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Press Release

UNICEF supports children's elections in Mexico

Thursday, 29 June: Millions of Mexican children will go to special polling stations on 2 July -- the same day on which adults vote in the country's Presidential elections -- to register their opinions about their schools and communities and about the state of Mexico's democracy.

The Children's Consultation, as the event is known, is also to put into place certain formal child participation mechanisms whereby Mexican children will have the opportunity to express themselves freely on their rights. A child's right to express him or herself freely is enshrined in article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the world's most ratified human rights treaty.

This year's Children's Consultation falls on the heels of the Latin American Survey of Children and Adolescents (12 June 2000) - which polled 12,000 children across the region on their rights and follows a similar event in Mexico (6 July 1997) when almost four million children aged between 6 to 12 voted to identify which right was most important to them. The overwhelming majority chose the right "to have a school in which to learn and improve ourselves".

It is estimated that from 6 to 8 million children, aged six to 17, will cast votes which express their views on a wide range of issues affecting their lives. Separate ballots will encompass questions relevant to children in three age groups: 6 to 9, 10 to 13 and 14 to 17.

Organized by the Mexican Federal Electoral Institute, the children's election is supported by UNICEF, approximately 500 NGO's and the private sector. Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute will assist in compiling results.

Preliminary results of the Children's Consultation will be made public during the week of 17 July. They will be forwarded to government officials, universities, and numerous social and public institutions for use in developing policies affecting children.

Please email media@unicef.org with comments or requests for more information, quoting CF/DOC/PR/2000/56