And in fact, not many other areas have experienced such a rapid globalization, record growth and concentration of power, as have the media these last decades. It is the challenge and responsibility of Governments and other institutions to seek to ensure media diversity, because it is something crucial to freedom of expression and democracy everywhere. This Summit focuses on Media for Children and therefore it is suitable to remind us all of what the international society has stated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other charters, and which are of interest in this forum. The aim of these charters is to make adult society understand and respect children as full-worthy citizens. The Convention gives children fundamental rights such as political, economic, social and cultural rights as citizens.
Children also have a right to access to information.
Of course this is a great challenge for Governments and society to implement in people's minds and to execute in the real world. The Swedish Government has recently taken some further steps to make the aim and the intentions of children's rights part of everyday life for politicians, authorities, institutions and the general public. In our efforts to implement children's rights into society, we have put children on the agenda for the public service broadcasters in the upcoming renewal of the agreements. In these it is stated that the public service companies should pay more attention to programming for children and young people Also the mass media plays a significant and very important role in making children's rights become reality. By offering material of national and international sources - especially those aimed at the promotion of children's social, spiritual and moral well being, the mass media can contribute to a better media environment for children.