May 23-28, 2006

The UN Study on Violence Against Children was launched in 2001, by Kofi Annan. For the very first time in the history of UN, the Study has an Advisory Panel consisting of young people to support and guide the study. This advisory panel is part of the larger NGO Advisory Panel comprising of International NGO representatives. Bhima Sangha is the only working children’s organisation that is a member of the young people’s Advisory Panel. The study is led by Paulo Pinheiro, an Independent expert.

These are the highlights of the third meeting of Advisory Panel held in New York, in May 2006. Preceding this meeting, children and young people from different regions were involved in the study’s regional and national level consultation processes that took place around the world. The main objectives of the 3^rd Advisory Panel meeting were to work towards finalising the study recommendations, to discuss about producing child-friendly materials and to gather ideas about the launching of the study during UN General Assembly in October, 2006.

In preparation for this meeting, Ayyamma, the Bhima Sangha representative in the Advisory Panel, carried out a thorough consultation on all the key areas/chapters of the report (i.e., violence at home and family, school, community, Institutions & Justice systems, and workplace) with other members of her organisation from different regions in Karnataka, India (Bhima Sangha’s contribution to the chapter recommendations). Conducting these rounds of consultations enabled Ayyamma to introduce and include the views of working children at the meet. Interestingly, Bhima Sangha did not only discuss the recommendations related to the chapter on violence at the workplace, but also recommendations related to other settings based on their varied experience.

The first four days of the meet comprised of a workshop for youth members of Advisory Panel and the youth representatives from regional consultations facilitated by the Save the Children and UNICEF. At the workshop, young people spoke about the different forms of violence that children experience in their own countries. This enabled them to understand the many kinds of violence, especially the subtler kinds, that are perpetrated on children so that they could start working together to find appropriate solutions. Ayyamma shared with the group issues that were prevalent in her country such as child marriage, female foeticide/infanticide, situation of working children, practice of Devadasi system, and so on. During the discussion on actions taken by young people in connection with violence, Ayyamma informed the group about working children starting their own unions (such as Bhima Sangha), national and international networks (National Movement of Working Children & International Movement of Working Children) of children’s unions, children’s councils, and other similar structures that enable young people to act collectively to deal with their problems and take control of their lives. As a visual documentation of the power of such movements, the film ‘Taking Destiny in their hands’ was screened.

The Advisory Panel meet (27-28^th May) at the office of Human Rights Watch began with the young people updating the adult members of Advisory Panel on their meeting outcomes and their plans. Subsequently, the members of the Advisory Panel got an update on the progress of the Editorial Board, the report to the General Assembly, study launch in October, progress on the overarching and chapter recommendations, peer reviewing of chapter recommendations and child friendly reports. During her presentation, Amaya Gillespie, the Director of the Study Secretariat, mentioned that the chapter on working children needed more elaboration.

The Advisory Panel then went on to review chapter-wise recommendations and summary recommendations to assess if their suggestions and comments during previous meetings were taken on board and also to make further recommendations. The Advisory Panel proposed a new framework for the summary recommendations.

Major decisions taken during the meet:

It was decided to include young people as peer reviewers for specific chapters of their interest or/and expertise.
Apart from the International launch of the study at the United Nations General Assembly, it was decided to also organise regional and national level launches and events.
There was discussion on the future of the Advisory Panel: Young people decided to set up a ‘Youth Council’, which would carry on the follow up processes including co-ordination with the Special Representative.

Follow up required:

Lobbying for a UN Special Representative for Violence against children
Appointing regional advocates
Formulating National plans to tackle violence against children
Conducting a national situation analysis and indepth research on the issue
Appointing focal points for the issue at the national level

One of the recommendations of the young people to the Study Secretariat was that the documents related to the study should be made available to all the participants well before the meeting so that the participants have enough time to scrutinise and study them. This did not happen at this meeting and thus their participation was limited and not as effective as it could have been.

Detailed feedback of Bhima Sangha and The Concerned for Working Children (CWC) on the entire process of the study will be submitted to the UN. It will contain recommendations for the UN to further improve on its processes and practices while constituting and facilitating such youth advisory panels in the future.

For more details, contact:
Ayyamma
National Representative - Regional Movement of Working Children
Member - National Movement of Working Children
Secretary - Bhima Sangha, State Level Committee
303/2. LB Shastri Nagar,
Vimanpura, Bangalore – 560 017
Karnataka, India
Telephone: 918025234611/271
Fax: 918025235034
Email: cwc@pobox.com

Anuradha Shetty
Research Officer
The Concerned for Working Children (CWC)
303/2. LB Shastri Nagar,
Vimanpura, Bangalore – 560 017
Karnataka, India
Telephone: 918025234611/271
Fax: 918025235034
Email: cwc@pobox.com

To learn more about the study visit www.violencestudy.org

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