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Summary: Summary of the first day of the South Asia
Regional Consultation
South Asia Regional Consultation – Children’s Consultation
Day 1, 17 May 2005, Morning session
[17 May 2005, ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN] - The South Asia Consultation for
the UN Study on violence against children, was today opened with the
children’s consultation. Twenty-five children from all over the region,
including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, The
Maldives and Bhutan, are participating in this consultation to make sure
that their voices and experiences are taken into account and that they are
given a chance to influence the outcome of the Regional consultation,
starting on Thursday 19.
The girls and boys attending the consultation come from a variety of
backgrounds, ethnic groups, and areas in their countries and are aged
between six and 18. Children’s participation at this consultation was
facilitated by Save the Children in the region who implemented various
selection criteria, varying from country to country. Generally, these children
had to be involved with or working on violence issues, for instance working
with NGOs in their countries. Most of them would have been elected by
children in their communities, then at national levels, to represent all
children. Unfortunately no children from India were able to attend.
After children were given a chance to introduce themselves, they were
asked to list their expectations and ground rules for the two day
consultation in groups. Children’s expectations included: they want to
make friends, they want to know how to prevent violence against children,
and how to fight it; they want to share their experiences, they want adults
to listen to their opinions, and want to improve every child’s right to live
free from violence, adults must work hard to protect children from violence,
and their parents should be very proud of their participation in this
consultation. Ground rules included: everyone should have a chance to
express their ideas, everyone should listen to each others’ ideas,
everyone should be allowed to express themselves in their own
languages, nobody should be interrupted.
Following this session, there was a discussion about the objectives of
children’s involvement in the Study. Three main objectives were
highlighted and discussed:
1. ensure that girls and boys share their voices, actions, tools and
processes to eliminate violence
2. advocate their recommendations and actions against violence
with governments, planners and policy-makers who are attending the
regional consultation
3. ensure that girls and boys’ voices and recommendations are
incorporated into the regional thematic report for the UN Study.
Children then watched a short film made by children for children about
violence in different settings, such as in school, in the family, in the
community and in work. They were then divided into country teams to
discuss what types of violence are more prominent in their countries.
During the afternoon session, children will be given an opportunity to
share their experiences with children from the whole region.