December 2014

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY: THE PROMOTION OF THE COMIC BOOK "NIRA"


THE PROMOTION OF THE COMIC BOOK "NIRA", SARAJEVO

On the International Human Rights Day, on December 10, 2014, as part of the project „Initiative for Creative Dialogue and Education“, and on the occasion of 16 Days of Activism, the promotion of the comic book NIRA was held in the Jewish Community Centre in Sarajevo. Ivana Krstanovic, a project assistant of TPO Foundation, presented the comic book NIRA through which the theme of human rights pervades in a creative way, the authors of the stories, Elma Softic-Kaunitz and Pavle Kaunitz, and Jakov Causevic, a member of the jury of the prize competition „Nastripaj ljudska prava“. Elma

and Pavle presented the very process of writing the stories of this comic book, from the very beginning until publication. They also revealed to us that they wrote five more episodes of the comic book and that we can soon expect the next number. According to Elma, Nira means light and this is the message of the comic book – to enlighten the way to young people, to take the young people to the right path so that they learn to strive not only for themselves and their rights, but also for the rights of others.

For the prize contest "Nastripaj ljudska prava", we received 12 outstanding works of bh. high school students.The first prize was won by Nirvana Pilaf, and members of the jury explained that she won the first prize not only for the good drawing techniques, but also because of her reflection on human rights. Specifically, for Nirvana to protect your own rights means to protect the rights of other people. The second prize went to Zejd Milavica, while the third prize won Azra Halilovic. The remaining 12 contestants also received valuable prizes. One part of the donation for prizes was given by Facta Art Sarajevo whom we want to

thank.
The main goal of this comic book is to close theme of human rights through the picture to the young people, especially teenagers, and that they themselves learn that they must not close their eyes to injustice; on the contrary, they should make an effort to correct injustice – to fight for their rights and for the rights of their fellow men. Young people need to by their own example encourage others to courage and initiative to bring about a positive change in a society, in order to break the silence of those who allow violations of human rights.