Breathe
By Flor Aydeé Rodríguez Campos
We often hear the phrase "children are the future of Mexico" and I beg to differ: children are the present, not only of our country but of the world. A few days ago, the Summit for the Future concluded at the United Nations headquarters in New York, an event that brings together world leaders to build a new international pact with the intention of improving the present and safeguarding the future. The objectives of this summit are to accelerate efforts to fulfill existing international commitments and to adopt concrete measures to respond to new challenges. These agreements are embodied in a document, the "Pact for the Future".
However, these leaders and leaders have not taken into account the people who matter most in the future, namely girls, women and young people. Girls deserve a future that guarantees them security, respect for their dignity and the simple right to "be girls". In the face of this indifference, while measures, agreements and decisions were being made in the General Assembly hall, outside the UN, girls from different countries demonstrated and created the "What girls want" movement to demand to be heard and to present to these decision-makers the real needs and realities of girls in the world. Let us not forget that there are still violations of girls' rights disguised as "customs" to marry, sell or exploit them, without forgetting those who live the consequences of armed conflicts.
This movement is made up of more than 20 girls-focused nonprofits, institutions and networks fighting for change around the world. The movement compiled insights, data and stories from more than 20 publicly documented interviews with girls and young women over the past 10 years, all united by a common desire: to make visible and address the demands of girls, who are routinely ignored, justifying this indifference on the grounds that "they are just girls."
Despite this prejudice, they decided to draw up a document addressed to world leaders with 12 demands based on the real experiences and needs of the world's girls. These demands are: end inequality and discrimination, invest in gender-sensitive policies, fund girls' work and activism, legislate girls' rights, guarantee girls' decision-making power and participation, strengthen the accountability of governments and institutions, combat climate change with sustainable practices, guarantee reproductive justice and decision-making over their bodies, ensure full and quality education for all, build peaceful societies, free from violence and, finally, economic justice.
There is no future without girls and we should not continue creating policies or legislating without listening to them. We continue to be an adult-centric society that infers the superiority of adults, an action that is considered a form of child violence. Let us eradicate this idea with which we grew up and which we reinforce as we relate to each other: taking adults as the unquestionable role model for children. And although children have rights, these have been put on the table to be discussed and approved without taking into account the point of view of children.
I am pleased that today's governments, especially municipal governments, guarantee the participation of children, whether in parliaments, advisory councils, or as children's aldermen and alderwomen, and that in Mexico there is even a municipality that is the City of Girls and Boys, Zapopan. As a feminist activist, I am proud to know that the new generations of girls know that fighting as girls is not synonymous with weakness, but with strength and courage. They will never again have the comfort of our silence.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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