Children need say in government, senators argue
Globe and Mail -- Canadian Press, OTTAWA, 26 Apr 07
By: STEPHEN THORNE
EXCERPT

Canada is failing to live up to its international obligations by denying children their right to influence government decisions, the Senate human-rights committee says in a report critical of the lackadaisical manner in which international treaties are implemented.... "Children's voices rarely inform government decisions, yet they are one of the groups most affected by government action or inaction," says the committee's 296-page report, titled "Children: The Silenced Citizens."

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Canada ratified in 1992, puts children at the centre of family, community and culture, but the senators say there is a gap between 'the rhetoric and the reality' of children's lives in Canada....

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