RIGHTS: Children Must Be Given a Voice, Says UNICEF

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Dec 11 2002 (IPS) - The world’s two billion children deserve the right to be heard and to fully participate in society, says the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in its flagship report, deploring that millions of minors continue to suffer neglect.

Allowing children to participate in the decisions that affect them would contribute towards improving the world, in which 150 million children are undernourished, 120 million school-aged children do not attend classes and 6,000 children become infected with HIV daily, says the UN agency.

The focus of “The State of the World’s Children 2003”, the UNICEF report presented in the Mexican capital Wednesday, is promoting children’s participation in family, school, community and national life.

Achieving such participation ensures that minors develop an appreciation of and contribute to democracy, peace and social development, says the text. “We will see a generation much better prepared and capable of addressing the problems, inequities and injustices that they have inherited.”

“Democracy begins with children,” says UNICEF, adding that children and youth who participate and share their opinions in a context of tolerance and respect will improve the health of any democratic system.

“If children’s rights and well-being are not addressed by governments, national agencies and various international partners, development goals will never be met,” states the report. “Poverty will surely persist and democracy will surely wither.”

There are more than 80 democratic nations in the world today, nearly twice as many as there were two decades ago, according to the United Nations Development Programme’s 2002 report.

Nevertheless, the strength of this political system is currently in question, as the opinions of children from around the world indicate.

Two out of three children polled in Latin America and the Caribbean said they distrust their governments partially or completely, according to surveys conducted by UNICEF.

In Europe and Central Asia, just four of 10 children consider elections to be an effective way of improving the situation of their respective countries.

Of children surveyed in the East Asia-Pacific region, only three percent mentioned a head of state among the people they admire.

The process of promoting democracy must target the population in early childhood, says UNICEF.

“The place to start building democracy is with children – from what they learn in the process of their own growth and development,” says the report.

To do so requires optimising children’s participation, and “depends on adults sharing control, power, decision-making and information.”

In some cases, the failure to share such responsibilities can have life-or-death consequences for a child, as in the case of information about HIV/AIDS.

Surveys conducted in 40 countries, cited by UNICEF, indicate that more than 50 percent of youths aged 15 to 24 consulted have “serious misconceptions” about how HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS, is transmitted.

Furthermore, 14 million children under age 15 have lost one or both of their parents to AIDS-related death.

“To build a world fit for children in the 21st century,” writes UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the report’s prologue, will happen “only if governments fulfil their promise that the voices of children and young people will be heard loud and clear; if we ensure the full participation of children in the work to build a better future.”

As one measurement of children’s well-being around the world the UN agency included in its report a list of countries based on child mortality rates, that is, deaths of children under age five.

The countries with highest child mortality are found on the African continent, with Sierra Leone in the lead. Sweden has the lowest rate, according to the UNICEF ranking.

As far as infant mortality rates – deaths of children under a year old – Afghanistan suffers the highest rate, followed by Angola and Guinea.

With regard to another social indicator, life expectancy, Malawi, Rwanda and Sierra Leone are the countries with the lowest average, just 40 years. The country with the longest average life expectancy in the world is Japan, with 81 years.

UNICEF acknowledges that it might sound pretentious to promote children’s participation when a world of poverty and inequality exists in which millions of adults continue to go unheard and ignored.

However, says the UN agency, if the world’s adults and governments truly want to tackle poverty and inequalities their best chance is to listen to children, to respect and take into consideration their opinions, because it is children who are key for building societies that are more egalitarian, democratic and tolerant.