KUCHING: Kuching South City Council (MBKS) hopes to provide a safe environment for children and ensure the community understands the importance of knowing a child’s rights.
It hopes to do that through the Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI).
The MBKS Councillors yesterday paid a courtesy visit to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Malaysia Office in Putrajaya (Feb 23).
Led by Mayor Datuk Wee Hong Seng, the council’s delegation was welcomed by UNICEF Representative to Malaysia and Special Representative to Brunei Darussalam Robert Gass.
The visit was to discuss the CFCI Framework for Kuching South and to have a knowledge exchange on the CFCI with Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya, further to the signing of the CFCI Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2022.
During the visit, Wee shared his ideas and concerns regarding the implementation of CFCI in Kuching South.
He emphasised the importance of having strong collaboration and guidance from UNICEF as Kuching South was the first city in Borneo to sign the CFCI MoU with UNICEF.
“The responsibilities of the council have been evolving throughout the years and need to expand, such as with CFCI,” said MBKS in a statement.
“It will be the new responsibility of the council, and the council will do its best to provide a safe environment for children and to ensure the community understands the importance of knowing the child’s rights.
“MBKS is in full support of the CFCI and, as a child-friendly city, aims to become a place where children’s rights are protected and children’s voices are heard.”
In light of this, it added that the council needed to be guided by UNICEF to ensure that all the requirements were fulfilled and followed by MBKS.
UNICEF Malaysia has also promised to help and guide MBKS all the way.
“The council is an expert in providing services for the rakyat but it is not an expert in child matters.
“The council, together with the councillors, will be working very closely with UNICEF and the Ministry of Women, Early Childhood, and Community Wellbeing Development Sarawak to raise awareness about CFCI in the community,” it stated.
For the record, the CFCI is a UNICEF-led programme that aids municipal governments in implementing children’s rights at the local level.
The signing of the MoU between MBKS and UNICEF Malaysia to fully support the CFCI has been held in October, 2022.
