Speaking at the UN in Geneva as an EQUAL

Hi everyone!

Today was the first day that we went to the UN Conference Building to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the CRC, and it was incredible!! During the morning we had many experts on child rights speak with many powerful pictures on the projector in order to introduce the event. During the break in the morning I did an interview with the journalist from "Voices of America", who asked me many questions on my views on child rights and what must be done in order to improve them. She asked if all child rights are respected in Canada because we are a stable and developed country, though I told them that there are still many children that are living on the street with no parental care, being neglected by their parents which occurs in impoverished and wealthy families, and the aboriginal children in Canada are living especially difficult lives. Their standard of living is no where near acceptable in many cases, and they suffer from alcoholism, depression and the deprivation of basic needs on the reserves. Canada definitely has to improve its implementation of the CRC too.

In the afternoon I represented my group of Dialogue in the Public Sector on the panel with 7 experts on child rights, and I sat right next to the Chairwoman. Today's meeting lasted 3 hours, but it was not for discussion. The experts on the panel presented their views on child rights and their recommendations on how to improve the implementation of the CRC. I felt so accepted and included during the whole afternoon, and they encouraged me to voice my thoughts and opinions at any time between presentations.

At the end of half of the presentations I was able to tell them my group's opinions about how child rights should be included in the school curriculum at a young age so that children and parents can become more aware. I told them the example of how in Canada we learn our rights in the Grade 10 Civics and Careers course, but by then it's too late because we are only considered children for 3 more years! And if the government had consulted children before they had made that decision to start this course, they could have invested their money and used their time much more wisely. Which brought me to my second point that children need to be given the opportunity to participate fully in decisions that concern them. Adults need to trust children more and not make the assumption that they know what it best for us. And finally, to fully have the right of participation, there needs to be a process; and one part of the process is not enough. First, there needs to be opportinities provided to voice our opinions, then they need to listen and take our thoughts into consideration, and finally adults have to execute some form of follow-up action in response to our views. I got the full attention of all the representatives of the international community when I spoke and was shown a great deal of respect.

The whole experience was exhillirating to know that there are adults out there who are on the same page as children and are fighting just as hard for us. I feel so fortunate to be able to fight for child rights on behalf of children all over the world, and I will continue to do my best tomorrow in the discussion/recommendations part of the conference.

I'm gonna go to sleep now to rest up for the big day tomorrow. 'Night!!

- Cara