National

Junior-8 representatives want to focus on child rights

NEW DELHI: Sixteen-year-old Sanjukta Pangi from Koraput in Orissa, 17-year-old Samuel Venkatesan from Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu, and 15-year-old Narendra Kumar from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh will represent India at the Junior-8 summit in Rome.

The summit, to be held from July 4-10, is now in its 5th year and takes place parallel to the annual G-8 summit.

These three children will join a group of 56 young people from other countries in Rome where they will work together on youth-oriented solutions for this year’s three main G-8 topics including climate change, the world financial crisis and development.

Talking to reporters at the UNICEF office here on Friday before their departure, Sanjukta and Samuel said they wanted to focus on child rights. Sanjukta expressed her desire to become the Collector of Koraput district, where she hails from, while Samuel said he wanted to become a film maker who would project the real life situations and empower rural masses through his films. “We want to help the children in our country to overcome their social and economic issues,” they said.

Narendra Kumar, who wants to become a teacher, is scheduled to fly to Rome from Lucknow on Saturday.

Next week, in Italy, one of the selected Indian youth delegates will share their recommendations directly with G-8 leaders, in L’Aquila. Similarly, one representative from each of the 14 country teams will get the opportunity to engage with their respective leaders on concerns identified by the J-8 summit. The children, who will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, are selected by the UNICEF through a written test and interview.

Apart from India, the group includes representatives from invited countries such as Brazil, China, Egypt, Mexico and South Africa.

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