Junior 8 Summit 2006

For the first time in G8 history a children’s forum will be incorporated into the official programme at this year’s G8 summit in St. Petersburg. The event called the “Junior 8” meeting will be held in Pushkin, near St. Petersburg from 7 to 18 July 2006. The main highlight of this event will be that G8 children will get the chance to share their views directly with the world’s leaders on 16 July 2006.

UNICEF is supporting the Government of the Russian Federation in the preparation and organisation of the Junior 8 at which selected children from G8 countries, with inputs from children from developing countries through video-conferencing, will assemble to discuss HIV/AIDS, Education, Tolerance and Energy and other issues they think should be prioritised.

Gathering before the world leaders convene their meeting, the Junior 8 will continue through the G8 summit, allowing children to exchange ideas before they present their final communiqué to the leaders.

UNICEF’s Voices of Youth has launched a Junior 8 website with the latest news on the Junior 8 2006 process. In addition, Junior 8 participants and young people from around the world will have the opportunity to communicate with each other in a yahoo e-discussion group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/junior8russia2006.

Voices of Youth

Voices of Youth, UNICEF’s website for young people, reaches adolescents and young people in 180 countries, more than half of whom are girls, and 60 per cent of whom live in the developing world.
Over 14,000 young people have signed up to participate in Voices of Youth online discussion boards, and Voices of Youth receives around 10,000 visitors per day who spend an average of 10 minutes on the site (100,000 page views).
Informed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Voices of Youth presents rights-related information in an interactive way in the “Explore” section, allows young people to discuss these issues using message boards in a section called “Speak Out” and highlights their projects and initiatives in “Take Action”.

Voices of Youth and Junior 8 2006

Voices of Youth provides young people with the opportunity to know more, do more and say more about the Junior 8 2006 in St. Petersburg.
The e-discussion on Junior 8 2006 gives young people the opportunity to meet online with Junior 8 participants from the G8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States of America, Russian Federation) and young people from around the world to discuss the main themes of the Junior 8 2006 and other issues that are important to you.
To become a member of the “Junior 8 russia 2006” yahoo group, send a blank email to [email protected] to request membership. The yahoo group will serve as interactive linkage space between young people participating in the Junior 8 meeting in St. Petersburg and young people from other countries. The yahoo group will be time limited (15 June – 20 July 2006) and will only be accessible prior to and during the Junior 8 2006.

Further information