Successful Activities of Gwanak-gu Child Rights Monitoring Team

Realizing Children's Participation Rights During Lunar New Year, Policy Proposals and Enhancing Children's Welfare... Accelerating UNICEF-Certified 'Child-Friendly City Development' for Happy Children

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Junhee) held an activity report meeting for the ‘Gwanak-gu Child Rights Monitoring Group’ on the 30th of last month at the district office’s planning situation room.

About 50 people participated in the meeting, including members of the Gwanak-gu Child-Friendly City Promotion Committee, the Child Rights Monitoring Group, parents, and related organizations. The meeting proceeded in the order of member introductions, activity reports, policy suggestion presentations, campaign video viewing, and sharing of activity impressions.

The ‘Gwanak-gu Child Rights Monitoring Group’ consists of 61 children of various ages from elementary to high school students in the region, aiming to realize children’s right to participate in district administration and to reflect children’s opinions in actual district policies and projects.

Since its inauguration ceremony on August 5 last year, the monitoring group has conducted investigations on child rights violations around playgrounds and school routes by elementary, middle, and high school teams. They also participated in district events such as Social Welfare Day, the Gang Gamchan Festival, and the Seoul Policy Expo, carrying out various activities to promote child rights.

In particular, they directly monitored the school routes around Miseong-dong and Cheongnyong-dong, areas densely populated with elementary, middle, and high schools and known for frequent child pedestrian accidents. They identified problems and gathered improvement suggestions to create safe and clean school routes, which were submitted to the district office.

The detailed proposals submitted include about 30 items such as ▲ installation of safety fences ▲ replacement of sidewalk blocks ▲ additional security lighting ▲ enhancement of yellow footprints before crosswalks ▲ installation of floodlights at crosswalks ▲ designation of no-smoking zones ▲ installation of anti-illegal advertisement boards around school routes.

A meaningful moment was also arranged where the Child Rights Monitoring Group personally presented a panel titled 'We Propose GOOD ZONE!' to the district mayor.

GOOD ZONE stands for Gwanak Offers Of Dream, meaning ‘Proposing a safe dream Gwanak for children.’

The district plans to reflect the policy suggestions submitted by the Child Rights Monitoring Group in the 2020 Child-Friendly City creation projects after review by relevant departments.

Additionally, the district will continue to operate the Child Rights Monitoring Group to further expand opportunities for child participation.

Mayor Park Junhee expressed, “I deeply thank the children and youth who participated in various activities as members of the Child Rights Monitoring Group,” and added, “We will continue to provide opportunities for children to participate in district administration and implement various policies to create a ‘UNICEF Child-Friendly City.’”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.