Adults are responsible for realization of children's rights

The annual seminar is arranged in the Children’s rights week in Vantaa. This year, the theme of the seminar was play. The “Play is part of children’s rights - Realization of Children’s rights in Vantaa” seminar attracted almost 200 representatives of the City of Vantaa and its partners that are working with children and the young. The half-day-long seminar took place on November 21, 2023, in the Finnish Science Centre Heureka.

The most important message of the seminar was adults’ responsibility for the realization of children’s rights.

The Ombudsman for Children in Finland Elina Pekkarinen focused in her speech on the participation of children and young people in urban planning. 

- An increasing number of children live in cities worldwide and it is useful and important to involve children and young people in urban planning. A safe environment for children and young people is comfortable and safe for everyone. Listening to children and young people is important for many reasons, but especially because it leads to better decisions. 

In his address, Pekka Timonen, the mayor of the City of Vantaa, emphasized that cities play a key role in securing children’s rights.

- Children and the young spend most of their everyday lives in services arranged by cities: in daycare centers, schools, hobbies, youth centers and libraries, and they use light-traffic roads and parks.

Realization of children's rights demands that they be accounted for in everyday activities of both children and the young and on the tables of the decision-makers, for example, then assessing impacts on children when making various decisions. 

The City of Vantaa has invested in adults’ responsibility for the realization of children’s rights. All the city's employees have been encouraged to take the Children’s rights online course in 2023. The course is nationally available, and the City of Vantaa is in the top position of those that have completed the course.

- You can also arrange the course in connection with team or development days when discussion on the team’s strengths and development focuses regarding the realization of children’s rights will bring added value into the training, hints Tia Ristimäki, coordinator of Vantaa's Child-friendly city work.

- As a result of two years’ hard work, the City of Vantaa is nominated as the recipient of UNICEF's Child-friendly city award. Hopefully, we can already in January 2024 celebrate this new milestone toward a more child-friendly city,” summarizes Katri Kalske, a deputy mayor.

The event was part of Children’s Rights Week. The aim of the week is to increase awareness of the United Nations’ (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by the UN General Assembly in 1989, entered globally into force in 1990. This human rights convention is the most commonly ratified convention in the world, and it applies to all under-18-year-olds. The Children’s Rights Week is celebrated each year at the end of November. Universal Children's Day on November 20, and the Children’s rights week are celebrated with the help of various events taking place all over Vantaa.

The City of Vantaa celebrated the Children at Work Day on Friday 24.11. During the day, children of city employees were given the opportunity to learn about the different jobs in the city of Vantaa. The various departments of the City organised activities for children such as painting, drawing, crafts and a discussion of the development of school days, led by Deputy Mayor Katri Kalske.

Events of the Children’s rights week in Vantaa

This is how you can participate in the Children’s rights week in Vantaa

Read more about the UNICEF's Child-friendly cities model

Has your workplace already ensured that all the employees are familiar with children’s rights?