- Girls, boys and adolescents highlighted problems such as migration, gender violence and the lack of oopportunities for your participation.
- The #TejiendoRedesInfancia project co-financed by the European Union aims to provide space for the voices of children and adolescents.
From August 22 to 26, the regional meeting of girls, boys and adolescents was held in Mexico City: "Our voice counts, our rights also" in which about 40 girls, boys and adolescents from 18 countries and 25 national coalitions of REDLAMYC, the Latin American and Caribbean Network for the Defense of the Rights of Boys, Girls and Adolescents, participated. This activity was added to the three previous Meetings held at the subregional level in Bolivia, El Salvador and Brazil; and nationals in 17 Latin American countries.
The meeting was held as part of the project activities #Weaving NetworksChildhood co-financed by the European Union and one of its objectives is to make children's rights visible through participation spaces where they can publicize the problems that affect them and make proposals to the States to advance in the guarantee of their rights and exchange experiences to regional level for the strengthening of their capacities and the full exercise of their right to participation.
As part of the results of the Meeting, participating girls, boys and adolescents prepared a Declaration exposing the problems that most concern them in the region, including the lack of spaces for their participation, comprehensive sexual education, access to health, the right to abortion, violence and migration, among others. They also wrote a Called to the State of Brazil, expressing its concern about the withdrawal of rights and the decline in public policy of Brazilian children and adolescents.
During the opening of the event, teenage representatives from Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela shared their reflections regarding the guarantee of their rights. Kristelle, 16, from Mexico, mentioned that the Organizing Committee, made up of girls, boys and adolescents, spent several months holding the event where delegations from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Cuba participate. , Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Juan Martín Pérez García, Regional Coordinator of the #TejiendoRedesInfancia project pointed out that these spaces can be an opportunity to continue building together with children and adolescents and that they can guide adults who are committed to promoting and defending their rights , for this reason, he said, addressing the children that "It would be very important for you to also have this regional view of the situation that girls, boys and adolescents are experiencing."
Abril, a 15-year-old from Uruguay, pointed out that “Most of the problems that girls, boys and adolescents suffer are shared by all countries and even then they do not take our opinion into account. In this meeting we seek to share different realities, ideas and that when we return to our country we can tell our colleagues about it and be able to continue being informed, participating and fighting for our rights. "
The 18-year-old Keiber teenager highlighted the value of the meeting in the context of Venezuela "These activities are highly appreciated, because in the situation in which my country finds itself, we do not have the conditions of a democracy, of a rule of law, that encourages children and adolescents to exercise more and more their sovereignty" .
Regarding how this meeting benefits girls and boys in each country, the adolescents highlighted the importance of demanding that the State comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is 30 years old this November 20. Yasmira, 17, from Colombia, said that power groups coerce the existence of social and political factors that have caused a chaotic situation in Latin America "The only way to achieve change is to unite as a continent and treat ourselves as the sisters and brothers that we are, to achieve liberation."
Girls, boys and adolescents from Latin America and the Caribbean participated in the Meeting, representing the National Coalitions of REDLAMYC: Collective for the Rights of Children and Adolescents; Argentine Committee for Follow-up and Application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child - MARRIAGE from Argentina; the Bolivian Coalition for the Defense of the Rights of children and adolescents; National Associacao two Centers for Child and Adolescent Defense - ANCED; Forum DCA -National Permanent Forum of Non-Governamental Entities for the Defense of the Rights of the Child and Adolescent; National Movement for Human Rights, MNDH of Brazil; Childhood and Youth NGO Network - ROIJ and Chilean Forum for the Rights of the Child in Chile; Alliance for Colombian Children; NGO Coalition for Monitoring the Convention on the Rights of the Child - COSECODENI and the Union of Private Institutions for Child Care, UNIPRIN of Costa Rica and the Council of Churches of Cuba.
The Movement for Children and Adolescents from Ecuador also participated; the Network for Children and Adolescents - RIA of El Salvador; the Institutional Coordinator for the Promotion of Children's Rights, CIPRODENI of Guatemala; the Coordinator of private institutions for girls, boys, adolescents, youth and their rights - COIPRODEN of Honduras; the Network for the Rights of the Child in Mexico - REDIM; Alliance for the Rights of Girls, Boys and Adolescents - ALIANZA MX de México, venue of the Meeting; the National Network to Support Children and Adolescents in Panama - REDNANIAP; the Coordinator for the Rights of Children and Adolescents - CDIA of Paraguay; the National Initiative Group for the Rights of the Child - GIN of Peru; the Coalition of NGOs for Children of the Dominican Republic; the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the National Association of Development-Oriented Non-Governmental Organizations - ANONG of Uruguay and the Network for the Human Rights of Girls, Boys and Adolescents in Venezuela.
More information in:
https://redlamyc.org/encuentroregional/
Media contact:
Verónica Morales, Regional Communication Officer #TejiendoRedesInfancia +52 1 55 5620 9309
