DCI Hosts 2nd Annual Child Rights Conference and Concert

VoBD - New York: More than 400 people attended Distressed Children & Infant (DCI) International's 2nd Annual Conference on Child Rights and Journey for Rights & Sight Benefit Concert on October 17th, 2009. The day's events took place at Yale School of Medicine's TAC Building and Mary Harkness Auditorium.

The Conference on Child Rights commenced at 10am with leading national and international experts in the field of child rights and poverty. Speakers included Dr. Abdul Momen, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, who painted a bleak picture of the current situation many children throughout the world currently face.

"Nearly 22,000 children die each year due to work related accidents," Ambassador Momen said. "A large number of children are being subjected to flesh trade trafficking and they suffer cruelty and deprivation. Nearly 130 million children cannot enroll in primary schools, and, more importantly, the dropout rate is staggering."

With the Bangladeshi governmental goal of achieving 100% primary school enrollment by the year 2011 and 100% literacy by the year 2014, Dr. Abdul Momen believes, "it is time to create public awareness on the issue, and I am therefore, pleased that DCI has taken an initiative."

Other distinguished event guests include Dr. Brian DeBroff, Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed, Professor A.K. Azad Khan, Masud Chowdhury, Jeannette W. Hodge, Dr. A. Ehsanul Hoque, Mr. Samal Sarangadhar, Ms. Stacy DeBroff, Ms. Wahida Banu Shapna, Dr. Maksud Chowdhury, and Mr. Rabiul Karim.

DCI's Journey for Rights & Sight Benefit Concert began at 7 pm. Performers included a variety of local and international artists, including the concert headliner, Bangladeshi Celebrity Singer Baby Naznin, who entertained fans late into the night.

The goal of DCI's Event was three-fold: to raise awareness of child rights in local, national, and international communities, to discuss key issues of poverty in the 21st century, and to provide a forum for discussing creative, community-driven methods of alleviating child labor, hunger, and poverty around the world. All proceeds will be used for the Childhood Blindness Prevention and Sun-Child Sponsorship Programs of DCI.

Distressed Children and Infants (DCI) International is a U.S. based 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization established in 2003 to help underprivileged children lift themselves out of poverty by providing them with basic life necessities, education, and health care.