HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2019

According to the International Energy Agency in the year 2015, Indonesia is the sisxth country with the largest contributor of greenhouse gases in the wolrd. Its impact is quite obvious: 25% of Indonesians suffer from upper respiratory tract infecions according to Riskesdas, 2013. Despite the obvious fact, burning of Indonesia’s vast forests and pollution from transportation all over the country points out just how litte people are aware of, or even care of situation, let alone on the impact of this situation  to the most vulnerable victim: children. According to UNICEF in 2017, 17 million childrens under the age of a year lives in places where its air pollution exceeds the international standard by staggering 6 times, and 12 million of them resides in South Asia.

With this in mind, SCORP CIMSA UGM decided on the theme “Air Pollution and Its Impact on Children’s Health” as this year’s Human Rights Day, to raise awareness of these millions of children whoserights to develop fully are in danger due to the ignorance of people. After a pre-project training for our members, the event started on the morning of Saturday, 8th of December 2018. About 40 people rode bicycles together from FK_KMK UGM towards SDN Pogung Kidul, about 5 km away, in an effor to reduce gas emissions from vehicles. Upon arrival, we met with the energetic children of grades 2 and 3, whom we grouped. In form of games, we taught them steps on a mor go greem lifestyle. After that, we allowed the children to decorate plastic bottles cut in half, as a recycled pot for the seedling. Balai Pengelolaan Daerah Aliran Sunga dan Hutan Lidnung Serayu Opak Progo (BPDAS Yogyakarta) provided us with 30 fruit seedlineg to plant around th school. Koalisi Pemuda Hijau Indoneisa (KOPHI) acted as fasilitators to teach the children the correct way to plant and take care of seedlings. The activity was closed with decorating the banner with green paint with the children.

The second part of Human Rights Day was held in FK-KMK UGM on the 10th of December 2018, where the banner decorated by the children was displayed as a photobooth, along with infografics on air pollution, and a section where people could paste their thoughts and opinions on the topic. People, mostly consisting of students, were enthusiastic in obcerving the infographics and pasting their thoughts. Bye the end of the day, the display was filled with colorede paper with handwritten notes.

Overall, the celebration went very well, and with its success the hope that awareness was raised for the rights of the invisible victims or air pollution.