Children's Rights and International Development: Research, Challenges and Change

Good morning everyone. It's a great pleasure for me to be with you today.

I'm pleased to welcome you to Canada and to the nation's capital, Ottawa.

I want to start by saying a big thank you to the University of Ottawa for planning and hosting this event in collaboration with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) - it is a good example of the partnership and collaboration this Conference is promoting.

As well, I want to warmly welcome our visitors to Canada, and in particular the groups of young people from Brazil, India and Sierra Leone whose stories of struggle and successes we will hear over the next three days. Thank you all for coming to share your experiences with us. Thank you for having the courage to make a difference in your communities and countries.

We also have many young Canadians present who are doing just that. For example:

• Cheryl Perera, who at the age of 17 founded the organization One Child by gathering a group of passionate young people together to begin a sustained, unified fight against child sex abuse around the world.
• Or Michel Chikwanine, a young man originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo who now resides in Canada and who has participated in CIDA's Butterfly 208 Program. Michel is a member of CIDA's Youth Speakers Program who wants to make a difference in the lives of other young people by speaking out about his experiences.

To bring such stories of strength and resilience into focus, my department, the Canadian International Development Agency, initiated the Child Protection Research Fund following the Winnipeg Conference on War Affected Children.

We hope this important and unique gathering of leading researchers and policy makers, local and national NGOs and young people will inspire further action to ensure the rights of children are achieved.

Throughout this Conference - focused on children and their rights - we have to keep in mind that for nearly half of the world's children, childhood is starkly different from the days many of us remember.

Poverty denies many children their dignity, endangers their lives and limits their potential. Conflict and violence betray their trust and hope, and rob them of a normal family life. HIV/AIDS kills their parents, their teachers, their doctors and nurses, leaving many children to become heads of households - children taking care of children. Fear and terror may be present in their daily lives.

Poverty, exploitation, armed conflict and HIV/AIDS epidemics are all violations of children's rights.

In the work that each of you undertake, you understand that children's rights are not an option. They are not a special favour or a kindness paid to children. They are not some kind of charity.

Children's rights carry important obligations and responsibilities that must be honoured by countries around the world.

Children need to be a focus of all our international development efforts.

That's the reason we are all here today.

We want to have a greater understanding of the realities of life for the world's most marginalized children. We want to prove that children and youth must be active participants in their own development.

Together, we want to create a world fit for children.

Canada is recognized as a world leader in children's rights and protection and CIDA has made the Convention on the Rights of the Child and a rights-based approach central to our work with children.

The Child Protection Research Fund is a key part of this work and is supporting ground-breaking research all over the world, which you will be attesting to over the next three days.

This $2 million fund is leading to tremendous breakthroughs in the area of children's rights and child protection.

Through innovative, applied research, the fund supports projects seeking practical solutions to the problems facing children who suffer from abuse, exploitation and violence.

These studies are helping to shape the direction of policy and programs on children's rights and protection at CIDA with local and international NGOs, at all levels of government and in United Nations organizations.

We believe this research is having a profound influence on policy reform and the allocation of resources towards children in development.

Take the studies on child soldiers in Sierra Leone, Angola and Uganda for example.

The problem is particularly serious in each of these countries where thousands of children have been recruited as soldiers or for labour or sexual exploitation among armed groups.

These studies trace the experiences of boys and girls who were recruited to be part of fighting forces and the horrendous scars that this has left on many lives. They also indicate that many children - in particular girls - have been left out of demobilization and reintegration processes.

They examined the extraordinary resilience of children and young people who have been exploited in war situations and the hope that can come with healing and reconciliation with self and within communities. This research has opened the door to that process for many who were previously excluded. Some of the young people here today are models of the good this healing and reconciliation can bring.

The Child Protection Research Fund is helping to strengthen the partnership between Canadian researchers and researchers in developing countries and young people themselves. Our research is also helping to support the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and in turn create a better world for children and young people today.

All over the world, on a daily basis, children and young people are showing they are eager and capable of taking part in matters that affect their lives.

CIDA's activities provide opportunities that encourage young people to become active global citizens. Our programs are designed to build their knowledge and understanding of international development and how we are all connected.

For example, CIDA's Global Classroom Initiative is designed for Canadian school-aged children and their teachers. It encourages them to explore international development and cooperation issues.

The CIDA Speakers' Bureau engages youth and teachers in international development and global issues by responding to requests for speakers at events across the country.

CIDA's Youth Zone is a website that features inspiring stories written by young people who are actively making a difference in the world.

Clearly, the future lies with our young people - in Canada and around the world. We must find new ways to harness their energy and talents and actively encourage their participation in decisions that affect their lives.

We must make them active participants in finding solutions - to break the long-standing cycles of poverty, unrest and social conflict.

Around the world, millions of children face exploitation, abuse and discrimination every day.

Our goal is simple: to promote and protect the rights and freedoms of the world's children. All children deserve:

The freedom to laugh.

The freedom to discover.

The freedom to play.

With the important work that you do, you are helping children win back their most important freedom of all: the freedom to be children.

Thank you.