What are your memories from when you were four years old? Do you remember days spent at nursery school playing and laughing? Do you remember the love you felt from your family and friends? Or do you have memories of being sold into slavery at that age for $12 and being chained to a carpet loom? Can you remember working day and night, being whipped anytime you stopped and never being paid a cent? These were the memories of Iqbal Masih, a young Pakistani boy who was shot on April 16, 1995 at the age of 12 after he spoke out against child slavery.

His was just one of the horrific stories that was told during the United Nations International Human Rights Day Service entitled A Service for Children by Children which was organised by Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission.

Organiser Ms Lucy Attride-Stirling told the schoolchildren who gathered for the ceremony at the Wesley Methodist Church yesterday that this year's event reflected Amnesty International's belief that "children are our hope''.

"We feel that with each generation of children who grow up with the knowledge of human rights we will have a generation of adults who know about human rights.'' She said children in Bermuda were fortunate that they did not have to experience the abuse seen in other countries and she stressed that they should let children in other countries know they cared about them.

Saltus Grammar Senior School students told the stories of children from Iraq, Argentina, Rwanda, China and India who had been imprisoned, tortured and murdered.

They asked their listeners to remember that "every voice makes a difference''.

The guest speaker at the service was Bermuda High School for Girls student Miss Jennifer Lapsley whose mother Ms Carol Lapsley founded Bermuda's branch of Amnesty International 14 years ago.

She told the audience that Amnesty International Bermuda had over 230 members now and that many of the Island's schools had Amnesty International groups.

Miss Lapsley reminded the audience that it was not just adults who were "prisoners of conscience''. She said children all around the world were also having their human rights violated.

As part of the service 18-year-old Omar Jennings from Orange Valley School and two-year-old Britanny Morgan helped Amnesty International Steering Committee member Mr. William Holdip light the Amnesty Candle.