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Direct Link to Report:
THE GIRL CHILD
"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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“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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