PROGRAM

The Long Haul
Youth Initiative

THE LONG HAUL YOUTH INITIATIVE

The 2019 documentary “The Long Haul” was created in response to Sir Nigel Rodley’s dedication to international law and his role as a leading architect of the modern human rights system. The film has been instrumental in sparking discussions and reflection about human rights issues among younger generations.

In order to ensure the continued legacy of Sir Nigel Rodley, Human Rights in the Picture has launched The Long Haul Youth Initiative in 2023. This project encourages students and young activists to participate in human rights causes through a storytelling perspective.

CONGRATULATIONS!

The jury, consisting of Hayley Mirabile, Anna Lusser, Marijn Segers, Youssef Kazem and Sarbine Sharif is delighted with the diversity and themes presented of the artworks that were submitted, each in their own way demonstrating the power of visual storytelling. Thank you to all the participants who submitted to The Long Haul Youth Initiative!

We are delighted to announce today, 1 December 2025, this year’s winner of the Long Haul Youth Initiative award.

Meet Karlijn Knipping and her work ‘The Embrace’ that aligns perfectly with this year’s theme Hope and Resilience in uncertain times.

‘The Embrace portrays a moment of fragile tenderness held within a world of profound uncertainty. The two figures lean into one another with a quiet intensity, their forms merging through bold, contrasting colors. In this intimate gesture, the painting reflects the human instinct to hold on to hope when the world outside is collapsing. This work was created in response to the genocide in Gaza, where countless lives have been shattered by violence, displacement, and deep loss. While the painting does not depict specific events or individuals, it channels the landscape of people living through violence, fear, exhaustion, longing, and the unyielding desire to protect one another. The embrace becomes a universal gesture of survival, an away of saying: We are still here. We are still human. The figure’s intertwined arms symbolize a lifeline, a connection that refuses to disappear despite overwhelming force. Their eyes, half-closed, evoke both sorrow and a quiet determination, the kind of hope that persists not because the future is clear, but because the human spirit refuses to surrender. ‘The Embrace’ is ultimately a testament to endurance: how love, solidarity, and the simple act of holding one another can become powerful forms of resistance. Even in the harshest times, hope can survive in human connection.’

The Embrace by Karlijn Knipping

Meet participants from earlier editions

Emma KRick, 21

According to Emma, this image is intended to represent the power of communities to deal with human rights violations. In this case – it shows a community of people who faced such blatant attacks on their basic human rights that they were forced to flee away far from their homes. Emma describes that this painting depicts a lunch that she attended at Association Kolone, an organization that teaches French to newly arrived migrants in Paris, and helps them settle into their new home. To celebrate the completion of the program, participants shared homemade food with friends, family, teachers and the wider community. What could have been only a short celebration turned into an eight-hour-long joyous event: talking, playing board games and volleyball, dancing and simply experiencing the warmth of each other’s company. The phrases in the posters are written by the Kolone participants in their mother languages. Emma does speak any of those languages, however, their writings have sparked a deep curiosity about the stories that every person at that table has to tell.

Francesca Menghini, 36

Francesca’s approach involves using various visual narratives to explore themes centered around identity and social issues with a focus on portraiture as her primary visual language. The body of work submitted is an ongoing photo series entitled Unbounded Being Gender Diverse. The project presents a collection of portraits statements that allow individuals to be seen and heard in their representation of gender diversity.

Geovanna Bravomalo Cevallos, 26

I am deeply engaged in photography and the visual medium to convey new forms of understanding human rights. Moreover, my aim is to move our attention to the very center, to the individual experiences from communities that otherwise are lost behind big data figures and concepts. This short film brings a personal experience of racial discrimination and female gender stereotyping as a woman of African descend, a migrant student and a human rights defender. “Mind Games” aims to touch through the individual and the personal, to broader voices that have faced racial discrimination. It is the extrapolation and interpretation of what Bell Hooks meant by “looking courageously”. I use narration as the representation of to voices. On the one hand, the voices in our minds that keep echoing the discriminatory discourses. On the other, the inner voices of resilience, courage and will to change reality with/by looking back, by gazing. I use performative elements such as the marimba music/dance and the recital of black poetry (as we call it), to convey my ethnic roots and show them no mysticism. To revert those same aspects that others use to discriminate, and present them as the center of my response.

LiLIANA GADDI, 21

This interplay between right and duty is something that I always feel is overlooked in the discussion surrounding human rights. We talk about rights, about which rights should be considered human rights and how to make sure they are respected. However, I sometimes feel like we forget that having a right to something implies a duty to act in a certain way. Rights and duties are interdependent and reciprocal. Recognising each other rights means
recognising that we both have duties towards each other. It’s about recognising what we owe to each other so that we can be free, so that we can fly.

HERS IS OURS

We are Hers is Ours, a young feminist collective based in India. We create art projects to raise awareness about gender discrimination. We are artists and activist and use art as a tool to touch our audience and open dialogues on difficult and taboo topics, in order to question the prejudices which harm us and others. 20 diverse young women chose to stay together in a home run by the NGO Kranti in Mumbai, India. What brings them together? Their past – they are all daughters of sex workers. With a determination to heal themselves and to live a life on their own terms, these women identify as Krantikaris (revolutionaries). They allow us to walk 800 kms with them on the Santiago De Compostela pilgrimage between France and Spain, sharing their perspective on their lives. This film and poetry book, while denouncing the taboo of sex work in India, are about women coming together and seeking inner and collective growth.

ZUZU, 21

“The Minefields of Shattered Lives”
Thirty year old Kyee Kan is a former PDF fighter. His brother and five other resistance soldiers were killed when dozens of their bombs unexpectedly exploded. Kyee Kan lost his right leg in the accident. He starred in the pro-democracy short film “Our Turn!”. Myanmar’s use of landmines has grown exponentially since then, with conflict spreading across the country in the wake of the coup. Alongside China, Israel, Russia and the United States, Myanmar remains a non-signatory to the Mine Ban Treaty, aimed at eliminating the use of anti-personnel landmines globally. The drawing is a play on the concept that the Myanmar map resembles a man standing on one leg.

U-ShinE, 29

U-shine performed as a spoken word artist at the official opening programme of the exhibition “A Safer World for the Truth” on March 18th, 2023. The poem is from the point of view of the journalist and fights for freedom of press and against impunity for murders of journalists in reprisal for their work.

If you want more information about the Long Haul Youth Initiative, reach out to info@humanrightsinthepicture.org.