Voices of children

"We, the children, are experts on being 8, 12 or 17 years old in the societies of today. Nobody knows better what children actually need. To consult us will make your work more effective and give better results for children. My proposal is that you make children part of your team. It is good to see that so many children are represented in Government delegations here at the Special Session. I hope that every government will include children when you now make your national plans of action."

- Heidi Grande,
17, Child delegate from Norway

"On behalf of Afghan girls, my plea is to help us remain children, unmarried for some time until we pass our childhood."

- Nadia,
12-year-old Afghan girl who lives in an orphanage

"War and politics have always been an adult game but children have always been the losers.
I hope you will remember my words."

- Elisa,
17 years old

"I am afraid to cry because I know that I have to work so hard to be a good person, because what they have done to me can turn me into a monster… Today I feel like I am 100 years old, but again, I feel like I am 6 years old."

- A young Ugandan girl who became a soldier at age 9,
and remained a soldier for almost 11 years

"Children are change makers…. We are not crawling insects, but butterflies. We are birds of freedom."

- Sanjog Thakuri, 16, from Nepal

"For every day that we're here, there are children dying, there are children being exploited, and there are children whose rights are being violated."

- Laura Kerstin Hannant,
a 11th grade student from Canada

"We've gained from today."

- Thomas Burke,
17-year-old from the United Kingdom

"The fact that I am standing here means that youth participation is taken seriously, but the fact that I am only one of the few youth representatives standing here means that is it not taken seriously enough. We are experts in our own field. We must not only be consulted, but we must involved in the whole decision-making process."

- Willemijn Aerdts, 18, Netherlands

The Special Session inspired some children to write some poems about rights, the environment, peace, and war. Read these poems.