 Monday
at the Prepcom
"Participation is not just about being listened to ...."
NEW YORK, 11 June "The right to participate is not a favour
that we are requesting, it is our right," 16-year-old Nicole
Bidegain from Uruguay said at a packed roundtable meeting at UNICEF
House on Monday.
"And participation is not just about being listened to, it
is also about influencing the decision-making process," she
added.
Nicole, who represents The World Alliance of YMCAs, is one of around
3,000 official representatives and young people in New
York this week to attend the third and final session
of the Preparatory Committee for the UN Special Session
on Children.
"Participation is a right that the world's adults signed onto
10 years ago" with the Convention of the Rights of the Child,
Nicole told those at the meeting on Protecting and Promoting Children's
Rights, one of many events of the Preparatory Committee session.
"The time has come for us to say to adults, 'Do what you
say'. After all, we children are not the future, we are the present,"
she said.
Those attending Preparatory Committee meetings will focus on producing
an 'outcome document' that meets the goals of the Special Session
on Children: to get world leaders to commit themselves to a bold
agenda for children in the coming decade.
The Special Session will take place a decade after world leaders
met at UN Headquarters in New York for the 1990 World Summit for
Children.
Nicole was sharing the platform at the lunchtime meeting with UNICEF's
Executive Director Carol Bellamy, Thomas Hammarberg, Special Advisor
to the Swedish Government on Humanitarian Issues, and Francisca
Dagan, a child representative from the African Movement for Working
Children. The lively meeting was moderated with patience and good
humour by 12-year-old Joseph Tamale from Uganda.
Seventeen-year-old Francisca Dagan is from Benin. Her organization
works to uphold and enhance the rights of child labourers in 44
cities across Africa.
Addressing delegates to the Preparatory Committee session, she
said, "When we started working on the outcome [document], we
asked you to help the world's child workers. In the current document
we have seen the sentence about 'improving the condition of working
children'. We thank you for listening to us and ask you not to erase
this sentence."
She added, "Those of you who support rights should support
us because we are realising our rights."
Speaking next, Carol Bellamy acknowledged the importance of partnerships
between people young and old, governments, NGOs and UN agencies.
UNICEF had encouraged governments to make young people part of
their delegations, and a number of governments have done this.
"Being included in official delegations is a strong opportunity
for young people to influence their governments and to promote an
exchange between young people and decision makers," Ms. Bellamy
said.
She mentioned the 'Say Yes for Children' campaign as an opportunity
for citizens of all ages to make their views known.
Thomas Hammarberg finished the meeting by reinforcing what Nicole
Bidegain had said at the beginning - that participation is a right,
not a favour for adults to grant.
"This is radical stuff," he said. "And adult society
has not fully recognized the importance of this." He added,
"Adults really need to change their attitude to really understand."
12 June 2001
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