Meetings of children and young people aged 14 to 24 years old, acting as young advisers of InArt12, were organised in Athens and Thessaloniki in October 2019. Participants got to know each other better and discussed how they could strengthen children's right to express their opinion freely, to be heard and taken into account.
Present in the two meetings were young people who were in the past members of the Youth Advisory Panel of the Greek Children's Ombudsman, students from universities, collaborating schools, ngos (ARSIS, SOS Children's Villages, Faros tou Kosmou) a shelter for unaccompanied minors, as well as youth from the rehabilitation centre of Voula for disabled children and young persons, who were escorted by volunteers of the ngo TANDEM.
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During these meetings, that took place in ARSIS premises in both cities, discussions took place about:
a. Obstacles and forms of resistance met by children and youth when they try to defend their rights.
b. Priorities for necessary measures and changes, when claiming children's rights.
c. Planning next activities that will bring members of the teams closer and will give them the opportunity to disseminate Article 12 UNCRC and exchange experiences with other young persons from schools, organisations and groups that develop good practices of children's participation.
A school student will represent the community of young advisers of InArt12 and present their ideas that were exchanged during these two meetings, in the Conference of the Council of Europe taking place in Strasbourg on 13-14 November 2019. The title of the conference, that takes place on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of UNCRC, is: "Redefining Power: Strengthening the rights of the child as the key to a future-proof Europe".
Details about the conference (programme, speakers) can be found: here.