Human right abuses have been highly recorded in South Sudan up to date that include those that affect children. Some of the Human rights abuses perpetrated on children include recruitment of children as child solders, forced labor, killing and maiming, child abduction, rape, child and forced marriage forcing children especially girls to live a miserable live. It was reported that an estimated 2.8 million children are out of school in South Sudan which counts for about 23% of the total population.

According to human rights watch, “Authorities failed to ensure accountability for grave violations. Impunity continued to fuel violence, with civilians bearing the brunt of systematic sexual violence against women and girls, the ongoing presence of children in fighting forces, and others”. Child rights violations become a normal practice against the rights of children to life, dignity, education, and care.

Although there is a slight reduction in the cases of child rights abuses, it should be noted that new cases are still being recorded therefore, the already existing intervention are never seeming to end the practice soon. Government, parents, caregivers, employers, and the community behavior can only be changed towards protecting children if they are engaged in human rights conversations.

Gatakhor Human Rights Film Festival, (GAHRFF) was organized by Amalna South Sudan in partnership with “Movies that Matter” (MtM). Gatakhor Human Rights Film Festival (GAHRFF) was first established in South Sudan in 2023 with a purpose to address human right violation affecting children amidst humanitarian crises.

Gatakhor Human Rights Film Festival drew at least 1,347 in-person attendees to the film screenings, between September 29^th to October 10^th, 2023. All the 1,347 of the attendees were visitors from within Juba but members of different ethnicities across South Sudan. Although we can’t establish the exact number of the audiences we engaged online, we estimated several over 15,000 online followers both on Amalna’s Facebook page and South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) TV.

The Gatakhor Human Rights Film Festival created a cross-cultural platform where local film producers, students, activists, citizens, government, CSOs and the wider public were able to engage in tackling issues relating to human rights, in particular rights and dignity of children, their sense of worth, belonging and spirit of common welfare among their communities. Through the screenings and the live broadcast of the program on the national biggest TV and social media, we were able to reach our target primary audiences such as the film makers, journalists, children, youth, women, CSOs, policy makers, and people with special needs in Juba and across South Sudan.

Gatakhor Human rights Film Festival had its first edition on 29 September through to 10 October 2023. For eight days, a mix of film screenings, happened across than ten venues. This was the first time such human right festival happening in South Sudan. The Human Rights Festival was directed by the Executive Director of Amalna South Sudan, who initiated the festival in Juba. The overall reach of the film week was approximately 1,347 individuals (601 male and 746 female) who are film makers, journalists, students, youth, women, men, policy makers, and people with special needs across South Sudan in different locations of Juba excluding online audiences.

We worked with schools that already have mobilized participants and the most affected groups that relate directly with the films that we screen; this helped us reach the targeted number of audience and make impact in the communities. The festival has created a real-life conversation touching those affected especially girls who faced all sorts of GBV, particularly forced marriage out of their consent. We also engage our online audiences with the content and the discussions held in schools by conducting live stream programs on social media especially on Facebook, we also did TV broadcast of content screened to allow those not present to follow.

Partners from the local community helped us plan smoothly, supporting us with in-kind services throughout the duration of the festival. This support included airtime on radio and TV for promotion of the program where we had advertisements. Our biggest supporters were the media organizations such as Juba Echo, AMDISS, Baraka FM, Advance FM, among others. The Netherlands Embassy and Canadian embassies both supported with technical advice, participation, sharing of the festival content on their network.

We are deeply grateful for these and other key supporters who believed in the vision without evidence of prior success. Despite significant challenges that limited our capacity to organize the event in the manner that we had hoped, we are proud of the impact on South Sudan local film makes especially those working on human rights, media organizations, school children and community-based organizations. We hope to maintain current partners into the next editions, hoping that the impact of the first festival will lay the groundwork to better and deeper impact and collaboration. Gatakhor HR Film festival Week has a great opportunity to establish itself as a signature event in South Sudan especially in Juba County. This festival has provided us with different lessons to learn, challenges and their mitigation strategies that will help us improve on the next editions. Gatakhor Human Rights Film Festival directly contributed to promoting the right of children in the South Sudan.

We engaged in fruitful discussion to bring about policy change. A big reason for the success of the event was the participation of key stakeholders with high knowledge and experience in human rights and presence of the media. The event brought out discussion on policy implementing issues that were shown in the films. This film screen event brought different stakeholders together to connect with fellow film lovers and participate in plenary discussions, round table film discussions, interactive articulation of issues raising voices for policy change. These activities focused on specific themes to encourage community building around a shared experience that provided a safe and supportive environment for creative self-expression.

The films screened outlined the various issues that contribute to human rights that include environmental, education, immigration, social and children’s rights. We enable participants to tell their side of the story, highlighting how human rights issues featured in the films they encountered along the way.  How the issues have contributed to their major decisions in life and what they intend to do to make it easier.

The organizing team runs a series of short film screenings in 7 schools out of 10 planned schools across Juba. This was a wonderful opportunity for the festival to reach target audiences in schools. We were able to reach a huge number of 1,064 students within one week.

The program featured five different films both national and internation shown in the seven schools that include two primary and five secondary schools in Juba city. The specific goal of screening the films in schools was to create a cross-cultural platform where pupils and students can engage in discussions, learn, share experience and tackling issues relating to human rights, in particular rights and dignity of children, their sense of worth, belonging and spirit of common welfare among their communities.

The festival had become a platform for students to share their stories and experiences, helping to add their voices to advocate for an end to human rights abuses in South Sudan.

The partnership between Amalna and movies that matter had provided a richer and more exciting learning experience for students across all educational levels in South Sudan and to foster a lifelong love of cinema and learning. Incorporating films in education has numerous benefits for students, including promoting critical thinking, enhancing visual and media literacy, and fostering cultural awareness and empathy. Screening films in schools is a valuable way of enhancing the learning experience of students, exposing them to diverse perspectives, issues, and topics that they may not have encountered in their regular classroom activities. By watching films, students can develop empathy and understanding for different cultures and communities, which helps to promote a more inclusive and tolerant learning environment. Furthermore, film screenings provided a platform for meaningful discussions and debates among students, which can enhance their communication and critical thinking skills. The partnership between Gatakhor Human Rights Film Festival and MtM recognized the importance of school screenings during the festival to provide a unique opportunity for students to engage with and learn from films that reflect their culture and experiences.

One of the key components of the festival week was the film awards presented to South Sudanese human rights filmmakers. The award ceremony was incorporated to the main event at Nyakuron cultural center on 4^th October 2023. A total of six (6) national film makers were awarded as best filmmakers on human right issues. The selection process was based on the decision of the judges who had two days watching and drawing conclusions on the film’s fitness to the human rights festival.

In general, our contribution and participation in Gatakhor Human Rights Film Week was very fruitful. We were able to connect, meet new filmmakers, expand our networks, and tap into new audiences. Through the various activities that we executed throughout the week, which included screenings and panel discussions, we were able to reach a physical number of 1,467 people cutting across different demographics in Juba city.

• A greatly significant achievement was the successful implementation of a new film festival in South Sudan focusing on human rights issues with children as the target. Gatakhor Human Rights Film Festival is the first human rights festival in South Sudan and had quickly catch people attention.
• During Gatakhor Film Week we reached a large community of students, local filmmakers, internal Displaced (IDPs), and other demographics through the various screenings we conducted.
• Successfully running the first edition of Gatakhor Human Rights Film Festival was a great one. We were able to run inspirational long and short films well appreciated by the audiences and generated meaningful discussion.
• The festival was a wonderful chance for South Sudan local films produced by local filmmakers to showcase their human rights films and an opportunity to be screened and exposed.
• We were able to build new Partnership with TV stations, audiences, and partners during the Gatakhor Film Festival Week. We were able to connect with new people and introduced a festival that never existed before.
• We received over 10 films for screening from our partners, local film makers and free online films that fit the purpose of the project.

The Gatakhor Human Rights Film Festival was successfully with the support of partners and sponsors before and during the festival week. The sponsors and partners provided vital support to deliver a comprehensive program that in turn supported the success of the festival.

List of Sponsors and Partners together with their roles and responsibilities.:

Advance Youth Radio 99.9 FM: (Broadcast the programs advert to promote the festival for 2 weeks before and within the festival week.

Juba Echo TV: Sponsored 1 hour of television presentation by the organizers to talk about the festival on their online Television channel.

Association for Media Development in South Sudan (AMDISS): supported the media coverage during the festival week and participated as judges of the selection process of the films.

Urban 99.9 FM: Broadcast the programs advert to promote the festival for 2 weeks before and within the festival week.

Nile Youth Development Actions: Supported in organizing the festival in the Juba Protection of Civilian side. The CBO helped in mobilizing participants and working with the local authorities to ensure the festival is conducted as planned.

Dynasty Company Ltd: The media technical company supported the festival in production of radio programs to advertise the festival to ensure that it reaches the expected number of audiences.

Barak FM 101.7 FM: Broadcast the programs advert to promote the festival for 2 weeks before and within the festival week.