KUCHING: The Kuching of City South (MBKS) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Malaysia on their Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) on October 27 this year.
Officiating at the child friendly cities poster prize presentation ceremony here today, MBKS Mayor Datuk Wee Hong Seng said the CFCI is based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
On the poster drawing competition organised by MBKS, he said it is based on the theme of “Child Friendly Cities” and held in conjunction with the World Children Day on Nov 22.
“The purpose of this poster drawing competition is to see and hear what the children want for their Child Friendly Cities.
“We received more than 100 posters from primary schools here and we appreciate every child’s contribution and their messages given in each poster submitted for this competition,” he said.
He added that through the activity, MBKS also had the opportunity to create awareness and informed the public of the significance of working hand-in-hand as a city and community to protect children and their rights.
It is to provide a safe and secure environment for them to live and grow up healthy and happy children.
“The convention on the Rights of the Child explains who children are which is any person under the age of 18 and all their rights and the responsibilities of governments, encompassing factors such as no discrimination, protection from violence, respect for children’s views access to education, life survival and development, social and economic help, responsibility of parent, children without families, children with disabilities and so on,” he said.
Wee added that using the Convention on the Rights of the Child as the foundation, the CFCI by UNICEF highlights on these strategies for every child and young person which includes to be valued, respected and treated fairly within their communities and by local authorities and to have opportunities to enjoy family life, play and leisure.
“MBKS, and myself as it’s mayor, wants to involve everyone to advocate and participate to ensure that our city planning takes into consideration every aspects of developing and strengthening a child friendly city and community in Kuching with the goal to spread this initiative throughout Sarawak, one city at a time.
“When I mentioned everyone, this means from youths, adults and senior citizens, that is all ages and strata of society,” he added.
