Children's World Congress, Florence, Italy, May 10-13, 2004

	Children's Reference Group
	Fatima, Nicaragua
	Rantana, Cambodia
	Maura, U.S., presenting soccer ball to Zumzum, Yemen

The Children's World Congress on Child Labor in Florence, Italy, in May 2004, gave some 500 children from around the world the opportunity to converge as social activists and today's world leaders on the frontlines in the fight for children's rights. Listening to children's opinion of their needs, fears, hopes and desires is critical in identifying effective strategies to combat children's problems. The Congress was part of a process to involve and empower children to realize their capacity to create a world free of child labor.

Children broke the barriers of country borders, languages and background to clearly express their views and effectively share information. The resultant powerful Children's Declaration proved that united kids can make a difference.

The Declaration declares the Congress successful, but condemns the denial of visas by the Italian government to hundreds of children who had been selected to participate in the Congress from Asia, Africa and parts of Latin America and Eastern Europe in the name of "a security risk". Youth delegates wrote, "These children who were not allowed to attend, felt very discriminated (against). We all missed their ideas at the Congress because these children are from the regions where child labor is most common. At the next Congress, we would like to see them participate because their voice is their vision and the world must hear it."⁸²

Children's World Congress, New Delhi, India, September 4-8, 2005
The second Children's World Congress on Child Labor and Education in India in September 2005 fulfilled the promise made by the Global March to give the children who had been denied visas to attend the Florence Congress from the regions where child labor is most prevalent a platform to express their opinions, fears, needs, ideas, hopes and desires. The democratically elected child members of the Children's Reference Group, which drafted Florence Declaration, also represented the world's children at the second Congress of about 200 child slaves and activists.

Meet some of the Youth Delegates
The children who attended the Congress have stories to tell and wisdom to share. Their stories teach us a lot about the problems faced by children in the world today and give hope for a brighter future.

Delhi Declaration

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⁸² Children's Declaration, Children's World Congress, Florence, Italy, May 2004.