Summary:
[LJUBLJANA, 6 July 2005] – A the end of the second day of the regional consultation for Europe and Central Asia, the young participants put government representatives on the spot by engaging in a question and answer session.
Further information:
Question to representative from Azerbadjan
Q: Do u think it’s a good idea to include children in decision making? Answer: of course. It is a necessity.
Q: How do you implement this? A: In concrete terms, if we work on government programmes, we draft something, and we then submit this to a children’s forum. We invite NGOs and children to comment. On the basis of comments, we adjust and submit our programme to the cabinet and the parliament.
To the Netherlands: Q: how are you monitoring violence in your country, and how are children effectively consulted? A: we have a number of programmes to fight violence against children in the family. Q: How are children involved? A: I realise children should be more involved in projects, and we will consult with youth council more in the future. Q: has this consultation highlighted other issues? A: yes, that child participation should be developed further. I do not think they should be involved in decision-making, but they should be involved in policy making.
To Romania
Q: As a citizen of your country, not as a politician, how would you criticise the actions of your country to reduce violence against children? A: in our country, it is political against violence, it is social service, specialist, child council, we do have a family council children’s council,
To Lithuania
Q: Do you think violence in the family is acceptable? A: As an ombudsman responsible for the protection of the rights of the child, but also a human being and mother, it is totally unacceptable. The family is the initial springboard that makes it possible for a child to move in life. If necessary, social workers should become to ensure violence does not occur. Q: Why then, is corporal punishment not prohibited in the family? A: .Well, there are in fact laws that protect children, these have been introduced in the administrative code, government institutions can impose fines for instance. Next year, there will be a law presented before parliament forbidding corporal punishment, this law will be based on the model of Swedish law. There is currently a public debate raging in our country.
To Bosnia and Herzegovina
Q: How do you increase awareness about violence in your country? A: In my country, there are many programmes for child protection, there are new laws as well because of our ratification of the CRC. Q: Has this conference highlighted areas you want to change or adapt? A: Yes, and as we are a young country and were at war ten years ago, there are many practices that have changed. A2: [Other speaker] There are a lot of changes ongoing nowadays, soon there will be a new family law. A new criminal code has been adopted, and there is also a council of children that involve governments, children and NGOs, all working to implement a new strategy. Q: Are children involved in decision making at all levels? A: Not yet, but we are working on it.
To Estonia:
Q: Tell me how you are going to support child rights education in your country A: This is one of the topics we are dealing with in our curriculum. We want to emphasise it more and more. As you said in the workshop, not all children know what is sexual abuse, so because of that, want to emphasise that teachers need to educate children on this topic. Q: Is the CRC taught as a school subject? It is not in my country. A: Yes, it is. Some children’s foundations are also eager to talk about this. It should also be taught in child support centers. It needs to be more and more emphasised in school curriculums.
To Tajikistan:
Q: what has been done to protect children from violence? A: We are working a lot on this now. We are working on a law on family violence, and we are part of various regional taskforce groups working on issues of violence Q: How would define violence? A: It is applying force on an individual in a physical or humiliating way, any human being, not just children.
To Luxemburg
Q: How can you stop violence in schools? A: This is a difficult question. There is violence from teachers, from other students, often, violence is institutionalized and structured. For instance, in Luxemburg we have many foreign pupils and they are obliged to study in a new language, and their parents don’t speak that language. These children might have few chances to be integrated. On the positive side, in our schools, we have tried to introduce children in mediation projects, so peer to peer projects, to work on conflict resolution for instance.
Q: Slovenia is back, so I have a question for her: do you think violence in the family is acceptable? A: I am not from the government, but from civil society, but no, I do not. Q: So why is it not banned? A: I would say that after the establishment of the state, which is a fairly new state, there was not so much space for this topic, but now it must be put on the table urgently.
To Russia
Q: What is being done to stop violence in the media? A: We are working on a number of children’s programmes not reduce violence and we are working with the media do not include violence in all programmes.
To Azerbaijan
Q: I am from Chechnya, and in Slovenia, things are quiet, but not in other countries, what do you think? A: If you have in mind armed conflict, it is a big problem. And in a contemporary world, there is nothing worse than the consequences of armed conflict. That kind of violence starts at the instigation of older people, however very often, the front line victims are children. This should be reflected in this conference. They must live in peace.
To Switzerland:
Q: How will u provide information about this conference in your country? A: To me, when there are conferences like these ones, we ensure follow- up. Information is provided to public administration institutions, it is integrated into our policies, and used for concrete measures. This is one of nine consultations that will give rise to more extensive work at the UN level, that will involve information preparation for the final world conference in 2006.
Questions to young delegates:
Q: My question is not politically correct, however, in this conference, do you feel that you are well treated because you are young, or because of your ideas? A: I hope it is about my ideas.
Q: I would like to ask some advice, when you are going back home, what are you doing? I have a budget, and I want to pass on some messages to children in my country? What are the highlights, and what is the best way to reach the most amount of children?
A: In Romania, we try to get involved in NGOs to become trainers for other young people. We try to promote peer to peer teaching, we develop campaigns to make people aware of violence. A2: So many young people don’t even know this conference is going on, so you should publicise it, tell them what is going on and tell them about their rights. A3: In every event about young people, younger children should have a place and share their ideas, like we share ideas from Europe and Central Asia here. A4: You should push the agenda, you have power as adults. Ask children what they want, they are the ones who are being violated. A5: I think it’s important that children are involved because we are people with a mind and desires. A6: It’s important to say to children they have some rights and they have to tell adults about violence.
Question to children:
For a couple of days, you have been together, so what is it that brought you together, what was the common thread? A1: We are united by everything. We all have that one objective which is to prevent violence against children, everywhere, that is enough. A2: I think it was important, we shared ideas, learned about each other’s countries as we all came from all over the region. It is important to know each other’s culture, as this can prevent violence in the future. When we understand this, we are more tolerant, this way we would prevent violence connected with it.
Q: Who from all of you here could ask the same question to your government back home? In your country, would you get serious responses to your questions, the same as is happening here? A: Most of us will be comfortable to speak to people in government. Whether we are listened to is your responsibility. Once they recognise the CRC and Article 12 in particular, then that will be a step forward. A: we are very disappointed that nobody from the UK could come.
Q: What are you prepared to do to improve democracy around the world? Many young people are not interested in politics, what are you going to do to improve interest in political issues? A: We have to convince everyone that they are being listened to if they speak their minds. A2: If you are referring to voter apathy, I don’t blame them. When the media are stereotyping them, criminalising them. They don’t hear about things like this, governments should inform people about what is going on, you have more influence to change things. A3:Young people have opinions We should convince them it’s about their opinions, that it’s their chance to express themselves, rather than use the word politics.
Q: To Slovenian boy [from Slovenian Delegate] If you were President of Slovenia, what would be the first 3 priorities to protect children’s rights in Slovenia? A: Children should be heard as I am not sure there are a lot of opportunities for them. NGOs and governments are not cooperating enough. Second, we would write letter to everyone to inform people about child rights, then we would send every child one copy of the CRC.
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Final word: “So we have just acted. Now it’s your turn. We cannot do anything ourselves. Help us to make our wishes and dreams become a reality, and please act now!!”
