Over 400 young people attended the Children’s Forum.
UNICEF/HQ02-0074/Susan Markisz
Back in 1990 there was an important international meeting in New York called the World Summit for Children. Seventy-one world leaders got together to talk about children's rights across the globe, as a result of the recently adopted UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. At this meeting governments agreed to try and achieve 27 goals to improve the lives of children and young people. This Special Session reviewed how much progress had been made and what should be done next.
In the three days leading up to the Special Session, just over 400 children – 242 girls and 162 boys – from a total of 154 countries attended The Children’s Forum. The forum came up with a list of recommendations to improve the rights of children and young people worldwide. This document was called ‘A World Fit for Us’. Some of the young people presented this at the World Summit for Children; it was the first time children had addressed a formal session of the United Nations.
The 404 young delegates at the Children’s Forum had been chosen to represent their countries in various ways: through competitions in schools or communities, through participation in youth parliaments, or through involvement in national campaigns. Some were experienced and well-travelled campaigners, but many had never before been outside their own town or even village. Another 40,000 young people from 72 countries put forward their views by taking part in surveys.
Nineteen-year-old Li Yi, from China, said the Special Session was a big breakthrough for participation: “We have already walked far from where we were ten years ago. Ten years ago, young people would not have been participating in such an event.”
Seventeen-year-old Heidi Grande, from Norway, said children’s voices must be heard by world leaders, “We the children are experts on being 8, 12 or 17 years old in the societies of today … To consult us would make your work more effective and give better results for children. My proposal is that you make us part of your team.”
A World Fit for Children showed that young people from all over the world share the same concerns: poverty, health, HIV, war, violence, exploitation, education, and the environment.
“We are not the sources of problems; we are the resources that are needed to solve them. We are not expenses; we are investments. We are not just young people; we are people and citizens of this world. Until others accept their responsibility to us, we will fight for our rights…
“We are the children of the world, and despite our different backgrounds, we share a common reality. We are united by our struggle to make the world a better place for all. You call us the future, but we are also the present.”
United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, was impressed: “Children and young people turned business-as-usual into an extraordinary UN experience. They challenged us, informed us. The stories of their lives gave us pause. And throughout, their faith in our collective abilities to make change – and their hope – inspired us.”
Read the full text of “A World Fit for Us” here.
Thanks to Voices of Youth for the information in this article.