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Press ReleaseYouth Speak Out from Europe and Central AsiaHappiness, unhappiness, poverty and hopes highlighted
Berlin, May 16: UNICEF today released initial results of the Young Voices poll, the largest and most ambitious survey ever taken among children in Europe and Central Asia. The results reflect the voices of over 93 million children from 35 countries in the region on issues related to their rights. This extensive survey provides a fascinating portrait of the views, concerns, hopes and dreams of children and adolescents from 26 States in transition in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Baltic States and nine countries in Western Europe. It also provides some disturbing insights into a world children and young people see as marked by violence, injustice and discrimination. "Children are not only our future, they are our present and we need to start taking their voices very seriously," said Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF. "We must listen carefully to what young people have to say and give them every opportunity to speak. We must reach out to them and encourage them to participate in the decision-making processes that affect their lives." The poll is based on face to face interviews with 15,200 children, between the ages of 9 and 17, conducted between December 2000 and February 2001, by one of the largest polling companies in the world, GfK Group.
The Young Voices poll was launched to coincide with a special year for children. It is grounded in the deep conviction that the opinions of young people must be considered on matters that affect them and that their voices must be heard by those shaping the world they will inherit. It is no coincidence, then, that the poll's initial findings are being released on the first day of a high-level regional meeting in Berlin, the Conference on Children in Europe and Central Asia, to set a new regional agenda for children in the next decade. Final results will be presented on the occasion of the first ever United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children, to be held in New York this September, where world leaders will forge a new global agenda for children. "I hope this important poll will be a launching pad for the start of serious OSCE activities on children's rights," said Ambassador Gerard Stoudmann, Director of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, which helped support the survey. "Since we are present throughout the survey area, we are in a unique position to assist with international efforts on this critical set of issues."
Still, as testimony to their resilience and optimism, children clearly express their hope for building a better future and contributing to a better world for all. They are highly concerned about a range of economic, social and environmental issues. They are discerning in identifying discrimination against disabled children, poor children and children of different religious and ethnic groups.
Recognizing that children and their rights need to be at the core of all efforts to build peaceful, prosperous and democratic societies, the rich and complex results of the poll will be used to guide advocacy and programming in the coming years, by UNICEF and others. It is a chance to translate the voices of young people into better policies, more effective budgets, new attitudes and behaviours. More about the methodology: The survey was conducted by one of the largest polling companies in the world, GfK Group. It was sponsored by UNICEF with support from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and involved interviews with 15,200 children between the ages of 9 and 17 years. The children were interviewed according to their age, gender, socio-economic status, geographical region and area (urban/rural) of the country in which they lived. The number of children interviewed for each of these criteria was in direct proportion to the overall distribution of the child population in each country, resulting in a representative sample. The interviews were conducted in line with the international "Guidelines on Interviewing Children and Young People", issued by the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research. As such, all children were interviewed in their own language (34 in all) and in their homes with the permission of their parents or guardians but not in their presence, so that the children could feel as comfortable as possible to answer questions freely and candidly. The questionnaire used was the same in all countries and the 40-minute interviews were conducted between December 22, 2000 and February 16, 2001. For a confidence level of 90 per cent, the maximum margin of error is 0.7 per cent. Countries Polled: Given the wide scope of the survey, results clearly vary from country to country and region to region. In the initial findings, countries are grouped in different clusters for purposes of comparison. They are defined as follows: Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania In the Russian Federation and Ukraine, 800 children were surveyed. 400 children were polled in each of the other countries. For more information on the YOUNG VOICES Poll please contact: Hans Olsen, Robert Cohen,
Frederike Seidel, Rudi Tarneden, Wivina Belmonte,
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