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G8 SUMMIT: Did Someone Say C8?

Sanjay Suri

GLENEAGLES, Scotland, Jul 6 2005 (IPS) - Someone please pay attention to the three-day C8 summit that concluded in Dunblane, Scotland on Tuesday.

Decisions taken by the G8 leaders at their summit in Gleneagles July 6-8 will affect children all over the world. And so young people had a right to hold their own three-day summit. And they did. And called it the C8.

Seventeen children attended the summit, sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Their recommendations will go to the G8 (the Group of Eight most industrialized nations: the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Russia).

Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell, who attended the C8 summit, presented its recommendations to British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the start of the G8 gathering Wednesday.

“The value of the C8 summit was that it gave children a voice,” Sarah Epstein from UNICEF told IPS. “Their views on what the problems are, and what the solutions are, matter.”

UNICEF stressed in a statement that “in order for the forum to represent a genuine expression of the children’s views and experiences, UNICEF has not sought to influence their debate, so the views expressed are those of the C8 participants and do not necessarily represent those of the organisers.”

The 17 children who attended the summit came from both the developing world and G8 countries. One young delegate came from each of – Cambodia, Bhutan, Bolivia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Moldova, Yemen and Lesotho. Five came from Britain, and one each from France, Germany, Russia and Italy. The children were aged between 11 and 18.

They produced a manifesto for change, and they want the world to know how they want to set this planet right.

The children told the G8 leaders: “In making these recommendations, we place our faith in you – recalling that you too were once a child – and hope that your commitment to being a member of the human race will influence your decisions.”

The children said G8 leaders must:

– Eliminate poverty now.

– Ensure free quality education for all.

– Protect children by supporting initiatives to eliminate all forms of violence against them, particularly in the family, school, street, workplace, community, media, war and armed conflict.

– Support the creation of children’s commissioners in every country and opportunities for children to participate in decision-making at all levels.

– Ensure accountability of governments; promote democracy, equality and representation by gender, race, age, ethnicity, religion and taking into account people with special needs.

– Make anti-retroviral drugs and therapy (to fight HIV, the virus that causes AIDS) freely available to all. Condoms should also be freely available and accessible to all young people.

– Support programmes for the protection, education and health of street and working children. Support and listen to the global and regional movements of these children.

– Support children’s participation in monitoring the protection of the natural environment to support safe sustainable development for the future. All the G8 leaders must implement the Kyoto Protocol (to combat global warming) and must support governments to establish clean water and quality sanitation facilities in schools and communities.

– Cancel debt and promote fair trade to assure funds are generated for comprehensive free health services and nutritious food, so that children do not die of preventable diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, and so they can live healthy lives. The leaders must also promote the use of safe and effective alternative medication.