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UNICEF Website Link:

http://www.unicef.org/voy/explore/rights/explore_4026.html

 

Direct Link to Report:

http://www.unicef.org/voy/media/Will_You_Listen_090607.pdf

 

THE GIRL CHILD

Youth Report on War and Conflict

"We are the displaced children.

 We are children who have been used by armed groups.

 We are orphans.

 We are street children.

 We are girls who sell our bodies to survive.

 We are children who have to work.

 We are children who can't go to school.

 We are children with disabilities.

 We are children living with HIV.

 We are detained children.

 We are girls who have been raped.

 We are children taking care of our brothers and sisters.

 

 WE ARE CHILDREN WITHOUT A CHILDHOOD."

 

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Introduction

“We are displaced children. We are children who have been used by armed groups. We are orphans…Will you listen?”

The Youth Report of the Machel 10-year Strategic Review “Will you listen? Young Voices from Conflict zones” was launched at the UNITED NATIONS on October 17th 2007.  

The Report, includes firsthand accounts of the atrocities that children suffer during war and calls for more involvement of children in resolving conflicts and healing post-conflict societies. The launch was co-sponsored by UNICEF, UNFPA, SRSG CAAC, and the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations.

A team of young people led by Chernor Bah, a UNFPA Special Youth Fellow and youth activist from Sierra Leone, and Vidar Ekehaug, youth advocate from Global Youth Action Network (GYAN), introduced the Report. They were joined by Saif Ayed, from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and brother and sister Fatou Sanoe and Ayouba Swaray from Liberia whose lives from an early age were shaped by conflict and loss of safe childhood. 

During Sierra Leone’s 11 years of war, Chernor fled his home and lived first as an IDP and later as a refugee.  When he returned home, he began to promote child rights, playing a key role in the country’s immediate post-conflict recovery efforts. Saif who lives in Ramalah, coordinates dancing and singing events at the Birzeit Club to help other young people recover from trauma.  Fatou and Ayouba fled Liberia in 1995 and were unable to attend school during their family’s first three years as refugees in Guinea.  After 10 years of refugee life with support from the International Rescue Committee, Fatou and Ayouba, along with their mother and siblings, were resettled in New York City in 2005 where they now attend high school.  To learn more about them please click here. 

In presenting the Youth Report, the young team voiced strong demands to have their rights respected, for opportunities to learn, play safely and grow healthy, and to have their voices heard. 

“We hope that by listening to and learning from us you will be in a better position to reduce the impact of armed conflict on those and other children and to grant us freedom, security, protection and the opportunity for normal development”.

Along with demands for justice and for their rights to be respected, children and youth were resolute in seeing themselves as a force for peace and as active partners in rebuilding their communities.   As the young activists reminded us in their closing remarks - talking is not enough.  Reaching out to world leaders, they call for action in building a better and safer world:

“We want more opportunities to take part in making decisions that affect us. We ask that you empower us and our organizations to be able to participate in a way that counts in all decisions that affect us. We do not want to be called in when you have already made the decisions. We want to work hand in hand with you”. 

 





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