- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday July 5 2005 17.58 BST
A group of schoolchildren representing the G8 countries and the developing world today urged Scotland's first minister, Jack McConnell, to lobby the leaders of the most powerful nations on their behalf at this week's summit.
The pupils, all taking part in the Unicef-organised C8 summit, have spent three days coming up with a list of recommendations that they think the G8 leaders should follow.
The list includes requests to improve every child's access to education, to clamp down on child labour and make children more involved in politics.
"All G8 leaders have signed the millennium development goals and we are here to remind them of their responsibilities," said Reitumetse, a 13-year-old participant from Lesotho, who urged the first minister to tackle the problem of HIV and Aids. Most of her friends were HIV positive, she said.
Mr McConnell promised to deliver the recommendations to Tony Blair, in order that they be passed on to the other seven G8 leaders when they arrive in Gleneagles for the summit tomorrow. There has been some disappointment that Mr Blair has not yet agreed to meet with representatives from the group personally, though negotiators for Unicef are still hoping they will be allowed a young representative present when he meets with leaders of the Make Poverty History movement.
"If we are to tackle global poverty, everyone must be involved in finding solutions, regardless of age or where they come from. That's why C8 is such a valuable and worthwhile exercise," Mr McConnell said.
"I hope this will foster new friendships and help young people see the world's problems from a fresh point of view."
But the 16 C8 pupils, who have been recruited by Unicef officials all over the world are hoping for more than just a learning experience.
Their list goes far beyond the messages endorsed by the Make Poverty History coalition which is calling for debt to be dropped, fair trade, more aid and improvement of African governance.
The C8 pupils are also calling for specific changes such as a children's commissioner in every country in the world to represent the needs of pupils. And they want all violence against children stopped - from that within the home to that caused by war.
The C8 presentation - part of the Make Poverty History children's day - took place at the Dunblane Hilton in Stirlingshire and was followed by another manifesto drawn up by thousands of pupils all over the world as part of Plan International's work.
The minister was also shown round an exhibition of thousands of "buddies" - paper cut-outs of people with messages from their school children creators to the G8 leaders imploring them to improve access to education. Over 3.5m have been collected by the Global Campaign for Education since it launched its campaign. "I am sending a friend to you so that you can send my friend to school," read one.
The full C8 recommendations are:
· An end to poverty
· Free education for all
· An end to violence against children
· Improved political participation for pupils
· Free anti HIV/Aids drugs for all
· An end to child labour
· Clean water and sanitation for all
· Improved food and nutrition for all
