The collective voice of the children must be heard - loudly and clearly - and their concerns be actively included in the development agenda of the commonwealth, a senior United Nations Children’s Fund official said during the launch of the first ever Commonwealth Children’s Conference in Uganda’s capital Kampala.
Speaking during the first ever children’s forum of its kind since the start of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 1944, Keith McKenzie, UNICEF country director (Uganda) said many children remained voiceless and were unable to gain their rights because of economic, social and political exclusion.
Although children make up the biggest percentage of the 53-country groupings population of 1.8 billion there has been, prior to now, no Commonwealth Forum for Children. The Commonwealth Foundation has various associations including the Parliamentary Association, the Business Forum, the Women’s Forum and the Youth Forum.
“Children world over, including those in the 53 commonwealth countries, are facing major obstacles because of factors such as HIV / AIDS, armed conflict, child trafficking, physical impairment and household poverty. Despite some improvements on global child survival rates, the issues affecting them have not been included in the commonwealth agenda prior to this day.”
“Ignoring the plight of children is detrimental to peace and prosperity,” McKenzie added.
Although conflict, political instability and poor governance remain the order of the day in many countries with negative impact on indicators of child welfare and wellbeing, HIV / AIDS, participants learnt, is the biggest challenge. An estimated 10.4 million children currently under age 15 years, most of them in Africa, have lost their mothers or both their parents to AIDS; the majority of them are adolescents. Worryingly two-thirds of the 4.6 million who die on the African continent before their first birthday die in the first seven days of life. According to the conference organisers, children must be empowered to raise their concerns about their future.
“This is a ground-breaking gathering themed “Hear Our Voices Too” and we must help not only be connecting invisible children with their more visible counterparts but also by mobilising resources to bolster child survival.”
The three-day pre-CHOGM conference that was held from 12 – 14 September 2007 brought together more than one hundred children drawn from all parts of Uganda to voice their concerns and demand to be heard by the heads of state and government.
Voicing their concerns and hopes the organisers including World Vision (a leading humanitaraian agency), said that despite tangible improvements witnessed globally through child survival initiatives, not enough was being done for the children.
“We are concerned that world leaders continue to make decisions affecting children without consulting them or taking time to hear them out,” said the World Vision Director (Uganda) Rudo Kwaramba.
Kwaramba added: “This meeting is historic in the sense that preceeding Commonwealth meetings did not create a platform for children. We must hear their voices. Ugandan children offer a window through which the rest of the world can see how diseases, war and household poverty affect the world’s children.
“This conference is a first step and we hope that its greatest achievement will be the institutionalization of the commonwealth children’s forum by policy makers so that children continue to have a platform on which they can raise their voices and be heard,” Kwaramba said.
“All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights and we must recognise and advocate actively for the basic rights of all, including those of the children of the commonwealth. We must succeed at ensuring the children’s for a will be a springboard for advocating what is on the mind of children this; failure is not an option,” said McKenzie in conclusion of his speech.
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings are held once every two years. Uganda will host the 2007 one from 23 – 25 November 2007.
Romosh
