Say Yes, Winter 2003: Playing Their Part
Usually I talk about children to adults but today it’s great to be able to speak to children about children
said UNICEF Turkey Representative, Edmond McLoughney, addressing delegates at the opening of the Third Children’s Forum in Ankara, 2002.
Photograph by Sema Hosta © UNICEF Turkey 2003
Seventeen-year-old Demet from Kars spoke from her experience of all three Forum events so far: Being a participant is not so easy -- firstly you need to get your parents’ approval which means, of course, that you have to convince them of the importance of what you are doing.
This is the third time I have taken part in the Forum. The first time I came, my schoolmates teased me. They said
so you’re a child? What difference is it going to make if you go to Ankara and talk about children’s rights?
But I wouldn’t give up -- after every visit to the Forum, I’ve always made the effort to inform them about the decisions we took there. I’d also inform the local press and the authorities, sharing the outcome documents with them.
Last year, I gathered pledges for Say Yes for Children with the help of my friends. Now they’re all waiting excitedly for my return: they have come to believe that we can do something about the problems we all face as children.
Taking Part
The Children’s Forum is all about participation: it is a platform for child delegates to assemble from Turkey’s eighty-one Provinces in order to discuss the issues which will affect their future, to monitor and comment upon implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and to see that their rights as children are properly respected. They are able to air their own views, to listen to the views of others, to make decisions about the issues which affect them most and to present their conclusions to the policy-makers, institutions and organisations who shape the world we live in.
Delegates attending the Forum are not asking that adults surrender all decision making power to them. However, they are well aware that the CRC calls for children to be heard: in many cases adults still make the final decision but, with the precepts of the CRC in mind, the very act of their listening signifies a big step forward for children’s rights.
Sixteen year old Suat from Trabzon was well aware that the responsibility to represent the interests of over thirty million Turkish children and adolescents rested on his young shoulders and those of his fellow delegates:
At first, I found it unnerving and even a little scary to get up and speak before an audience. But I’ve gotten over that in time. Now I feel quite free to express myself on a public platform. I know that SHÇEK and UNICEF are prepared to listen to me … and I have learned to listen too.
Before now, I couldn’t imagine that children in other parts of the world had problems similar to ours but, taking part in the Forum, I have learned to think more universally.
A World Fit for Children
This year, delegates were asked to develop their own Action Plan showing what they think should be done in order to achieve A World Fit for Children. Their views will be incorporated into the National Plan of Action (NPA) currently being developed by UNICEF and it’s partners.
In his opening speech to delegates, Edmond McLoughney said:
I know that, as Turkish children, you will work on the National Plan of Action for children. You will identify what you can do to translate A World Fit for Children into action here in Turkey and once more show us adults how things should be done.
Giving children the opportunity to voice their opinions in such a vitally important document as the National Plan of Action is an investment in the future. Through their involvement, these children and their peers will be better prepared to understand the problems, inequities and injustices of the world they will inherit. Since they are the parents of the future, it follows that they will be more capable of dealing with these problems in a constructive way and that they will be still more sympathetic to their own children -- we will be another generation closer to making A World Fit for Children.
Children Must Be Heard
If they don't listen to me now, they'll have to when I grow up. Because I’m going to be a philosopher and then they will listen to and do whatever I say. Just look: even with my poor English that big man (Edmond McLoughney) who spoke at the opening listened to me. So you see, they'll hear you if you want to be heard.
That was how eleven year old Gamze from Hatay expressed her firm intention to see that we get A World Fit for Children. The sheer verve of Gamze’s words was not at all unusual amongst the delegates: the voices of all children at the Forum were loud and clear. They demanded the right to be listened to and showed how they could be heard. They demanded more information about their rights and how they can protect those rights. They demanded a greater focus on issues such as health and education.
Often, when asked what they think, children will not always tell us us what we necessarily want or expect to hear: usually, the unselfconsciously direct response will result in an uncomfortable moment of soul searching on the part of the questioner. The delegates were direct, to say the least, about the harsher realities of life in Turkey such as discrimination against the poor, the disabled and other minorities. Their comments on violence at home and in school were ruthlessly uncompromising.
Most importantly, the consensus was that education is the most important factor in any equation which will produce the solution to the problems children face in today’s world -- an unsurprising conclusion since Turkish children collected an impressive sixteen million signatures for Say Yes for Children, thus endorsing the primary imperative of the campaign which is to ‘Educate Every Child’.
Achievements
The Coordinator for the Children’s Network, Murat, was elected and for the first time, seven regional coordinators were also elected. The Coordination Committee will ease communication between provincial delegates.
On the first night, a group of girls from Muradiye in Van performed ‘Kardelen’. The vital issue of girls’ education was presented in dramatic form so that delegates would be able to absorb the message and take it home to their communities.
Action Plans outlining the roles and responsibilities of children were developed. For instance, it was proposed that children should visit Provincial Health Directorates and request seminars on such crucial issues as HIV/AIDS.
These Action Plans will be developed on the major themes of A World Fit for Children which are:
- Promoting Healthy Lives;
- Providing Quality Education;
- Protecting Against Abuse, Exploitation and Violence;
- Combating HIV/AIDS.
The completed document will be presented to the President of Turkey and all agencies concerned along with the final draft of the NPA.
It was suggested that, on their return home, delegates should discuss the Action Plans with their teachers, school principals, the mayor and other local authorities.
The Last Word
As sixteen-year-old Kurtuluş, a working boy put it:
What I got from this Forum is that if I have a child, I’ll send her to school, whatever happens. She’ll learn about children’s rights, understand that she is not alone and be sure that there are people who will listen to and care for her.
There may or may not be some significance in the Langenscheidt Dictionary’s translation of the boy’s name:
Kurtuluş: 1. liberation; 2. salvation; 3. escape.
Decide for yourself -- we’ll leave the last word to Kurtuluş himself.
We featured the Second Children’s Forum and Say Yes for Children in the February 2002 issue of Say Yes. Read more about the UNSSC in The World Listened in the July 2002 issue.
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SAY YES, WINTER 2003
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