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| Press Release
Youth Speak Out from Europe and Central Asia
Happiness, unhappiness, poverty and hopes highlighted
Press releases
from other May meetings for the September Special Session
on Children
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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.
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Some key findings:
- 6 out of 10 children say they face violence or aggressive
behavior within their families (shouting and hitting)
- Almost half the children polled feel they do not have
basic information on HIV/AIDS (65% in the 9-13 age group,
27% for 14-17 year olds)
- 61% think their views are either not sufficiently taken
into account or not considered at all by their local government
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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."
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What makes children unhappy?
Family problems are the major source of worry and concern
for children. Being scolded, being punished and being confronted
with family conflict are the main reasons children say they
are unhappy.
- Although they describe relationships with parents in strongly
positive terms, six in ten children say they face violent
or aggressive behaviour in their families
- 11 per cent of children reporting violence or aggressive
behaviour at home say it occurs often.
Concerns over violence and aggressive behaviour extend to
how children experience the world beyond the family.
- 1 in 6 children feels unsafe walking in their neighbourhood
- the proportion of children in transition countries who
feel unsafe in their communities is about double that of
Western Europe
- 2 in 10 children report having a friend or relative who
has been a victim of violence
- When asked about their rights, more than a third of children
spontaneously identified the right not to be hurt or mistreated.
Within that group, over a third felt it was a right not
respected in their country.
There is a clear relationship between poverty and children's
lack of contentment. The sharply higher levels of poverty
accompanying the transition to market economies and the increasing
gaps between rich and poor within countries, East or West,
define the context.
- children who say they feel unhappy are twice as likely
to want to live somewhere else in adulthood
- 23% of children in the transition countries want to emigrate
when they grow up, mainly to Western Europe or North America
Unhappy children do not thrive, emotionally or intellectually,
find it difficult to contribute to a society they believe
has given them nothing and risk spiraling towards self-destructive
or anti-social behaviour. It is particularly poignant, then,
to note that nearly a quarter of all children polled believe
they have a right to be loved. Though not enshrined in any
Convention or Charter, their naming this as a significant
right is a reminder that if children are unloved, then all
other rights are as dust.
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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.
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How happy do children feel?
- Two thirds of children feel happy "most of the time"
- Most believe their lives will be better than that of
their parents
What kind of country do children dream of?
- Children first dream of a country "where there wouldn't
be crime or violence"
- Children next dream of a country "where there would
be peace"
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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
Caucasus: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia
Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan
Central Europe: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia
Former Yugoslavia: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, TFYR Macedonia,
FR Yugoslavia (including the UN-administered Province of Kosovo)
Southeastern Europe: Albania, Bulgaria, Romania
Western CIS: Belarus, Moldova, Russian Federation, Ukraine
Western European countries: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece,
Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom (Spain and Portugal
were polled last year in a similar youth poll covering Latin America
and the Caribbean)
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,
UNICEF Regional Office for Europe,
Tel +41 (22) 909 5517
Robert Cohen,
UNICEF Regional Office for CEE/CIS and the Baltic States,
Tel + 41 (22) 909 5631 Mobile phone +41 (0) 79 431 1537
Frederike Seidel,
UNICEF Regional Office for Europe,
Tel +41 (22) 909 55 15 Mobile phone +49 (0) 162 549 2864
Rudi Tarneden,
German Committee for UNICEF,
+49 (221) 936 50 218
Wivina Belmonte,
UNICEF Regional Office for Europe,
Tel +41 (22) 909 55 09
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