Young Lawyer The Voice Of Nation's Youth At Un Meeting
The Age
Monday August 27, 2001
It was in the beautiful Himalayan nation of Nepal as a wide-eyed 16-year-old that Kirsten Hagon came face to face with true poverty. The experience changed her life.
While on an expedition organised by the Himalayan Trust to help build a hospital and a school, Ms Hagon, now 23, encountered children deformed by leprosy who had been abused by their impoverished parents.
``It made a huge impact on my life," she recalled yesterday. ``I remember seeing children begging who'd had their limbs broken by their parents because that way they'd earn more money.
``I think that was what made me go, `Oh my gosh, there are people all around the world living in really horrendous situations and it's not something that's good and I don't know what to do about it but I'd really like to work out something to do about it.'."
Ms Hagon was yesterday a guest at the launch of an Amnesty International campaign to defend children's human rights, held at the Collingwood Children's Farm. She appeared in her capacity as the youth representative on the Australian Government's forthcoming delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, which will include a special session on the plight of children.
Yesterday she told how every Australian should stand up for the rights of children.
Ms Hagon will be an expert consultant on Australian youth opinion on the issues to be discussed at the UN session. They include access to education, especially in less-developed countries, child labor, HIV-AIDS, Third World debt and poverty, the environment and sustainable development. The session will also discuss the participation of young people in policy making.
She will try to convince the Australia delegation to listen to the views of Australian young people. ``I mean, if you are wanting to know what is facing young people and what should be done, you have to ask a young person," she said.
Ms Hagon, who recently began working as a lawyer for a Melbourne law firm, has taken three months off work without pay to attend the UN session in New York next month.
Before she leaves she will consult young people around Australia. She must also raise money for her trip, as only the accommodation has been paid for by the government. Her air fare was donated by an organisation called Peace Child Australia.
According to the International Labor Organisation, there are about 120million children aged five to 14 in full-time employment around the world. Another 300,000 children under the age of 18 are involved in 40 different armed conflicts, many of them in Africa.
In Australia, Amnesty International claims, there are 1103 children in immigration detention centres. Some as old as five have been there for the duration of their lives.
© 2001 The Age