The appeal of watching a world community come together to strive for excellence is easy to understand. The excitement of watching young men and women with the opportunity to do so, demonstrate their skill and talent in seeking to break records and achieve seemingly unattainable and impossible goals is undeniable.

This gathering here today also represents a global coming together. Our goal may not be for new records or shiny medals, but it is no less ambitious and requires just as much discipline. We are here to focus on the plight of young people. Our duty is not to wonder at the exploits of highly trained youth, but to wonder at the ruin and destruction of so many young lives.

Over the next week here in Winnipeg, over 130 nations will gather in common cause to do something to improve the plight of war-affected children. The over 2 million children killed; the hundreds of thousands serving in armed forces, militias and rebel groups; the many children who make up the 6 million refugees and 30 million persons displaced by conflict over the past decade deserve better.

In common with those at the Olympics, we will be attempting the difficult, at times the impossible to find ways of relieving the sufferers, freeing the captive, repairing the bodies and the souls. I hope your participation here will further this goal.

It is with this hope that I welcome you here to Winnipeg. This Conference is at its heart about you. Your experience is unlike that of anyone else. Many of you have lived through conflict, bare its scars, and are best placed to comment on its affects.

Your participation will help to inform our discussions and formulate our actions, and dispel the old and outdated axiom that young people are to be seen and not heard.

Here your voices will be heard as loudly as any other; your opinions will count; your input will be vital. Your role is not only to tell us of your experiences, but to help us find solutions.

I have made it a point to listen to and talk with young people whenever and wherever I can. The perspectives I encounter are fresh and insightful. But it is still too often the case that your opinions are not sought out.

Here in Winnipeg we are changing that. Your involvement is key to the success of our efforts over the next week and beyond. And we hope that your being here will lead to a significant difference in the future of children and youth affected by war and conflict around the world.

I need not tell you of the impact of war and conflict over the past ten years. Whether it be in Angola or Colombia, Bosnia or Cambodia, Sierra Leone or Northern Ireland, rights have been violated and vital societies enfeebled.

To bring this to an end we must first abide by and enforce the ample laws and conventions already on the books.

At the top of this list, the Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out the responsibilities of all States. This Convention has been ratified by all but two countries, but a signature is not enough. Respecting the word and spirit of this document means more than simply putting pen to paper. It means actively safeguarding and advancing the rights of all children and youth at home and abroad. It is only through guaranteeing the safety of the next generation that the reinforcing cycles of violence and poverty can be broken.

Canada has made this agenda a foreign policy priority. We have found that children's security is intrinsically linked to many other threats to the safety and well-being of people. From small arms to the illicit trade in natural resources, each contributes to the insecurity and suffering of people.

In response, Canada has played a vital role in facilitating agreement on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child raising the recruitment and deployment ages for armed forces. Proudly, we were the first country to sign and ratify it.

We have actively supported projects to supply humanitarian aid and services for children and their families. Canadians have helped to rebuild schools, hospitals and orphanages destroyed by conflict; bring families together who have been separated by war; and create awareness about threats such as landmines.

A major part of this agenda was our co-sponsoring of the Conference on War-Affected Children in West Africa. Despite a strong Declaration and Plan of Action out of Accra, my strongest memories of Ghana, and later of my visit to Sierra Leone, were not the "announceables", but the young people I met and the efforts they were making.

In Accra I participated in a live internet broadcast between young people in Canada and war-affected children from West Africa. This experience convinced me of the importance of having youth at the table. The questions and answers from both sides of the Atlantic were honest and pointed. As this cyber-dialogue unfolded over many miles and across such different cultures, I thought to myself that the understanding of the problem and of what is required for a solution was as insightful, if not more so, than anything mentioned at the meetings of ministers or experts.

In Sierra Leone I witnessed first-hand the terrible impact of war and conflict on young and old alike. At the Murraytown Amputee Camp I met people who had been victims of unimaginable violence. Many had their legs and arms hacked off by machetes and had watched or were even forced to participate in the killing of friends and family.

Yet at Murraytown I also saw the resilience of youth. Some of the young people had come together and formed a governing council to administer the camp's affairs alongside officials from UNICEF and the NGO community.

I also travelled to St. Michael's Lodge for war-affected children. There I met some of the young boys and girls who had been forced into the ranks of rebel forces and through intimidation and drugs participated in conflict -- killing, raping and mutilating.

In these worst of cases we must be willing to make our best efforts. That is why I met with Foday Sankoh in Sierra Leone and that is why I have invited the foreign ministers of Sudan and Uganda to Winnipeg.

Few child rights situations are worse than the one in Northern Uganda where the Government of Sudan is supporting Lord's Resistance Army, which has abducted 12 600 children, of which 6000 remain missing. I extended this invitation because achieving peace in Sudan is the only way to free these children and prevent further abductions. Without engaging the Sudanese government directly, little if any progress will be made.

The outcome of this conference would be hollow if we were not seen to seriously address this crisis. I prefer to take a chance in inviting the Sudanese Foreign Minister if there is even the slightest possibility for progress, rather than to not have tried at all.

In addition to this conference, we have already held a series of National Forum meetings on the topic of war-affected children. Young people from across the country have participated in a dialogue on what Canada can do to help. Some of those young people are delegates here in Winnipeg. I look forward to hearing their thoughts and discussing the youth declaration prepared by the "Outreach Committee" and UNICEF.

So now, let's hear your perspectives. Are there stories or experiences you would like to share? What do you hope will happen at this Conference? In your opinion, what do we need to do together in order to effectively address the needs of war-affected children? What are your expectations of politicians like me?

Let's begin to look to the future - a future of immense opportunity and challenge. And let us do so through your eyes for it is you who will inherit tomorrow.

Those of us in government must make sure that we take action to make this a reality. Just as your counterparts in Sydney will be reaching higher, throwing stronger, running faster, I hope you will exert all of your energy here in Winnipeg for the ultimate goal of a world safe for children.

Thank you.

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