Peace cinema project to be launched in South Sudan

Mr. Forest Whitaker, Founder and CEO of the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative, will launch a ground-breaking “Cinema for Peace” programme, building on UNESCO’s well-received community screenings. This contribution to peace-building will consist of film screenings on peace, prevention of conflict and reconciliation, followed by debates featuring interactive exchanges and role-playing to sensitize audiences to the values and principles underlying a culture of peace and non-violence.

Mr. Whitaker, who is UNESCO’s Special Envoy, will be visiting the country this coming week with UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, and UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, on a mission to raise peace-building support and to strengthen the protection of children affected by the conflict.

The Youth Peacemaker Network, created by Mr. Whitaker in partnership with UNESCO, Ericsson and Zain, will be showcased to government officials, the international community and the media. The programme will be launched officially on 26th June in Torit, Eastern Equitoria.

The goal of the innovative programme is to train young people to become leaders of community projects that foster sustainable development, education, cultural heritage and intercultural dialogue as well as improved access to information and communication. One of the main components of the programme will be the establishment of computer centres in the counties of Eastern Equatoria.

Participants will also visit the UNESCO Travelling Exhibition Project, a mobile exhibition which showcases cultural expression through videos, audio recordings, life stories, photographs, and artefacts from the diverse cultural groups that make up South Sudan. The exhibition has already toured two states and six counties of the country and will be used to help create a national museum.

The mission to the country will also mark the beginning of the partnership between Mr Whitaker and Ms Zerrougui for the campaign Children, not Soldiers. The campaign was launched in March 2014 by the UN and UNICEF, and aims to end the recruitment and use of children by government forces in conflict by 2016. South Sudan is one of the countries affected by the recruitment of child soldiers by armed groups.

Mr. Whitaker joined forces with Ms Zerrougui following years of commitment to the rehabilitation of child soldiers. He discovered their plight while filming The Last King of Scotland in Uganda.