” “child citizens” “

“The situation of children in the world”, the latest report of UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund), also deals with the participation of children in society. According to the report published on 11 December, this participation encourages children to assume ever greater responsibilities as active, tolerant and democratic citizens. The issue was first addressed in the extension of the extraordinary Session that the UNICEF general assembly dedicated to children in May this year. For the first time, many children intervened as official members of the delegations, representing governments and NGOs. “So far, it’s adults who have taken all the decisions, but the time has come to build our world together with children. We’ll listen to you, I promise you”, declared UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. In the report, however, there is no mention of UNICEF policies on demographic growth, especially in the countries of the Third World. Children ignored. Children suffer discrimination for the sole fact of being children. The report stresses that “spanking” is still considered one of the essential methods at the disposal of parents in the education of their children. A survey conducted by UNICEF in 35 countries of Europe and Central Asia showed that 6 children out of 10 suffer violence or aggressive behaviour within their own family. State policies are at the exclusive service of the interests of electors, children are almost always ignored. “The fact that the experience and feelings of children are relatively absent from all the main legislative and decision-making bodies has caused the birth of policies that discriminate against them. This situation is obvious in the sector of economic policy which, by refusing to pay the slightest attention to the situation of children, has caused an unacceptable growth in the poverty of children throughout the EU”, declared the former President of the European Parliament Nicole Fontaine. Children’s Councils. The National Strategy in favour of Children is a project of the Irish government aimed at enabling children to voice their views. Each city and country in Ireland has received, from March 2002, a sum of 2500 euros for the organization of a children’s council. The Minister for children, Mary Hanafin, declared: “We have given our assurance that the ideas and the points of views expressed in each council will be taken into consideration by official policy”. Cities that “listen” to children. The project of the city as children’s friend seems increasingly to be becoming an idea of our time, and urban structures for the participation of children are increasingly being sought. In Italy, 200 cities joined the project in 2001. The annual meetings provide opportunities for the exchange of new ideas, and prizes are awarded to the cities that have achieved the best results in various categories, town planning geared to the needs of children for example. Photography and reality. The various children’s projects begun more or less everywhere in the world include those in which children are encouraged to express themselves through photography. Over 500 children in 45 countries, for example, photographed scenes of their daily life for a youth project organized by the German agency for technical cooperation (GTZ) together with Philipp Abresch, a journalist in Berlin. The project also permits children to dialogue on photos and the issues they evoke through Internet chatrooms, a catalogue, postcards and an exhibition on line.