Media Advisory - Ontario's Advocate for Children and Youth and UNICEF Canada mark Human Rights Day with launch of book about Janusz Korczak--the 'father of child rights' and Holocaust hero

TORONTO, Dec. 8, 2015 /CNW/ - On Dec. 10, the Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth and UNICEF Canada are recognizing Human Rights Day at an event that will include the release of My Life as a Child of Janusz Korczak, the Father of Children's Rights – The Biography of Shlomo Nadel, by Lea Lipiner and an exhibit of photographs of Dr. Korczak's orphanage.

Dr. Korczak was a pediatrician, author, champion of child rights and a hero of the Holocaust. He is considered to be the prime inspiration of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) - one of the most widely adopted human rights instruments in the world. Through the 1920s and 1930s until his death in 1942, Dr. Korczak focused on the health and welfare of orphans in Poland. He created an orphanage built upon a unique philosophy of child-centred care where children and youth participated in the production of their own food, wrote and produced their own newspaper, voiced their needs and operated their own Children's Court to deal with behavioural problems.

As child welfare systems continue to struggle with their models for institutional care, Shlomo Nadel's powerful remembrances and photos of his life in Dr. Korczak's orphanage (1927 -1935) paint a portrait of what is possible – even during war time – when we centre ourselves on the voices of young people.

Date:	Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015
Time:	11:00 AM to 1:30 PM (EST) Drop in, view photo exhibit
	12:00 Noon (EST) to 1:00 PM - Formal remarks and short excerpt reading
Location:	Ontario Legislature, Toronto, Room 230
	*Note: Media must be accredited by the Legislature for a "day media pass" in order to attend the  launch. Just show media badge/photo ID at the main security desk and you will be directed to the Press Gallery Coordinator
Hosts:	Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth and UNICEF Canada
Featuring:	Irwin Elman, Ontario's Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth
	Marv Bernstein, Chief Policy Advisor, UNICEF Canada
	Grzegorz Morawski, Consul General of the Republic of Poland
	Hon. Tracy MacCharles, Minister of Children and Youth Services
	MPP Sylvia Jones, PC Critic, Children and Youth Services
	MPP Monique Taylor, NDP Critic, Children and Youth Services
	Jerry Nussbaum, President, the Janusz Korczak Association of Canada
	Chelsea Hopper and Sheldon Caruana, Youth Amplifiers, Provincial Advocate's Office

A book signing with author Lea Lipiner will take place immediately following the event.  The book will be available for download (free of charge) at: www.provincialadvocate.on.ca

SOURCE Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth

Media Contact: Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth: Akihiko Tse, Media and Communications Coordinator, [phone] [email protected]