Summary:

Millions of children feel disconnected from political institutions and lack trust in their governments, reported UNICEF at the launch of its flagship publication “The State of the World’s Children 2003”.

http://www.developments.org.uk/data/issue21/children.htm

Surveys carried out on four continents over three years among 40,000 children found that, “millions of children have doubts about the usefulness of voting as a method of improving their lives, and don’t see government leaders as role models,” according to David Bull, Executive Director of UNICEF UK.

The response is causing particular concern since 140 of the world’s countries now hold multi-party elections – more than at any time in history.

“This is a deeply worrying trend,” said Bull, “And one that political leaders would do well to pay attention to. If the adult world is really serious about creating a better future for humanity, children must be granted more of a voice and more ways to participate in decisions affecting their future.”

The report suggests that – far from undermining parental authority – participation at an early age in issues that concern children helps create young people who are more respectful and concerned about their rights and those of others.

“Children and adolescents have proved that when they are involved they can make a difference in the world around them. They have ideas, experiences and insights that enrich adult understanding, and make a positive contribution to adult actions,” says the report.

In the province of Baluchistan, Pakistan, boys have taken up the cause of education for girls – widely recognised as one of the most significant and cost-effective means of development. Here, where the female literacy rate is two per cent, the local UNICEF office broke new ground with the help of the boy scout movement. Never before had boys participated in promoting the rights of girls. The scouts went door-to-door surveying girls’ school attendance and even trying to convince fathers to enrol daughters. Where villages had no existing girls’ primary school, the scouts would convince the boys’ school to admit girls. Where the long walk to school presented dangers, the scouts would offer to escort the girls. In the first year, each targeted school enrolled 10 to 15 new girls, amounting to a total of around 2,500.

In Afuguri, Nigeria, it took older children playing an active role in their community to ensure thousands of infants were immunised. The 25,000 strong Afuguri community was not taking advantage of its local, well-equipped primary healthcare centre – until a group of 10-16 year olds, of the child rights club at the Williams Memorial Secondary school, took a hand. They targeted not just the poor rates of immunisation in their own community but the entire Abia state. Mobilizing women to bring children in for immunisation, they also tracked babies and traced defaulters – going from house-to-house to identify eligible infants. As a result an average of 328 a month were immunised over eight months, compared with eight per month before the project started.

In rural Colombia a model of education called Escuela Nueva is proving so successful that it is now being adopted by other Latin American countries such as Guatemala, Guyana and Honduras. Escuela Nueva schools are based on multi-age groups in which children’s rights and democratic involvement are central to the curriculum. A recent study of 25 schools in two of the more violent areas in Colombia found that the 15 schools using the Escuela Nueva methodology had a direct and significant impact on the participation and democratic behaviour of its graduates within the community, and on the voting patterns of parents.

Despite the fact that adolescents are on the brink of adulthood, they are often the age group most likely to find themselves marginalized. Almost all countries have populations of adolescents scraping out a living on the streets of urban centres. Latest estimates put the number as high as 100 million.

In Brazil, boys and girls who live on the city streets have found in the MNMMR (National Movement of Street Boys and Girls) a space for participation that has permitted them to become aware of their rights, reorganise their perspective on life and fight for what is their due. The Movement, founded in 1985, has had a significant impact on the national legislation reform and played a leading role in denouncing extermination groups. By participating in the Movement, boys and girls who have spent time on the streets learn how to return to family and community life, attend school and take advantage of a space of their own where they can fight for their rights.

“Society gains from young people and children’s participation because of the freshness that they bring to issues,” reports UNICEF. “They might not have the most feasible solutions all the time, but they rarely assume that it’s business as usual. So there are more opportunities and broader ideas thrown on the table. And from those opportunities more success is possible.”

View ‘The State of the World’s Children 2003’ at www.unicef.org/sowc03/index.html 

Previous News release items

• 22/08/2003: Guantanamo may free children
• 18/06/2003: Comisión Interamericana presentó ante la Corte IDH la primera demanda contra el Estado salvadoreño por la desaparición forzada de dos niñas
• 23/04/2003: US detains children at Guantanamo Bay
• 23/04/2003: Children detained at Guantanamo should be released
• 12/04/2003: TURKMENISTAN: Secret police interrogate and threaten Baptist children

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Last updated 11/09/2006 12:12:15

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