‘When I Grow Up’ Exhibit Opens 16 August at United Nations Headquarters, Paying Tribute to Children Living in Crises

An opening ceremony for an exhibit titled “When I grow up” will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, 16 August in the Visitors’ Lobby.  The exhibit is organized by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in connection with World Humanitarian Day, observed on 19 August.

During the ceremony, remarks will be made by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien; Mansour Al-Otaibi, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Mission of Kuwait to the United Nations; and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Leila Zerrougui.  Kirsten Mildren, Chief of the Humanitarian Affairs Office’s Advocacy Section, will serve as the host of the ceremony.

Around the world, some 250 million children under age 18 are trapped in conflict.  The exhibit highlights the challenges they face, pays tribute to their resilience and tells their stories through their own voices and aspirations for the future.  The images were taken in Africa and Jordan in 2014, 2015 and 2016.  Photographer Vincent Tremeau photographed children and adolescents in the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Sierra Leone as part of his project “One Day, I Will”.  Meredith Hutchison focused on Syrian refugee youth in Jordan for her programme “Vision Not Victim”.  The exhibit will be on display from 16 August to 14 October.

The exhibition is part of a series of events planned for World Humanitarian Day, which takes place on 19 August.  The 2016 theme is “One Humanity”, inviting the citizens of the world to use their voice to call for global leadership and action to reduce humanitarian suffering.  Online users can add their voice to the campaign at www.worldhumanitarianday.org.

The event is made possible thanks to the support of the Permanent Mission of Kuwait and the Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates.

For more information on “When I grow up” or on World Humanitarian Day, please contact Breanna Ridsdel at tel.: +1 212 909 7824 or +1 917 783 9336 or e-mail:  ridsdel@un.org.  For information and for guidelines governing United Nations exhibitions, contact Renata Morteo at tel.:  +1 212 963-5455 or e-mail:  morteo@un.org.