Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

A CHILD-FRIENDLY city (CFC) is a city, town, community or any system of local governance committed to improving the lives of children within their jurisdiction by realizing their rights as articulated in the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, according to UNICEF.

In practice, it is a city, town or community in which the voices, needs, priorities and rights of children are an integral part of public policies, programs and decisions.

Launched by UNICEF and U.N.-Habitat in 1996 in a U.N. conference, the Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) was proposed to respond to the challenges of realizing the rights of children in an increasingly urbanized world. The U.N. conference declared that the well-being of children is the ultimate indicator of a healthy habitat, a democratic society and good governance.

The CFCI is a network that brings together government and other stakeholders such as nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, academia, media and children themselves who wish to make their cities and communities more child-friendly.

Since its inception, CFCI has been actively adopted in over 3,000 cities and communities worldwide, according to statistics. At present, many cities around the world have joined in building child-friendly cities, such as London and Munich.

According to UNICEF, beyond the legal imperative as stated in the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, there are other compelling reasons to make children a priority. A significant reason is that the healthy development of children is crucial to the future well-being of any society.

China will carry out pilot child-friendly city schemes in approximately 100 cities by 2025, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

“Children are the future of the country and the hope of the nation. China is a country with a large population of children. It is our greatest wish to let children grow up better,” Ou Xiaoli, an official from the NDRC, said at a press conference in 2021.

China had around 298 million children between the ages of 0 and 17, according to the country’s seventh national population census data released last year.