Stop Killing Street Children; Press Conference to Focus on Brazil, the Philippines

News Advisory:

International human rights organization Jubilee Campaign will conduct a press conference on the plight of street children in Brazil, the Philippines and around the world at 1 p.m., Monday, Sept. 12, in the Murrow Room of the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C. Lord David Alton of Liverpool, a member of the House of Lords and co-founder of Jubilee Campaign, will make a compelling presentation based on his work as the founding chair of the All-Parliamentary Committee on Street Children and his own observations of the condition of street children in the slums of Brazil.

In February 2004 Lord Alton led a Jubilee Campaign delegation to Brazil to investigate reports that as many as five children are killed every day in that country’s urban centers. To raise awareness about this staggering statistic, in December 2004 he launched a new web site operated by Jubilee Campaign, http://www.stopkillingchildren.com, which has catalogued the violent deaths of more than 750 Brazilian minors since January 2005. Alton also continues to encourage Brazil’s government to take swift and remedial action to stop the killing. His presentation at the press conference will focus on Brazil but will also provide an overview of the issue in the rest of the world as well.

Lord Alton will be joined by Teresa Santos, network coordinator for Rede Viva-RJ, a coordinated group of organizations that provide services to children at risk in Rio de Janeiro, Shay Cullen, a Catholic priest who has worked as a missionary and children’s rights advocate with the PREDA Foundation in Manila for over thirty years and will speak about the difficulties street children face in the Philippines, and Ann Buwalda, director of Jubilee Campaign USA.

The press conference will kick off a week of events in Washington highlighting the street children issue. On Tuesday, Alton, Santos, Cullen and others will testify before a House subcommittee and will hold meetings with important administration officials, Senators and Members of Congress throughout the week.

Both the press conference and the Congressional hearing, which will take place in the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2172, are open to the public.

Contact Information

Robert S. Turner

Media Contact

Jubilee Campaign USA

Contact via E-mail