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From October 29-November 1, the Bank Information Center, in cooperation with the International Commission of Jurists, hosted a unique delegation of eight adolescents and two child rights experts who traveled to Washington, DC from around the world.
This visit was part of a broad civil society campaign on child rights and World Bank and consisted of a number of meetings and educational events aimed at dialoguing with decision makers on the need to include child protection measures in the revised safeguard policies, currently being drafted. These events included eight adolescents between the ages of 11 and 16 from Peru, Yemen, Cambodia, and Uganda. The children were joined by Ms. Maria Herczog, member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and Ms. Marta Mauras Perez, former member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Information regarding all of the participants in the delegation is available here.
The visiting adolescents were chosen to travel to DC as part of a series of consultations with children and youth on the safeguard policies conducted by BIC in August and September, 2013 in Peru, Yemen, India, Uganda, Cambodia and the Philippines, countries in which the World Bank is active. These consultations were designed to incorporate the voices of children into the World Bank safeguards review as the World Bank had not conducted any consultations with children or youth as part of the first phase of the safeguards review. All of the children who came to Washington participated in BIC organized consultations, and came with the purpose of sharing the recommendations expressed by children in the consultation in their country with decision makers at the World Bank and within governments.
The recommendations made by the group centered on the need to:
- Take into account the views of children and adolescents in designing and implementing projects;
- Examine the potential unique impacts of a project on children when conducting the Environmental and Social Assessment so as to identify, and prevent or mitigate, potential risks;
- Include protections for children and child rights in the safeguards; and
- Prioritize child development and investments in children.
The visiting delegation of children and experts spoke at a briefing for members of the World Bank’s safeguards team and other World Bank management staff on Wednesday, October 30 and a briefing for US Congressional Staff and NGO representatives on Tuesday October 29. They also participated in meetings with members of the World Bank Inspection Panel, offices of Executive Directors of the World Bank and members of US government agencies.
The Bank information Center also used the occasion of the children’s visit to launch their report on the children’s consultations, titled “Children’s Voices on the World Bank safeguards.”