Campaign in city centre World Children’s Day in Bonn
Bonn · Bonn’s market square was taken over by children on Sunday as the city celebrated World Children’s Day. Alongside fun activities for children, organisers sought to highlight issues of child poverty and education in Bonn.
After a short welcome by Andrea Koors, Bonn’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, a cuddly star made an appearance as the WDR mouse was stroked and cuddled by delighted children. There were also stilt walkers and a ballet and circus show and children’s and youth organisations were looking for those with creative and manual skills and tempting them with experiments.
World Children’s Day started 28 years ago after 145 countries signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since then, children’s rights have been highlighted annually and the World Children’s Day Festival in Bonn, organised by the Youth Welfare Office in conjunction with the working group for the rights of the child, has grown steadily, particularly in the last six years.
“There are more and more organisations taking part. That shows that Bonn is supporting children’s rights,” says Andrea Koors. 60 organisations took part this time, including kindergartens and schools. Under the slogan “Seeing through children’s eyes,” they are striving to put children’s interests, rights and needs centre stage in politics and society.
“We are still doing far too little and still have a lot to do,” says Koors. It is important to invest more in education. “We are a growing city. Our task is to make more day care places available,” she emphasised. Better education for children would also lead to a reduction in child poverty. “There are 11,000 children in poverty in Bonn. We must do more,” says Koors.
Angela Ehlert, director of the German Child Welfare Association in Bonn, agrees. “There are lots of good projects for children in Bonn. But there is still a lot to do in the area of child poverty. It is our goal to draw attention to this topic, to take action and together to find a way to support parents.” They are looking at questions such as how to achieve affordable housing, how to support integration and “how to unite our colourful and diverse society.”
Also taking part in the World Children’s Festival were young participants in the Youth Camp Vamos 2017, which is running at the moment at the Bonner Base Camp under the theme “ Changing the world together – protecting children worldwide from violence and exploitation.” More than 80 young people, aged between twelve and 17, have come from all over Germany to develop creative ideas to strengthen children’s rights throughout the world.
During seven workshops, participants are looking at child labour in the textile industry, the plight of child refugees, the recruitment of minors as soldiers and the right of children to a healthy environment.
(Original text: Sebastian Flick / Translated by Kate Carey)
