The speakers said that child-friendly cities are the need of the hour. They said that if children are respected and their viewpoints are taken note of, the cities would have youth who develop into responsible citizens.

The speakers said that a child-friendly city is actively engaged in fulfilling the rights of every young citizen to influence major decisions affecting city life. It helps children to express their opinions, participate actively in various activities and remain protected from exploitation, violence and abuse, they further added.

The Conference began with the welcome address of Professor BS Ghuman, Coordinator of the Canadian Studies Centre.

Professor Cherie Enns introduced the theme of the conference emphasising on the challenges that children face due to rapid urbanization, social exclusion, boredom, pollution and traffic. She discussed the UN Convention on Child Rights and elaborated on how these conventions could be used to develop slums. She also suggested social entrepreneurship for social change.

“The involvement of local government is very important to create a child-friendly city. The local bodies should give responsibilities to children and should involve them in the decisions concerning them,” said Eliana Riggio, consultant and former coordinator of the International Child-Friendly Cities Secretariat, UNICEF and Innocenti Research Centre, Florence, Italy.

Another aspect that came up for discussion was regarding participation of children in various meaningful activities. Dr Sudeshna Chatterjee, School of Planning and Architecture said, “Participation of children is very important and it should not be restricted to the domestic matters alone. Local government should also include children, make them participate and take decisions.”

Also present among the speakers was Dr Gamal Hamid, Director, Middle East and North Africa Child Protection Initiative (CPI). Expressing his views he said, “The children need to be taught about their legal rights and should be made aware of the same. The children should know whom to approach and when.”