Uiwang City Takes First Step Toward 'Child-Friendly City' Where Children Flourish

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Su-ji] Uiwang City announced on the 4th that it plans to accelerate projects to create a "child-friendly city of Uiwang" that prioritizes children's rights protection and happiness and enables children to grow safely.

First, to promote children's right to play, the city will conduct environmental assessments of approximately 50 children's playgrounds in the area and create safe playgrounds so children can engage in the play they desire.

The city also plans to operate a "visiting toy library" project, where play instructors at toy libraries and child-rearing sharing centers guide parents and children on how to play well together, and directly visit low-income families who face barriers to participation to provide guidance. In response to recent severe fine dust pollution, the city also plans to establish "Love Kids Playgrounds," which are indoor playgrounds for infants and toddlers.

The city enacted an ordinance on child-friendly city development last month, establishing the institutional foundation necessary for promoting child-friendly city development. This month, the city commissioned a "research project for child-friendly city development" to conduct child-friendliness surveys and gather citizen opinions, and plans to establish a child-friendly city development strategy to be pursued over the next four years.

Additionally, on the 5th, the city will enter into a memorandum of understanding on child-friendly city development with seven related organizations—the Uiwang City Council, Gunpo-Uiwang Office of Education Support, Uiwang Police Station, Uiwang Fire Department, Gyeonggi Province Child Protection Specialist Agency, Gyeonggi Child Advocacy Center, and Uiwang Local Community Welfare Council—to establish public-private governance for community development. The city will also organize and appoint the Child-Friendly City Promotion Committee and the Child Participation Committee.

Through these efforts, the city plans to carefully implement the basic principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to create a "child-friendly city where children's rights are guaranteed and children are happy," and to obtain "UNICEF child-friendly city certification."

The city also plans to focus on distinctive and differentiated child and childcare policies to create a "city good for raising children" and a "city where children are happy" through "child-friendly city development" and the provision of quality child and childcare services.

The city's priority projects include ▲expansion of together childcare centers and child-rearing sharing centers ▲public sector child abuse investigation project ▲establishment of mid-to-long-term childcare development plan ▲continuous expansion and support of national and public daycare centers ▲strengthening of family childcare support projects ▲relocation and expansion of comprehensive early childhood support centers ▲customized Dream Start projects for vulnerable children ▲implementation of women- and child-friendly city ▲provision of customized services for vulnerable families ▲support projects for healthy development of children in need of protection, and more.

Uiwang City Mayor Kim Sang-don said, "We will provide systematic and diverse women, child, and childcare services so that all children growing up in the city can have their rights respected and grow up happy, and will make greater efforts to become the best city in Korea for raising children and a child-friendly city where women and children are happy."