The press conference announcing the 6th Kids Festival 12-17 June 2009 in Sarajevo, took place today at Zetra Olympic complex. Mr Constantino Longares Barrio, First Secretary, Head of Operations Section for Democracy and Social Development  of the European Commission Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina expressed his satisfaction that the European Commission has again been able to support Kids Festival.   “The European Commission has donated 100,000 € for  Kid’s Festival”. “The Festival aims to create much better conditions for our children, and that is our ultimate goal when we provide financing such as this.”

Mr Barrio said the Festival represents “a very good example of cooperation among different donors” and he mentioned other participating organisations, including the OSCE, the Swiss cooperation development agency, NATO, UNICEF, and civil society organisations, as well as the City of Sarajevo, the Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Culture and Sports, and private institutions such as  Raiffeisen Bank and others, that are helping to make this year’s Festival a success.

The NGO ViaKult is organising Kids Festival, which brings together children from different cultures and geographical backgrounds from all over the country.

“We believe that bringing children together is the most important element,” Mr Barrio said. “We hope that initiatives like this will help establish links which may not exist today, or reinforce small links that have already been established.”

Noting that BiH has signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Children, Mr Barrio pointed out that there were still a number of important institutional and legislative steps that had to be taken in order to comply with UN norms on the children rights, as well as norms applied in the European Union.

The Kids Festival is the biggest event for children in the region. ,More then 40,000 children from BiH are expected to take part this year. The  theme of this year’s Festival “Svi različiti, svi jednaki” (“All different, all equal”) has been supported by UNICEF, which is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of Children.

“The Convention has brought measurable and concrete advances for children and for their protection,” said Anne-Claire Dufay of UNICEF. “During this Kids Festival, UNICEF and partners will organise workshops, contests, games and quizzes. Children will play and learn about children’s rights and about the UN’s millennium development goals, about social inclusion, tolerance and cultural understanding.”

The Kid’s Festival will start on June 12 with a colorful Parade through the centre of Sarajevo, starting from Baščaršija at 15.00.

“The military orchestra of the BiH Armed Forces will lead our Parade as well as majorettes from Mostar and Kiseljak. They will be followed by an orchestra with 40 drums, jugglers, clowns and so on,” said Kids Festival organiser Samir Landžo.