Commission on Children engages with stakeholders and launches “Caring for Our Kids” Campaign (with photos)
The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, today (November 30) held the stakeholders engagement session of the Commission on Children and announced the launch of the territory-wide "Caring for Our Kids" Campaign.
Speaking at the opening session, Mr Cheung said that children would be the future and hope for Hong Kong. The current-term Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government attaches great importance to the healthy physical and mental growth of children and has set up a Commission on Children with cross-bureau and departmental representation. The Commission engages child concern groups to address in a focused manner issues that children face while growing up. He thanked representatives from different sectors and professions for participating in the stakeholders engagement session and sharing valuable experience and knowledge on child welfare over the years, with a view to integrating child development issues into the policy agenda. He called on all quarters of society to team up to safeguard the rights and well-being of children for building a pro-child and inclusive society.
Some 50 representatives from social welfare non-governmental organisations, the education and medical sectors as well as children's rights groups attended the engagement session. They shared their views and experiences in four parallel breakout sessions covering the safety and basic needs of children, protection for children, listening to children's voices as well as the growth and development of children. They are in line with the four major rights set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, namely the right to survival, protection, participation and development.
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong, and members of the Commission also attended to garner stakeholders' views on an extensive range of issues related to children's interests and well-being. The cross-discipline discussions today are key to reinforcing the role of the Commission and developing children-related policies and measures in further promoting children's rights. The Commission will consolidate views collected today to map out future work plans.
The engagement session also marked the launch of a series of educational and publicity activities under the "Caring for Our Kids" Campaign to raise public awareness on children's rights and well-being through tripartite collaboration among the community, business sector and the Government. A new Announcement in the Public Interest of the Campaign was premiered and a thematic webpage (www.coc.gov.hk/en/cok.html) with details of activities has been rolled out in the Commission's website.
