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Children and Peacebuilding: Experiences and Perspectives
National Entity Report
4 Feb 2002
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| Status: | National Entity |
| Keywords: | All "Peace & Conflict" reports |
We do not want to inherit the country that adults have created for us. We want to live a different kind of life and to get it we have to be involved in creating it. We will never give up.*
Juan Elias Uribe, 17 years
The right of children to participate actively is the foundation of children's involvement in peace making. Children are potentially among the most powerful of peace builders, and we should listen to them, learn from them and support them in their endeavours. All around the world - Uganda, the Great Lakes, Colombia, the Balkans, Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia and elsewhere - children are challenging adults to resolve differences, confront the causes of conflict and go forward in peace. Some are forming children's or youth movements for peace.
Children and adolescents bring particular perceptions to any situation based on a variety of experiences and biological realities such as age and gender. To discount these opinions, or to fail to incorporate them, does a disservice both to the children (in reality a denial of their human rights) and, equally as important, to the community.
Too often, however, adults underestimate the potential of children as subjects in the development process, and as peacebuilders. Despite the almost universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) , the issue of children's right to participate in decisions that affect them, and to have their opinions heard and considered, continues to create concern and apprehension among many adults and
decision-makers. Precisely why is not clear, though there have been attempts to justify such reactions invoking a mixture of culture, religion, concern and fear.
Children all around the world are building peace within their families, amongst their friends and within their communities. They have often achieved remarkable results in the most difficult and challenging of environments, their commitment to peace instilling hope, inspiration and change. What is important is that children are given the space to do this, are supported, and are respected, in their attempts to build peace around themselves. To ignore children's potential and achievements toward peace is to negate their human rights. It is also to curtail the possibility of lasting peace that seeks to break the traditional and cyclical nature of conflict. Adults and children alike have a responsibility to their communities to build peace. They should be given the opportunities to do so.
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*S. Cameron, 'Voices of Colombian Children on War and Peace', in Development: Children and the new millennium, Vol. 43, No. 1, March 2000, p. 84.
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