To: swanson@best.com
From: Jeff Zucker
Subject: Thanks from Voices of Youth
On behalf of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), I want to thank you for having participated in the Voices of Youth project. The message that you posted on the Voices of Youth site on the Internet World Wide Web or sent via email to the world leaders who attended the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen (6-12 March 1995) was a real contribution to that historic gathering and an expression of your right to speak out and be heard.
The Summit was attended by 117 heads of state. One-hundred- eighty of the UN's 185 Member States sent delegations. Twelve thousand non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives gathered for a parallel summit, called "NGO Forum '95".
Over the six weeks leading up to the WSSD, a total of 3,188 messages were sent in by young people in 81 countries -- a world record for country participation in an Internet project in such a short span of time.
Although most of the messages came from industrial countries, we were surprised and extremely gratified by the level of participation from many developing countries, where young people still have little access to the new communications and computer technology. What is more, messages came not only from the wealthier communities of North and South, but also from inner cities and disadvantaged youth in industrial and developing nations. Even some of society's abandoned and forgotten -- street children -- were able to take part.
The messages were brought to the attention of the leaders who attended the summit in several ways:
* they were viewed on computers linked to the WWW
* a selection of messages was posted on a "Voices of Youth" Wall in the NGO Centre, as part of an exhibit called "Summitry Works"
* a booklet containing a selection of messages was placed on the chair of every official delegation
* following the summit, every leader and head of delegation is being sent a collection of all the messages received from his or her own country.
At the conference site, 23 government and NGO leaders responded to your messages, and the responses were posted on the Voices of Youth WWW site. Among those who responded were US Vice President Al Gore, Finnish President Maarti Ahtissari and the wife of the UN Secretary-General, Mrs. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. We hope that others will respond directly to your email addresses once they receive the country packets we are sending out.
It's not every day that the world's most powerless have an opportunity to interact with the world's most powerful. You should feel proud of having participated in a history-making initiative, the first of its kind.
The messages received from young people reflect a wide range of opinions on the main themes discussed at the WSSD: poverty, joblessness, and social conflict, as well as environment, population, education, discrimination, and many more. But what comes through most strongly is a passionate appeal to the leaders of the world:
"Put aside your political differences and ambitions and put an end to poverty and injustice once and for all! There is no excuse for the world being in the condition it's now in -- together, we can improve it! Nurture all children, protect the environment, stop discriminating against women, listen to young people, let us participate, for we are the future!"
The WSSD ended with an agreement to work to eradicate absolute poverty, by setting country-by-country deadlines for lifting the world's billion-plus poorest-of-the-poor out of their misery, and empowering them with the means to achieve a decent and dignified life. The leaders also committed themselves to promote the goal of full employment and to work to put an end to hatred and intolerance.
More information about the outcome of the WSSD is available on Internet at the following sites:
gopher://gopher.undp.org
http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/
Now the hard part begins: seeing to it that these promises are kept. And that's where each of you -- each citizen of the global village -- comes in. Only through real participation by ordinary people, including young people, will change come about. Government leaders can't do it alone.
Thank you once more for participating in Voices of Youth. If you have access to the WWW, you can still view all the messages for the WSSD:
http://www.iisd.ca/un/linkages/youth.html
The messages can also be read on the following gopher: gopher://gopher.igc.apc.org
Given the success of its first phase, Voices of Youth will soon be reactivated so that children and teenagers the world over can continue to voice their opinions and share their ideas. Stay tuned for future inter-active initiatives!
Affectionately,
Richard Jolly
Deputy Executive Director
