in Tashkent, in conjunction with national Non-Governmental Agencies (NGOs) and the UN Country Team in Uzbekistan, organized the beginning of an international campaign ‘From peace in the home to world peace’.

From 25 November to 10 December, under UN auspices, the campaign includes awareness-raising activities and events to promote and protect women in Uzbekistan and around the world. Encompassed during this period are four International Days: the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November), World AIDS Day (1 December), Persons with Disabilities (3 December) and Human Rights Day (10 December).

The opening ceremony was attended by campaign organizers, participants and media representatives. Acting UN Resident Coordinator Karl Kulessa welcomed everyone with a speech highlighting the importance of the campaign, while the Director of NANNOs Dilshod Atabayev stated that there are currently more than 6,000 NGOs operating in Uzbekistan, many of which work to enhance both the economic independence and social support of women. 

Gender equality globally remains a UN priority and one of the eight Millennium Development Goals. As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said “There is one universal truth, applicable to all countries, cultures and communities: violence against women is never acceptable, never excusable, never tolerable.”

To amplify the campaign’s impact, a three-day peer-training course on enhancing and protecting women’ rights was conducted from 12 November to 10 December. This year’s activities include drawing, graffiti and photography exhibitions, cycling events, gift exchanges, fairs, workshops, entertainment programmes and intellectual games.

The organizers of the 2012 campaign include the National Association of NGOs of Uzbekistan, the ‘Women’s Council’ NGO, the Women’s Committee, the Center for the Support of Civil Initiatives, the UN Population Fund, UN Women, the UN Development Programme, the UN Information Office and the International Kurash Association (IKA).

What started off as a routine tour of the United Nations, turned out to be a heart-warming and enjoyable experience with a group of students some of who are partially or completely blind, from St Francis Catholic Academy on 10 September. The students visited the UN from Polokwane in the Limpopo province, and assembled in the UNIC Pretoria library keenly waiting to learn about the work of the United Nations.

The day’s programme was spearheaded by the UNIC librarian, Hope Kabamba, who welcomed the visitors and gave some insight on the activities of the UNIC before screening a UN video. Shortly after, the floor immediately came alive with inquisitive hands shooting into the air. An engaging discussion session ensued on national and global issues surrounding poverty, war, child soldiers, discrimination, and HIV/AIDS.  The  UNIC National Information Officer was on hand to address the youths’ numerous questions. He reminded the children that the UN has a special organization called UNICEF that works for and with children, and an international day (3 December) that has been declared by the UN for persons with disabilities. The UNIC Deputy Director was also present and enthusiastically answered questions shedding more light on the function and role of the UN.

“I cannot believe you are back again,” said Irada Akbarova with a glow in her eyes upon seeing Envera Selimovic, the UN Office (UNO) in Azerbaijan - Department of Public Information (DPI) Representative in Azerbaijan, at her door together with her team who were carrying a load of donations consisting of household furniture and kitchen supplies.

On 28 August, on its second visit, the UNO team reached out to Ms Akbarova along with a group of many lives touched during the “I was here” campaign that promotes humanitarian work and calls on people to do one good deed for someone in need.

It was four years ago when Ms Akbarova lost both her legs in a tragic train accident and became permanently disabled. Sharing her story with us, Ms Akbarova said in tears, “It is not so much being disabled that makes life really difficult for me; being lonely is what hurts me the most. I cannot express how comforting it is to have you here today,” she said. Like many people with disabilities Ms Akbarova leads an isolated life, her only company being that of her 18-year-old son Rahim Akbarov.

It is this kind of isolation and lack of access to adequate provision of basic human rights that results in low self-esteem and negative feelings in those with disabilities. Being confined to the walls of her house, Ms Akbarova represents a population of Azerbaijanis that are in a dire need of recognition of their basic human rights and self-determination and the support to prevent any vulnerability. Because she is not the only one who needs help from others, Ms Selimovic took it upon herself to call on several NGOs and UN offices to bring to light the disabled people and their plight.

To communicate needs and efforts, right after the visit, the UNO team reached out to Davud Rahimov, Head of the Union of Organizations of Disabled People in Azerbaijan, requesting to facilitate and foster Ms Akbarova’s involvement and participation in the larger community of the Union of Organizations of Disabled Persons.

Rahimov promised to contact Ms Akbarova personally and to provide her with conditions that would enable her to participate in the Union’s activities and events. “We want to contribute to making a world a bit better for Ms Akbarova and her 18-year-old son and to affect positively their daily lives,” said Ms Selimovic.