Child Friendly Cities

A Child Friendly City is a local system of good governance
committed to fulfilling children's rights

BUILDING A CFC

• CFC Conceptual Framework
• Checklist
• Building blocks
• Good practices
• Indicators/Criteria for CFC
• Tools
• Key documents

A child friendly legal framework: ensuring legislation, regulatory frameworks and procedures which consistently promote and protect the rights of all children

Local authorities must ensure that all aspects of the legal framework which are under their control promote and protect children's rights. The local government needs to act as a strong advocate for children to try to ensure that legislation over which it has no direct control - national and regional legislation - does so too.

Without a clear, principled legal framework, rooted in the principles and provisions of the Convention, positive policies and practice for children are unlikely to develop except in a very patchy and so discriminatory way. On the other hand, strong legal frameworks are not useful to children unless they are known about, and properly implemented through awareness-raising and training, and where appropriate, enforced.

The key principles in the Convention, summarised above, must be reflected in legislation. The article 12 obligation to respect children's views on all matters affecting them and ensure they are heard in all administrative and judicial procedures affecting them is a matter for legislation as well as policy and practice.

Reviewing legislation to ensure that it promotes and protects children's rights involves government, as well as independent and expert engagement and scrutiny. On some issues, children themselves are the real experts: who else can tell whether, for example, their participation rights are respected in the family, in their schools and neighbourhoods?

EXAMPLES

The CFC Secretariat has gathered a number of examples of child friendly legal framework at both local and national levels of government, and from low-, middle- and high-income nations.

Each example includes the following documents:

• A worksheet describing the project (accessed from the CFC Database)
• Other documents, such as publications, guides, reports and strategies, developed by the project (when available)
• A project review prepared by the CFC Secretariat, based upon in-depth documentation of the project and developed on the basis of a standard research protocol (when available)
• Tools developed by the project (when available)

Child 21, A Legacy to the Filipino Children of the 21st Century, PHILIPPINES

Child-friendly national policies and legislation. A selection of national policies and issuances, PHILIPPINES

Commission for Children and Young People Act 2000. An act to establish a Commission for Children and Young People to promote and protect the rights, interests and wellbeing of children in Queensland, AUSTRALIA

Kawasaki city ordinance on the rights of the child, JAPAN

Office of the Children's Rights Commissioner for London, UK

The National Children's Strategy, IRELAND