Busan City Hosts the 19th Korea Children's Assembly Busan Regional Conference... "Children Speak Out on Child Policy!"

Held at Arpina Hotel Grand Ballroom ... Jointly Hosted by Busan City and UNICEF Korea Committee

Last year's activities at the Busan regional conference of the Korea Children's Assembly.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Busan City and the UNICEF Korea Committee Busan Office held the ‘19th Korea Children’s Assembly Busan Regional Conference’ on the 3rd at the Arpina Hotel Grand Ballroom.

Last year, the conference was held online to prevent COVID-19, but this year it was conducted as an in-person event with about 90 children aged 10 to 15, along with about 30 leaders (UNICEF university student volunteers) and faculty members, totaling around 120 participants.

The event proceeded in the order of ▲children’s rights education and children’s rights awareness survey ▲group topic discussions ▲drafting and adoption of a resolution ▲election of the chairperson team.

On the day, participating children received a children’s rights awareness survey, children’s rights education, and guidance about the event, then engaged in group discussions on the theme of ‘Enhancing Children’s Right to Participation,’ focusing on keywords such as ‘student self-governance, spreading and diversifying participation culture, and participation of children requiring special protection.’

Following this, based on the discussion results, they directly drafted and adopted a resolution, and elected a chairperson team (5 members) through voting by the participating children. The elected chairperson team will represent the region at the ‘19th Korea Children’s Assembly National Conference’ scheduled for August.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun said, “Happy children become the future of the city,” adding, “I hope that through the Children’s Assembly, Busan’s young talents will grow into global citizens, and we will do our best to make Busan a child-friendly city where changes happen when children wish.”

The Korea Children’s Assembly began in 2004 to create a ‘participation platform’ where children’s opinions are respected in ‘all decision-making processes affecting children.’ The Busan regional conference started in 2014 and has been held annually. Since last year, it has been co-hosted by the city and the UNICEF Korea Committee, serving as a good example of a public-private collaborative project to promote children’s rights.

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