Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Milan, March 6 2021 – “The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children and Adolescents, which has been part of Italian law since 1991, provides that children and young people have the right to be heard on matters that concern them and that what they say is taken into consideration by the adults who have the task of deciding. The necessary prerequisite for giving the floor to someone is to see and recognize them as an interlocutor. In this last year of the pandemic it has been clear that decision-makers at all levels have forgotten children, boys and girls: they have not seen them, they have not listened to them, they have not involved them; and they also missed the opportunity to hold them accountable and openly ask for their help.

Within this scenario there is a new and extremely significant fact: the Mayor of Milan addressed his own message to those who study, to those who are attending school at all levels, therefore to children, teenagers and young people, following of the closure of all schools related to Lombardy's passage into the strengthened orange zone.

Giuseppe Sala in this way recognizes the younger citizens - of today, not of tomorrow - as interlocutors worthy of the attention of those who govern and recognizes their sacrifices, suffering, efforts: unfortunately today, as you know, we are forced to return to DAD. I feel and understand the discouragement, the tiredness and maybe even the anger. But it also encourages them not to lose faith.

This is a fundamental step to open up to listening to the points of view of children and young people, to the point that the Mayor defines their fundamental requests for the Municipality of Milan, which for you is the closest institution and must be the most sensitive in welcoming them. And he also invites them to make their opinion heard: it is right, indeed, it is necessary that political decision makers hear more of the voice of young people who have every right to have their say regarding choices that affect their lives; whoever has the definitive say on how we will move towards the future should be you.

In my role as Citizen Guarantor for the rights of children and adolescents, I take these declarations from the Mayor who chose me for this role as a fundamental platform for the action of my Office in the coming years. The involvement and participation of children, girls and adolescents will be promoted through the valorisation of existing institutional contexts in which underage citizens represent their peers (the Student Council, the Municipal Councils of Boys and Girls) and associations and through opportunities for discussion and listening open to all".

This was declared by Silvio Premoli, Guarantor for the rights of children and adolescents of the Municipality of Milan.