International arts & human rights festival takes place in Cornwall

26 August 2005: Youngsters from around Europe will this weekend take part in an international arts & human rights festival at Camelot Castle Hotel, Tintagel, giving their message, post-7th July bomb attacks, that the answer to terrorism and hatred is to increase understanding, compassion and co-operation. The opening will take place at 10am on Saturday, 27th August.

The festival is being co-organised by "Youth for Human Rights International" and the Church of Scientology. It is being co-sponsored by the Association for British Muslims, United Sikhs and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth. A packed weekend of activities will include workshops for youngsters from 15 different countries in Europe, Africa and North America, covering the subjects of promoting human rights through the arts, including in the media and to decision makers.

One of the young participants in the festival is a 17-year-old, London-born Muslim girl, who was racially attacked three weeks ago, being thrown in front of an oncoming car. Despite still recovering from six hours of surgery to repair her jaw, she is taking part in the festival as she wants others to understand that the way forward is to promote peace and co-operation despite all temptations to do otherwise.

The festival will be opened by Mr. Daniel Rogersen, Member Parliament for Cornwall; Dr Iftikhar Ayaz, Tuvalu Consulate and Peace Envoy for the United Nations; Entrepreneur Sebastian Sainsbury and Camelot Castle co-owner and newspaper publisher John Mappin.

The opening event will include a presentation about "UNITED," a cutting-edge and multiple award-winning music video about human rights, created from images from a world tour and welded together with a message emphasizing education: "Know your human rights: they may help you some day." Several celebrities made cameo appearances in the video, including Isaac Hayes, Erika Christiansen, Jenna Elfman, Catherine Bell, and Lynsey Bartilson.

"The London bombings have made this conference on human rights more urgent than ever, to highlight the necessity of having youth taught about the human rights we are all born with and how to ensure that all people's rights are protected", said Mary Shuttleworth, Director of Youth for Human Rights International.

The different countries represented at this conference include Austria, Congo, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, U.S.A, and Romania. The delegates were selected on the basis of artwork that they submitted and/or their work in the field of human rights.

The Church of Scientology adopted Youth for Human Rights International to see that all children of the world are granted fundamental rights. The Church has sponsored the printing and distribution of over one million copies of "What are Human Rights?" booklets in 21 languages, to help instil in youth the human rights values enshrined in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

For more information, see www.youthforhumanrights.org or contact Graeme Wilson on 07950 968351.