Child Friendly Cities Seminar

The main theme of the 2018 edition remains “Citizen participation, consultation and commitment: for a thriving local democracy" with a special focus on children and youth participation. Be?ikta? Municipality organised Child Friendly Cities Seminar during the European Local Democracy Week. 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 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. 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, programmes and decisions. Broadly speaking, it is a city, town or community where children: ? Are protected from exploitation, violence and abuse. ? Have a good start in life and grow up healthy and cared for. ? Have access to quality social services. ? Experience quality, inclusive and participatory education and skills development. ? Express their opinions and influence decisions that affect them. ? Participate in family, cultural, city/community and social life. ? Live in a safe secure and clean environment with access to green spaces. ? Meet friends and have places to play and enjoy themselves. ? Have a fair chance in life regardless of their ethnic origin, religion, income, gender or ability. ? While the primary responsibility for ensuring that children’s rights are realised lies with governments, other stakeholders such as civil society organizations, the private sector, academia and the media, as well as children themselves, also have an important role to play in building child-friendly cities. Industrialization, a growing economy and the search for better jobs and services have driven the Turkish population to migrate to urban areas. The number of people living in urban areas in Turkey today stands at 90 per cent – this translates to more than 60 million people, approximately 30 per cent of which are children. Objectives of this initiative aim to: • Ensure municipalities have the knowledge for evidence-based policy and programme design to realize child rights at the local level; • Benefit children through increased fiscal space and more efficient programming at the local level; • Empower young people at local level to advocate for child rights; • Promote municipalities learning from each other’s knowledge and experience on Child Friendly Cities initiative; • Improve access to play and leisure for children in disadvantaged locations.