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YOUNG GENERAL ASSEMBLY GLOBAL PLAN OF ACTION TO
CREATE A WORLD FIT FOR CHILDREN WITH CHILDREN
In the name of love, unity and harmony, we young people, as the future of our nations and of the world as a whole, are calling upon people of goodwill to join us in our effort to create a world fit for children with children. We intend to do this by working to the best of our ability to have all 21 targets fully achieved as set forth in the United Nations document “A World Fit for Children” coupled with the full implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols.
Because the 1990 World Summit for Children goals fell far short of being achieved, we are calling for the maximum cooperation and dedication of all parties involved in developing productive partnerships between governmental offices and civil society that include children (people under the age of 18 years) in the decision-making, the solution building, the implementation of plans and their evaluation. We are calling for this because the one element lacking to achieve the 1990 World Summit for Children goals was Child Participation. Our plan to create a world fit for children with children is called the “Young General Assembly Global Plan of Action (YGA-GPA).”
The Young General Assembly Global Plan of Action promotes values that bring about cooperation- values such as tolerance, respect for cultural diversity and human rights and equality. The people who understand human values are the ones who shape a nation’s heart. It is hoped that by working with YGA-GPA people will learn to see themselves as part of the whole world and become responsibly active global citizens.
The objectives of the Young General Assembly Global Plan of Action are to:
1. demonstrate that the responsible use of Child Participation is a very effective means through which to successfully build a world fit for everyone;
2. create a nurturing environment for Child Participation;
3. offer children opportunities which will allow them to become lifelong responsibly active citizens and to research appropriate information before making decisions;
4. offer opportunities for governmental offices, UNICEF and other United Nations agencies to partner with children and civil society organisations to fully achieve the 21 targets of A World Fit for Children and total implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols;
5. offer civil society agencies and NGOs opportunities to develop new methods and to enhance old methods of working with children and governmental offices to achieve their own organisational objectives; and
6. promote the goals, ideas and objectives of the Young General Assembly Charter Preamble and the United Nations.
Child Participation has recently become a popular topic. However, many people are unsure of its meaning. Child Participation can be defined as, “ The mutually respectful and equal exchange of ideas and communication between children and adults, leading to the realisation of policy and its implementation and evaluation.” Children participating in projects and decision-making must be as well
informed as the adults working with them. Adults must take extra steps to ensure that all suggestions and
ideas from children are considered with the same respect given to their adult counterparts. Both children and adults must make an effort to plan for and encourage Child Participation. Once people are willing to fully accept Child Participation and it becomes established as a normal, everyday part of life, it will improve the world not just for children- it will improve the world for everyone.
Child Participation is a right and not a privilege. Child Participation develops healthy, educated, responsibly active child citizens who are the lifeline for a prosperous nation and a peaceful, sustainable world. The right of Child Participation brings with it the responsibilities for children to seek to become informed, to have the courage to speak out, to treat others with respect, to listen deeply to all sides of an issue, to create solutions that will benefit everyone through the next seven generations and to be patient with adults. However, adults must be ready to listen and to take into account the views of children and they must be able to trust children and engage in mutually respectful partnerships with them.
Why is Child Participation important? Is it necessary? Are there benefits from Child Participation? Does it make sense? Is it a waste of time? Here are some ideas that will help the reader understand and find answers to these questions.
During childhood people learn many important things. Childhood is the entry to life. Learning by doing is the most effective way to learn and it prepares a child for his/her future life as an adult. Child Participation is learning by doing.
The earlier a child starts making practical meaningful decision, the more experienced and responsible that child will be later. Child Participation teaches one how to make meaningful decisions that occur in life. This is important because some children do not have an adult to model. Learning how to make meaningful decisions also teaches a child how to take responsibility for his or her decisions.
Child Participation can teach a child social skills such as tolerance, cooperation, clear communication, respect for diversity, etc. By learning to use these skills the child can develop positive social habits.
Children know what the best solution for them is. They know what they need and they have good ideas and they are quick to adapt to new ideas. When engaging in Child Participation, these qualities come into play and bring about more effective solutions at lower cost.
Through Child Participation children are often helping children. This is often more effective than adults helping children because children are more inclined to discuss stressful situations with others their own age.
When engaged in Child Participation, young people feel needed and this can pull them away from negative actions such as drinking, taking drugs or committing crimes.
Children need to learn to make decisions for themselves. Decision-making is part of everyday life. Children are in the process of becoming adults. When they miss an opportunity to learn to make decisions for themselves, they miss an important lesson in life. Child Participation offers children opportunities to make meaningful decisions.
Children need to discover their talents and find out where they need to develop more strength of character. Child Participation provides the opportunity for them to do this productively.
Child Participation is very important and it cannot be neglected…not by children or by adults. Children need to be encouraged to express themselves, take part in the community’s social life and have a word to say about current problems in their living area. Child Participation builds active responsible citizens.
Child Participation develops a sense of responsibility in children. A responsible adult develops from being a responsible child. Learning to be a responsible child means that a child must have some responsibilities. Responsibility comes from being involved and being involved is the essence of Child Participation.
Creating a better life for children is an enormous task and adults only have born the burden far too long. It is time now that children get involved because they are the ones that know their problems best. They are also the ones that will benefit most from the full achievement of A World Fit for Children targets and the full implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols. We are asking you to commit yourself to working with children to find a way forward. Your participation and cooperation in the Young General Assembly Global Plan of Action could make a world of difference in the lives of millions of children!
YGA GLOBAL PLAN OF ACTION STRATEGIES
General Strategies
* Children will use existing organisations and/or start new ones to do projects that will implement A World Fit for Children (WFFC) 21 Targets and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its Optional Protocols in their country.
* NGOs working with and for children will revise their present organisational objectives to express their involvement with WFFC targets and CRC.
* Hear the Children Day of Peace on 21 September (International Day of Peace), 20 November (the day the Convention on the Rights of the Child entered force) and 10 May (the adoption date of A World Fit for Children day) will be events organised to launch new projects, evaluate completed, projects, publicise the benefits of Child Participation, begin partnerships between adults and children, inform about the Convention on the Rights of the Child and A World Fit for Children, and gain support for and recruit people to assist the national government in its implementation of WFFC and CRC.
* If governments do not respond to the efforts by children to form partnerships with them, then children will create and implement their own WFFC plans of action (see the 105 project plans in this book). After studying A World Fit for Children and deciding which targets will benefit their area the most, they will initiate a project and upon conclusion send a report to the Young General Assembly Secretariat at peaceways@igc.org.
Strategies for Civil Society and NGOs
* Sensitise the public and design workshops/meetings to be presented mostly by people under 18 to educate people of all different ages and living in all different areas about the WFFC and CRC and its Optional Protocols.
* Initiate, monitor, and get media coverage of their own organisational activities furthering the WFFC and CRC implementation by developing a cooperation with local and national newspapers so the group’s reports will be publicised as well as articles written by children and adults involved in the Young General Assembly Global Plan of Action.
* Organise coalitions of NGOs, religious groups, and local governmental officials that will educate the community and the media about WFFC and CRC (e.g. presenting workshops, public events, dramas, etc.).
* Work with school officials and students to have education about WFFC and CRC as part of the school curriculum at every grade level so the children can decide for themselves what they would like to do in order to further the WFFC and CRC.
* Organise local "town hall" meetings at which a local governmental plans of action can be written to assist the national governmental implementation of WFFC and CRC and encourage other communities in other areas to do the same.
* Research facts and statistics that can be used to press the cause of local issues that can be alleviated by the implementation of WFFC and CRC and distribute these facts to the media, NGOs, schools, local governments, local representatives to the national parliament/congress, etc.;
* Work with other NGOs to organise a national WFFC and CRC "watchdog" committee based in the national capital. This committee must include children and can send shadow reports to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva about the nation’s implementation of CRC and WFFC.
Strategies for Working with Governments
* Find out which national governmental office is responsible for implementing the WFFC, obtain the contact information for this office or official, distribute this contact information to other NGOs in the nation and to the Young GA Secretariat, and initiate a partnership with this national governmental office.
* Obtain a copy of the WFFC national plan of action from the national government and distribute it to the local coalitions throughout the nation, local governments, and schools as well as the media.
* Establish contact with local representatives to the national parliament/congress, informing them and providing opportunities for them to speak in public about WFFC, and CRC and urging them to initiate and support funding bills for the implementation of the WFFC through personal visits, rallies, marches, letter campaigns, etc.
* Send reports to appropriate national, regional, and local officials and follow up these reports with personal visits to see that the reports have been read and if any action will come as a result of the report. If no action results after two reports have been submitted, organize rallies, letter campaigns, etc. to get the officials’ attention.
Strategies for Working with the United Nations
* Do research on the internet (www.unhchr.ch) or contact the United Nations Human Rights Centre in Geneva and obtain a copy of the recommendations made by the Committee on the Rights of the Child when it last interviewed your nation on its progress on implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocols and distribute this information to the NGO coalitions so projects can be initiated that strengthen the committee's recommendations as well as the nation's implementation of WFFC and CRC.
* Do research on the internet (www.unhchr.ch) or contact the United Nations Human Rights Centre in Geneva and find out when your nation is scheduled next to report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva and create a children's parallel shadow report to arrive in Geneva six months ahead of the nation's interview date. Include in the shadow report the nation's children's view of the government's implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and their view of the nation's progress with the WFFC 21 targets. This shadow report can be created through a national survey, through meetings with school children in diversified social strata, through radio or TV programs, etc.
* Send copies of the children's shadow report to the Secretary General of the United Nations and the President of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, to the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, and United Nations offices working with young people.
The Young General Assembly Secretariat will Contribute
* Peaceways-Young General Assembly Secretariat is serving as the coordinating center for the YGA-GPA (peaceways@igc.org). List your organisation on the YGA-GPA address list.
* The Secretariat will share written materials (workshop outlines, pamphlets, statistics about children, etc.) via e mail to help to be sent out to other interested organisations and Young GA Member Organizations so they can get practical ideas about ideas that work well.
* The Secretariat will network and connect with organisations that are working on the same focus and share experiences.
* The Secretariat will put out bulletins including the reports sent in about children’s WFFC and CRC implementation.
ESTABLISHING A WORLD FIT FOR CHILDREN
AND
THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
IN THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM
The two documents A World Fit for Children (WFFC) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its Optional Protocols essentially have the same goal of improving the lives of children so they in turn can build a better future. Whereas the implementation of the CRC is legally binding, the
implementation of the WFFC is not. However, when these documents are coupled together, everyone will benefit. Therefore, it is wise to teach about both these documents in the school curriculum.
CRC and WFFC need to be included in school curricula because:
1. Children need to know their rights and the targets their governments are working on so they can help by designing and working on projects to assist implementation of the documents;
2. Children need to know these two documents so they take appropriate actions and help their schools become better;
3. Brought to the attention of educators and students, these documents can have a positive effect on children with special needs;
4. The two documents help students learn ways they can live according to the principles of human rights, peace, tolerance, and gender equality;
5. Through doing projects to implement these documents, children can gain experiential knowledge;
6. The study of these two documents will promote quality education for minority children;
7. By studying these two documents and informing employers, children can work and earn essential money for their families as well as get an education;
8. Children will know and thus be able to defend their rights;
9. The study of these two documents will inspire different ideas for ways that Child Participation can benefit the school and community;
10. The information in both documents is very useful in discussions about how rights carry responsibilities with them and help children identify their responsibilities;
11. If students know the documents, they can inform adults and make full implementation
of both documents a reality;
12. Through the study of both documents, adults and children can initiate partnerships to implement the ideas contained in them;
13. By studying both documents together, children and adults can learn to interact and cooperate in a meaningful and productive manner;
14. Through the study of both documents, teachers and school officials will become more aware of child rights and can adapt classroom and school policies that will reflect fairness; and
15. If students know and understand both documents, they can help their parents understand and support actions connected with both documents because most schools have authority in the adult world.
Suggestions about how the CRC and WFFC can be brought into the school curriculum:
Approaching the National Ministry/Department of Education
1. Have a discussion with a few friends that are interested in improving the lives of children.
2. Write a newsletter or flier introducing CRC and WFFC and explaining about the group.
- Stage a rally in every school in the area to start a letter campaign to ask the Minister of Education to set a national policy that both the CRC and WFFC are to be taught in all schools at all levels.
Have meeting with national parliament representatives asking their support.
Put up an informative web site about CRC and WFFC for students and adults to use.
Find out the correct name, title, and address of the Minster of Education and write a letter requesting an appointment.
Follow up the appointment with phone calls and other letters until an answer to the letter campaign has been secured.
Working from the bottom up
- Gather together a group of people who will serve as moderators for the campaign/project.
Make presentations in schools about why students should study the CRC and WFFC.
Put articles in newsletters and newspapers about the value of CRC and WFFC-arrange to speak on TV talk shows to as many people as possible.
Create a petition and get signatures.
Make an appointment with the Minister of Education to discuss the petition.
If he/she does not approve introducing CRC and WFFC into school curriculum, then organise student marches in as many areas of the nation as possible to get more media attention. Get other organizations to join and talk to their parliamentarians to put pressure on the national government and the local educators. Having this pressure may result in the request for CRC and WFFC in the school curriculum being granted. It will be a long, hard way to achieve the desired goal, but it’s the most suitable method to do this.
Networking to get CRC and WFFC into the School Curriculum
- Have a small group of people make up a workshop outline and send the outline and information about the Young General Assembly Global Plan of Action out to many organisations working with and for children so they can organise workshops for children to become informed about CRC and WFFC.
Write friends around the nation and get people to contact their friends and connections in other areas and request that they put on workshops too.
Organise a children’s march with placards requesting that CRC and WFFC be put into the curriculum of all schools.
Circulate a petition at the workshops and the march.
Create a young people’s parliament that, after a while, will have enough authority to make a formal request of the government to place CRC and WFFC in all school curricula.
Take a statement from a young people’s parliament, the petitions from the marches, and the workshops to the Minister of Education and make a formal presentation requesting the placement of CRC and WFFC in social studies courses in all the schools in the nation.
Getting the CRC and WFFC put into the school curriculum as written above does not mean to exclude local officials. For the realization of this goal it is best to gain the support and cooperation of local officials. It is necessary to have their agreement. Without the support of local officials, any agreement at the national level as well as the global level will be very difficult to obtain.
REMEMBER-
TOGETHER WE CAN CREATE
A WORLD FIT FOR CHILDREN WITH CHILDREN !!!!
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