The Czech Embassy in Manila, along with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund Philippines, organized a working breakfast to discuss children’s rights and education in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in observance of the United Nations International Human Rights Day.
Czech Ambassador to the Philippines Jana Šedivá said their tradition of conducting a working breakfast with human rights activists on UN Human Rights Day is an opportunity to provide a platform that allows collective discussion and collaborative actions, especially on children’s rights.
“The Embassy recognizes the importance of highlighting this issue especially that children are one of the vulnerable actors affected by the pandemic,” Šedivá said in a statement Wednesday.
The event gathered local non-government organizations working specifically for children’s rights to discuss the situation of education in the Philippines, especially under the COVID-19 pandemic. The attendees presented and discussed the six-point agenda of the UNICEF in addressing the challenges on children’s rights exacerbated further by the pandemic.
Held last Dec. 11, the working breakfast was attended by UNICEF Philippines Deputy Representative Behzad Noubary and Teresita Felipe, an education specialist who represented the local NGOs.
“The COVID-19 crisis is a child right’s crisis. Children are affected by the pandemic in various ways which could impede the full realization of their rights. We welcome the partnership with the Czech Embassy to highlight this issue and support children’s recovery,” Noubary said in his remarks.
The breakfast also provided an avenue to discuss vital issues on the Philippine education crisis involving the digital divide, accessibility, and accountability where the need to challenge disinformation and disseminate information on the positive and negative impact of re-opening face-to-face classes was emphasized.
The event commemorates the 1988 working breakfast held by the French Embassy in Prague that gathered human rights defenders during the communist regime, which has then become a Czech tradition.
The breakfast is likewise held under the umbrella of the UN Human Rights Day celebrated by the delegation of the European Union and its member states in the Philippines.