Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro and Rima
Salah talk to young delegates, Ljubljana, 7
July 2005 about what they are going to do
after the consultation ends, once they go
home.
Note: some of the discussion was in English,
some of it translated simultaneously.RIMA SALAH: children’s participation gave the consultation a human face.
Now we would very much like to know what you, as young delegates, are
planning to do when you go home to make your governments follow
through on commitments they have made.
YOUNG DELEGATE FROM BELARUS:
I liked the conference, but felt it was a shame I could not actually express
myself fully, it's a shame there wasn’t enough time to talk together, for me,
my peers, to express our opinions. But it was a great pleasure to be here,
to talk with you, and I feel so happy that such important issues are
discussed and adults want to hear our opinions. I hope and I believe that
we will get together in the future and we will not be discussing the same
problem next time we meet. Thank you all very much and I love you all.
PINHEIRO: I hope so too. One thing you could do, as the progress report
becomes translated in all six UN languages, it would be good if we could
have some feedback from children. Maybe we could ask those who were
involved whether they felt their input was included. Every participant would
not need to, but perhaps some of you could send opinions. It would not be
a very complicated text, at least I hope it will be clear.
YOUNG DELEGATE:
I would like to say that I am very pleased to see that even though we
came from different countries, we managed to cope so well and reach
some conclusions, we are a strong team, we shared opinions openly. I
think this has been a great step forward. It has been great to talk about
issues that concern us all on the same level as adults and I would like to
thank everyone here for working together, and I think I can speak in the
name of all my friends, we will keep pressure on governments.
YOUNG DELEGATE:
I am just happy we are finally being recognised and given a chance to
participate. It has been very informative and I am very keen to take all this
information back to my surroundings. One issue was that it was a bit tiring,
we would have like to have a bit more free time. But I think if we work
together really hard, we can make some changes.
PINHEIRO: We received the same comments in other consultations. There
isn't a solution for this. It's difficult to keep all adults here for three days,
this is already an accomplishment. People would like to have More days, so
perhaps in the future, we could find ways to improve this question of time.
But many of you already have have exchanged information in schools,
clubs, etc., this is what makes your time here worthwhile, it is those
contacts you make, beyond your country.
YOUNG DELEGATE: I thought that groups for the workshops are too big,
especially today, in the trafficking group. Many people are interested,
which is good, but there isn't enough time for everyone to speak. And
people are talking too much, when they are supposed to ask questions,
they actually talk for ten minutes. When you that there are so many
people, maybe you should split them in two and maybe have just two
speakers in the panel. That way you can focus more on the debate.
SERBIA: I am happy I met you all, I am also sad and sorry it was such a
short event. Together we are stronger and we can achieve everything.
Hope is the most important thing, we can accomplish whatever we want.
SLOVENIA: I have learnt a lot in the last few days. But I have some
propositions and some criticisms. I will start with criticism, so that it will get
better. I am a litte disappointed because the Slovenian Prime Minister was
not here during our workshop. That was important for me. I think every
child in our country should get his/her version of the CRC and I think that
our country should have more people working with children and their
rights. I would also like the media to help us to achieve all our goals.
Otherwise, I liked the conference, the workshops, especially yesterday, I
think we had a great time. Than you all, you have been wonderful, I have
made good friends.
PINHEIRO: I think UNICEF sends copies of the CRC. We need to find ways
to have a very large distribution of the CRC, in different languages also.
This is feasible. Because if we are promoting it and not distributing it…
Governments are also responsible because they have ratified the CRC.
Anyway, I think we need to find ways to produce these materials, this is
essential for children but also for parents and teachers.
DELEGATE FROM THE UK: I think we have made so much progress in terms
of trying to stop violence against children in the region. It also highlights
the importance of child participation and getting our voices heard and I
hope it will continue when we get home. We need to force governments in
check, and to follow up on outcomes. It's been so fantastic to meet so
many different young people from the region, share ideas and build up
friendships.
PINHEIRO: In terms of ideas to the question my colleague suggested, how
will you continue to pressure your governments?
YOUNG DELEGATE: I was thinking about what I was going to do when I go
back to Russia and thought that first I would tell my peers about this
conference and also other people who come from the same organisation,
and other childhood and youth organisations. Then I thought I would give
interviews on radio and TV and disseminate information even further. I will
tell everybody how issues are tackled or can be tackled. I will succeed.
GEORGIA: I will answer the question, but I think the most important thing
was talking about the truth. Many facts are given, for example, I met a
person who said a few years ago, he and his friends taught the CRC in
schools, but it’s not like this, nobody teaches this. And if I was not here,
everybody would think it was taught in schools. The first thing I will do is
investigate why this has happened.
ITALY: As a member of a child association, I will keep in touch with youth
representatives and also with associations to raise awareness and make
some presentations about children’s rights and their conditions and explain
the situation about violence against children. I think we have done a great
job, but it's only half a job. We must bring back with us our experiences
and develop them further.
SLOVENIA: I have one criticism about presentations in workshops, a couple
of adult participants were talking for 15 minutes. We all agree that if they
have constructive things to say, its important to say them, but what they
were saying in 15 minutes could have been said in just one sentence. My
other disappointment was regarding our questions session, and nobody
was here from the Slovenian government. They are co-organising the
conference but no one was there. They don't even have to answer our
question, they could just listen to what we had prepared.
I have had a great time, I have made lots of friends. I am hoping to
arrange meetings with the government to change some ideas and hope it
will be covered by the media. We want answers to our questions. I will ask
the government to send a copy of the CRC to all young children, schools,
so that they can find out what human rights are, and where to turn to
when our rights are being violated.
PINHEIRO: That's a good idea. Perhaps it’s always good to do this with
NGOs that have access to governments. This is a wonderful idea, then
invite all the press. Never go alone. Go with the press.
LITHUANIA: I am a member of our student's parliament and we will have a
meeting with the committee of constitutional affairs. The meeting will
include improvement on law and we will offer changes and they can then
choose to accept our suggestions or not.
PINHEIRO What countries have children’s parliament?
YOUNG DELEGATES: Romania, Lithuania, Georgia, UK, Norway and Kosovo.
PINHEIRO: your friends from other parliaments could follow the same
suggestions.
YOUNG DELEGATE: When I come back I would like to become a trainer for
other volunteers, so that all of us can go to schools, and we can share the
information we have gathered here. A few people can manage to teach to
a few hundred.
YOUNG DELEGATE: I will act through my organisation, and use TV and
radio. Then I will get a meeting with local government to help us to set up
somewhere we can go to when our rights are violated.
PINHEIRO: We [UNICEF, NGOs] have so many good contacts, perhaps we
could help child delegates to have access to a certain level of people in
government.
UNICEF: There are many youth groups getting organised that can help,
there are youth parliamentarians, some work, some don’t. If government
delegations organise debriefing sessions upon their return, you should
make sure you are part of that and we will ensure you are part of this
delegation so that you can give your own ideas and opinions.
PINHEIRO: This is a very concrete proposal.
TAJIKISTAN: I will share information that I received here with mobile groups
we have and then go together to schools and to other children and youth
organisations and talk about what we did here, distribute and disseminate
information about the CRC. Otherwise, I liked this conference very much
and I hope adults are interested in our opinions and want to listen to us
and I hope we will achieve all our goals. Thank you.
ARMENIA: I love this conference. What I didn’t like was the subject. I would
rather this subject did not exist. When I go back home, I will tell everyone
about what we achieved and I will try to raise the issue of a need for there
to be psychologists. I think everybody needs help from them. During
conference, two major issues arose, first, I was missing home very much,
but tomorrow that problem will be solved. Second, I will miss you all, and I
would very much like that all problems would be of this kind, because when
we miss each other it’s because we love each other.
CHECHNYA: In my country, the issue of violence against children in schools
or in the family is not really discussed. Most children don't even know their
rights are being violated. When I go back, I will do my best to disseminate
information that I collected here, through schools meetings, and hopefully I
can get support from mass media with this dissemination. I really liked this
conference very much. I only have one problem: it’s a linguistic problem, as
I don’t speak English yet, so could not talk to everybody as openly as I
wanted to, however, even so, all young participants have become like my
family and I will definitely miss you all. It's a shame to have to say goodbye
to you.
PINHEIRO: I hope you will be able to recognise yourselves in the study, to
make sure your efforts have been reflected in the study. You are welcome
to email me if you have any questions or comments. Thank you very much.