For this award, she has been proposed by the Ombudsman's Office for Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro, and 6 months later, she is officially nominated by the Global KidsRights organization, headquartered in the Netherlands.
"I was very excited and honored to be the only one from Montenegro and one of the two children nominated from the entire territory of the former Yugoslavia," said Rakočević.
When she was only 11, Jana read the Convention on the Rights of a Child and concluded that many rights were not respected. Since then she has been looking for every opportunity to work with these violations.
"My work and achievements in the fields of children's rights began six years ago, when I started to learn about the rights of children through the work of the student parliament, and how much our rights are respected in the family, school, local community and society in general, especially the rights of children from the category of vulnerable groups. Since 2014, I have also been the Ombudsman's Gold Officer, or in the network of children who point to the problems of their environment and generally about the problems children are facing," says Rakočević.
She explains, from various activities and conversations with peers, that the rights of children are not respected enough and that much work has to be done in this field.
"I felt the need to begin to help promote children's rights and to influence as a child, as much as I can, on both adults and children. I participated in numerous activities, conferences, workshops," emphasized Rakočević. She also worked on the research of the attitudes of children and the drafting of the Ombudsman's Report on the Implementation of the Recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of a Child. "In October 2017, as a representative of the Gold Advisor to the Ombudsman, I presented this report at the presidency of the UN Committee on the Rights of a Child in Geneva, and on that occasion expressed my attitude (and attitudes of my peers) on various issues and the level of respect for the rights of children in Montenegro. Also, I have continuously participated in various promotional activities of the Ombudsman," she added.
The nomination for the award of the International Children's Peace Prize is overwhelming for Jana, and she hopes for the best.
"I am honored to be nominated for this prestigious world prize, I hope for the best, but the nomination itself is certainly enough," said Rakočević.
Jana is one of 121 nominated children from all over the world. Her mentor, child rights advisor and coordinator of the Golden Advisor to the Ombudsman Duška Šljivančanin, explains that this prestigious world prize is supported by the Nobel Peace Prize and is awarded to children who are fighting for the rights of children.
"It should also be noted that Jana's nomination was the first nomination for a student from Montenegro which was accepted, in general. The evaluation of nominated candidates is underway and KidsRights will notify us about Jana’s status on 1st November 2018. Promoting her nomination through social networks during this period is an important segment that can help her in the decision-making process, of course, besides her successes and contributions in the protection and promotion of the children's rights," said Šljivančanin.
Text by Dnevne novine,on October 29th, 2018, read more at CdM
