Film Festival: International Day of the Girl Child - The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law

Every year we unite movies with human rights through panel discussions with international experts. During 2021, we will have an all-year around film festival with focus on the international United Nations (UN) days. The festival is organised by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute and Kino in Lund, Sweden.

The 11th of October is the International Day of the Girl Child. To highlight this day Kino is showing the movie ‘The Seventeen’ (also known as ‘Fly so Far’). The movie follows Teodora Vásquez and ‘The Seventeen’, the women accused of aggravated homicide in El Salvador. These women are imprisoned for 15-30 years for having miscarriages and stillborn babies, violating their rights to be equal before the courts and tribunals. Imagine calling the police five times while you are having pains, waking up in the hospital surrounded by police only to be taken away. ‘The Seventeen’ follows strong, empowering women in their fight for freedom and justice.

El Salvador’s complete ban of abortions dates back to 1998, the country has the strictest reproductive rights laws in the world. These laws undermine women’s rights under international law to life, health and to be free from cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment. ‘The Seventeen’ highlights important women’s and children’s rights issues as well as the violation of International Human Rights Law and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Art 14).

Film screening followed by a panel discussion

We will screen the film at Kino in Lund at 16:30 on the 11th of October. Following the movie you will have the opportunity to hear experts discuss these important topics during the panel discussion.

The panelists are:

Heidi Avellan (Sydsvenskan and Helsingborgs Dagblad),

Heidi is a journalist and moderator. She currently works as the political editor in chief at Sydsvenskan and Helsingborgs Dagblad (HD)

Sebnem Kenis (Senior Researcher at the RWI)

Sebnem is the Senior Policy Advisor at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. She is specialized in gender and human rights and their interplay with digital technologies, environment, and urban governance. She is a former Chevening Scholar at Edinburgh Law School, UK, where she studied technology law, and a former Policy Leader Fellow at the European University Institute, Italy. She served as the Gender Equality Rapporteur of the Council of Europe’s Joint Council on Youth in 2016.

Mónica Hernández Rejón (Producer, The Seventeen)

Mónica Hernández Rejón (1984) is a Mexican film producer, director and programmer based in Sweden. Mónica has an academic background with a focus on film, postcolonial and Latin American studies. She is passionate about issues of identity, racism and political resistance, which are the themes she explores in the films she produces and directs. Her most recent work as a producer is the documentary The Seventeen (Fly so Far) directed by Celina Escher.