Voices
Five young writers explain their concerns and hopes for the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children

Nazli Kfoury, 15 (New York City, United States), is a young journalist for Children’s Express in New York. She covered the third PrepCom for the Non-governmental Organization Committee on UNICEF newsletter, On the Record:
The Special Session is geared towards ensuring that we, the youth of the world, have a brighter future. Why then have so many of the youth in attendance at the three Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) meetings been left asking themselves, “If we are so important in this process, then why have we been so excluded from it?”

Youth around the world are the primary concern of the Special Session. The purpose of the Outcome Document is to outline the best possible life circumstances for all children around the world, The Special Session focuses on improving a healthy start to our lives and on ensuring a good basic education for all children.

At the third PrepCom, children led caucuses, spoke at many conferences, and even presented changes to the plenary sessions. But although young people were grateful for the opportunity to voice their views and to participate in the PrepCom, we were worried as to whether we were taken seriously. Was the idea to involve us just a masquerade to enhance, in the minds of the adults, the idea of children’s rights? Granted, youth participation has increased throughout the past three PrepComs, but it still hasn’t reached the level of involvement which it ought to have. Adults may be knowledgeable about the issues addressed in the Outcome Document, but they do not have a clear understanding about them on our day-to-day level. Hopefully, the Governments attending the Special Session will take with them what they should have learned at the past PrepComs: that youth must be equally included in every step of the process.

Without our support, the Outcome Document and the Special Session will restructure the lives of youth around the world from the perspective of adults, not from the perspective of the young people whom it will directly affect.

John Meyers, 13 (New Jersey, United States), is also a Children’s Express journalist and was a writer for On the Record during the third PrepCom:
If you take the time to review the third Preparatory Committee meeting for the Special Session on Children, you will see that practically nothing was accomplished. Based on what I witnessed at this PrepCom, I had the feeling that Governments forgot the task at hand and decided to play around with words. Throughout the week, I was irritated by this notion. I would cross my fingers and hope that, at the next meeting I walked into, things would change for the better, and there would be some sense passed around. It turns out that the whole week was the same.

Governments should establish the main points that they want to elaborate, find a clear way of explaining this, and then follow it through. People might say, “it’s not that simple” or “they should take their time and do it correctly”. They are absolutely right. But given the time factor, they should stop getting into heated debates over individual words that have been checked many times before.

The Special Session is going to be only three days. Governments cannot afford to twiddle their thumbs and waste time. They do not have the whole week to make the changes to the Outcome Document. If Governments could not do it in a week, they can’t do it in three days. I only hope that the children, and especially the adults, are willing to work unimaginably hard and remember what to focus on at the Special Session.

Dafina Kurti, 18 (Gjakova, Kosovo), is a member of the Kosovar Youth Council and participated in the second PrepCom:
In the Special Session on Children, the concerns of youth must be addressed more strongly. Governments should not just have a seat at the session, but make changes for our world and make our visions a reality. It is when Governments, non-governmental organizations and other agencies will make commitments and agreements, which will form the basis for action in the coming decade. There are a lot of different concerns that children and young people throughout the world are facing today, such as poverty, armed conflict, discrimination, AIDS and lack of quality education. We hope that with pressure, involvement and raising our voice, we will be heard.

A “World Fit for Children” is where children’s rights are protected, where children can have their say, where they can play and learn, and grow to adulthood in good health, peace and dignity. Children must be allowed to grow up in a safe and healthy environment. Children and adolescents should be protected from violence, from war and every kind of discrimination. Here in Kosovo, we have experienced war, and it was the worst moment of our lives. We felt completely hopeless. So the Special Session should focus more on preventing war and on helping more children affected by war. In Kosovo, a lot of money has been spent rebuilding our country, but it has not addressed the needs of young people. We must ensure that adolescents and children in war-affected countries have a quality education. They need to be able to find jobs. They are the ones who need to be able to build a peaceful future. There are many challenges and there is much more work to be done.

Hekuran Soba, 19 (Gjakova, Kosovo), is a member of the Kosovar Youth Council and a student at Pristina University:
First I want to say that I am happy that finally world decision-makers have decided to talk to young people and hear their problems and concerns. I took part in the International Conference on War-Affected Children in Canada in 2000 and we were able to contribute to the discussions. From my experience, I expect that politicians at the Special Session on Children will finally understand that youth and adolescents have rights and needs which need to be realized. Unfortunately, until now, Governments - and adults in general - haven’t taken our concerns seriously. They should start to cooperate with young people so we can try to solve the problems of youth together. Then it will be easier for them to do their job as decision makers and as parents.

I want to mention two of the biggest concerns of youth in my country, Kosovo. The first is education. This problem is particularly bad in rural areas, because most girls don’t go to university or even to secondary school after primary school.

Many students have had to stop studying because of their financial situation. Some of them, who know a little bit of English, are working as translators or guards at the UN or other foreign organizations in Kosovo. This links to the second biggest problem, which is unemployment. About 85 per cent of the population of Kosovo do not have a job. Most of the factories have been destroyed by the ten years of neglect under the Milosevic regime, and donors are hesitant to give money, while the political future of Kosovo is undecided. If we are to have peace, then jobs for young people will be critical. The world needs to support youth in Kosovo and in other countries affected by war.

Milorad (Miki) Grkovic, 17 (Orahovac, Kosovo and Metohija), presently settled in Nis, Yugoslavia, attended the third Preparatory Committee:
I have big hopes for the Special Session, but there is a big gap between hopes and reality. I would be satisfied if world leaders could show some understanding and work towards improving children’s lives. I expect them to make commitments, which will solve children’s problems in the next ten years, and I hope those commitments will start to take effect immediately. If we want all the children of the world to be happy and to grow up in a safe environment, we must not close our eyes to all these problems that have been around for a long time and which no one has addressed.

There are 10 million inhabitants in my country, Yugoslavia, and 10 per cent of them are either refugees or internally displaced people. This means that there are many children living in poor conditions. They do not have access to health institutions and they have very poor quality of education. There are a lot of children whose parents have been kidnapped by Albanian extremists over the last three years. We need to know what has happened to the people who are missing because it is ruining the lives of many innocent children. Among those children who live in poor conditions, there are for sure at least 20 per cent who have the potential to become great scientists, artists, architects and so on; and if we do not offer good conditions for their development, they won’t be able to give us what they could.

I have a message to leaders of the world: If you want this Special Session to be successful and to be the beginning of a better world for children, then you should stick to solving the problems you are committed to. In conclusion, I hope that this Special Session will bring a smile to children worldwide.

Miki, Dafina and Hekuran all participated in a research study in Kosovo in 2000 on Promoting the Protection and Capacity of Kosovo’s Youth, with the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children. They represented, respectively, the Serbian, Egyptian and Albanian communities of Kosovo.

Links:
Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children