The future belongs to the young people and this reflects in the social
\npolicies promoted by the European Union. Holding the rotating presidency of the
\nCouncil of the EU, Romania supports the idea of getting children involved in
\ndecision making.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Very often,
\nchildren and teenagers are unable to make their voice heard in public and to
\nstand out for their opinions. Some of them though, overcome their fears and
\nbecome representatives of a generation. This is the case of Rares Voicu, a
\n16-year old teenager with the Nicolae Iorga High School in Braila, who
\nrepresents his colleagues and is a Junior Ambassador of Romania to the EU:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Throughout the years, both
\ninside and outside school, I felt that my voice was not listened to, when I was
\ntrying to make my opinions known. I must admit that, most times, I did nothing
\nto change that and I chose not to react. Things changed two years ago, when I
\nran for the Students’ County Council, whose motto was Be Your Colleagues’
\nVoice. I was terrified at first. Up to that point I had problems with making my
\nown voice heard, and I did not know how, all of a sudden, I was supposed to be
\nthe voice of tens of thousands of students. Little by little, my fears disappeared
\nand I learned to be more vocal, tell my opinions out loud and be more firm when
\nit comes to voicing them. To my great surprise, I started to be listened to. I
\ncould not understand what had happened and why, all of a sudden, my opinion started
\nto matter. And then I realized that was because I was part of the Students’
\nCounty Council. I had an entire platform supporting me, which allowed me to
\nspeak on behalf of my colleagues with a certain guarantee that I would also be
\ntaken seriously. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
To Rares
\nVoicu, what is essential is for Europe to take into consideration the opinions
\nof its youngest citizens. Rares believes that the right to consultation must be
\ndefended and promoted in all the EU member states: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I myself have had this chance, but there are
\nmillions of children facing the same problem, although our right to be
\nconsulted and to participate is among our fundamental rights, as it is
\nstipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We are here to speak
\non behalf of the Romanian and European children. We, as junior ambassadors,
\nwill draw up Bucharest Children’s Declaration, which is a call on all European
\nleaders, and not only. Given the current social background, it’s our duty, as
\ncitizens in the making, to take a stand and to fight for our rights, children’s
\nrights. We want all children in the EU to benefit from the tools that would
\nmake their voices heard. Dear children, if you hear this message, fight for
\nyour rights. Speak up, say what you
\nthink, but at the same time be fair and honest. Keep a critical eye on our
\nsociety, because this is the only way to improve Europe and to render it better
\nand really cohesive.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Pieter
\nBult, the UNICEF representative in Romania, has been in touch with Romanian
\nchildren and he believes that one of the most important duties that the
\nEuropean community has is to make sure their expectations, as grown-ups, will not
\nbe broken:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Imagine what will happen
\nif these issues don’t get addressed, the children grow up and are disappointed
\nin kind of what is happening. Imagine what will happen to the future of Europe
\nif that is the case. One in four people in Europe are children. They are not
\nreally engaged in the decision-making processes of the European Union. Yet,
\nthey have a right to participate. Already 30 years ago we ratified the
\nConvention on the Rights of the Child. Every member state of the EU has
\nratified the Convention. Article 12 talks about participation. Yet we have done
\nvery little to make that right actually reality. It’s not only about the right
\nof the child to participate, actually it’s a lot more. When children
\nparticipate, they raise issues, they come with solutions, and yes, they may be
\na little bit out of the box, but they could be thought of and they could
\nactually come up with things that are less biased, less in terms of imbued with
\nstereotypes less informed by preconceived ideas. Their ideas are actually quite
\nrelevant. So it is actually in our interest that we have children participate
\nin our decision-making processes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Gabriela
\nComan is the president of the National Authority for the Protection of Child
\nRights and Adoption. She also gets involved in national programs targeting
\nchildren’s consultation and participation. It was also Gabriela Coman who
\nsupported such an endeavour in Brussels as well. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We’re speaking, at long last, about a fundamental
\nright of children, which is the right to express their opinion, an opinion which
\nthe adults need to turn into the opportunity to get involved in a decision. I
\nparticipated, together with the children and Pieter Bult, at the meeting in
\nBrussels, where we all heard the opinion of the European Commission, of the
\nEuropean Parliament, as regards Romania’s initiative to start such an
\nundertaking as part of its presidency of the Council of the European Union. A
\nstrong Europe is impossible to conceive without taking cohesion into account,
\nand we cannot speak about cohesion without the involvement of all citizens. We are
\nhappy with our accomplishment. We intend to go at all lengths, in our capacity
\nas a child protection authority and as a ministry, in order to support the
\nturning of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child into a mechanism by means
\nof which they can really participate and get involved in the decision-making
\nprocess at European level. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
A
\ncohesive European Union needs the participation of youngsters in the process of
\nthe important decisions that are taken for our continent. Their ideas can be
\nthe driving engine as regards stability in a society of the future. By the same
\ntoken, youngsters can contribute to promoting the European values all around
\nthe world.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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