Ina Parlina, World – Paying more attention to children's voices would help address the inequalities that many of them face, said young participants in a meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on Monday.
Eighteen-year-old Irwa Juana, the president of the Child Forum in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, said working on children's issues without including the voices of children would not address inequality.
Irwa, along with two other children, attended the Civil Society Organizations' Forum in Nusa Dua, Bali, to share her insights, ahead of the High Level Panel Post-2015 MDGs meeting.
"There are still many children who don't have a clue about their right to participate in the development agenda," she told a discussion. "There's no direct involvement."
Irwa also said governments mostly ignored children's voices, particularly marginalized youths. She said this was because governments failed to recognize many youth organizations.
"I want governments and decision makers to listen directly to the voices of children and youths, in all development processes," she said. "I hope they take our voices into account and give us more opportunities and support."
She also said she hoped governments could help more children and youth organizations in many places in the world.
"Not only those initiated by governments, but also those initiated by children. Children can learn how to participate in the development agenda through their involvement in such organizations," she said.
Amar Thakur, 18, from Kolkata, India, raised the same inequality concerns and said accessibility issues prevented disabled children from attending school.
Around 90 percent of children with disabilities around the world were not attending school, he said.
In India alone, 70 percent of children with disabilities do not attend school or cannot continue their education.
Amina Mohammed, a special advisor to the UN secretary-general on the post-2015 development agenda, told children that the relevant organizations would "work very hard to take children's concerns into consideration" for the future MDG agenda.
Laurence Gray, a senior policy advisor of the global NGO World Vision International, said inequality was still a major challenge for children.
According to World Vision, 20 percent of the poorest people globally earn only 1 to 2 percent of the world's income, with children being the most vulnerable group.
"The most vulnerable children are those who not only fall in this bottom-income gap, but also are discriminated against due to gender, race, ethnicity, religion or disability," he said.
In response to a question on what kind of participation children wanted, Amar said they wanted to ensure government policies focused on the welfare of children and youth.
"We're kids and we need support from adults. We can't work on this alone," Irwa added.