子どもの権利条約ネットワーク（NCRC）

Children and adults are partners who build present and future together

　The globe is facing threats from hunger, environmental destruction and war, while Japanese society is shouldering various problems.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child implies that present and future adults can now act as partners who build the future together by mutual communication, understanding, and solution to problems.

　The Network for the Convention on the Rights of the Child stands on the ground that “children and adults should work together on building the brighter future.” It continues activities that lead to the implementation and promotion of the convention with an aim for the society that respects children’s expression and participation.

　For our society and children’s future, we are looking forward to everyone’s participation, including children.

NCRC organizes these activities

Support for child expression and participation
■We support child participation, including financial support such as waiving event fee and assisting in travel expense.
■As a new trial for children, we continuously support “workshop delivery”, where steering committee members facilitate in.

Learning and opinion sharing
■We organize seminars on “CRC basic course” to deepen knowledge about the convention from its very basis and on a variety of child related issues looking from the convention ground.
■We organize courses (beginner, training, practice and exchange) for facilitators whose work is related to children

Information network
■We publicize a quarterly newsletter in 12-page-A4 size, called “Kodomo no kenri jouyaku” (CRC). It includes articles about the convention, current international issues on child rights, efforts by local areas and autonomies, and child participation in practice.
To celebrate issue 100, we also publish a small booklet to promote and create understanding about the convention.
■We occasionally inform about event guide and details monthly on the website and in e-news.
Cooperation with NPO/NGO and the government
■We follow up with local autonomies and child policies for the enactment of the CRC or the revision of law, especially systems to receive and consider communications from individuals（Third Optional Protocol） and the Children and Youth Rearing Support Act.
■Since 1992, we have been actively participating internationally such as observing in the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s meeting.

CRC Forum
■Since 1993, NCRC has organized “CRC Forum” in November every year in order to promote and implement the convention by a talk and discussion with domestic and international NPOs, local groups and autonomies, and the government. We have so far widely exchanged with people from 14 prefectures: Tokyo, Osaka, Kanagawa, Fukuoka, Gunma, Aomori, Chiba, Hyogo, Ibaraki, Shiga, Kumamoto, Nagano, Mie, and Toyama.
■In year 2010, which marks our 18th year, we will hold CRC Forum 2010 in Miyagi on 13-14 November (Sat-Sun). As the organizer, NCRC will cooperate with local steering committees and support child participation or subcommittee in order to practice CRC ideology.

To mark 20th year of CRC’s international implementation in 2010, we will stand for promoting and creating understanding of the convention.

Your participation supports our activities
Member Application
　As long as you are interested in the CRC or child related problems, you can apply. Everyone, including children, is encouraged to become our members.
Member privilege
・Four issues of newsletter yearly
・Discount for event participation fee (free of charge for children and students)
・Discount for publication
How to apply　
Deposit the fee to our post office account (see below) and fill in member section. We also welcome any fund.
Annual fee
・General 5,000 yen　・Student 3,000 yen　・Children 1,000yen
・Executive 10,000 yen

Lecturers and Facilitators Introduction 　
In order to get the meaning and content of the CRC across, we do introduce lecturers and facilitators to school and university students, government officers and NPO workers, and sometimes in accordance with local circumstances.

Activity direction and budget are considered yearly at general meeting. Concrete activities are managed by approximately 20 steering committee members.
Representative Akito Kita
Vice Representative Shigeto Aramaki
Head of Secretariat Etsuko Araki
(Established on November 17, 1991)

Please contact here if you would like the NCRC to introduce you a speaker/facilitator (please also note that this is not our guarantee to do so for all cases and that the speakers/facilitators will speak in Japanese only).

Name:Akito Kita

Position:Waseda University’s lecturer and NCRC representative

Possible theme for lecture:The Convention on the Rights of the Child and child rights

Background:
Director of the Japan Education Law Association, Japan Academic Society for Educational Policy, Japan Children’s NPO Center and Child Line Japan; Chairman of the Research Committee on the Kawasaki City Ordinance on the Rights of the Child; and President of City Resident Committee for the Possible Establishment of Meguro City Ordinance on the Rights of the Child. Also involved in the attempt to establish other regional ordinances on child rights.

Name:Shigeto Aramaki

Position:Yamanashi Gakuin University, Department of Law, Graduate Program lecturer and NCRC’s second representative.

Possible theme for lecture:The Convention on the Rights of the Child and child rights

Background:
Born in Fukuoka in 1955. Graduated from the Faculty of Law, Waseda University, including Department of Research under the Faculty of Law from the same university and Senshu University. Lecturing at Komazawa University and the Faculty of Law of Yamanashi Gakuin University, and teaching in the Graduate Program of the Faculty of Law at Yamanashi Gakuin University (on “constitution” and “children and law”, for examples).

He has researched on the mutual complementary protection and mechanism between international and Japanese societies, based on international human rights standard. As the Head of the Secretariat of the General Research Institute on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, he has particularly carried out activities for the development of general and practical research about the convention.

Based on his positions as the President of the Committee of the Kawasaki City Ordinance on the Rights of the Child, and the National Autonomy Symposium, including instructor on human rights and education, he has also contributed in the development of child and education policies in local autonomy.

As the representative of the Committee for NGO Reporting on the Agreement on Social Rights, and one of the main persons in charge for the Committee for NGO Reporting on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, he also works to implement and promote human rights laws, create NGO reports, and coordinate with NGOs and the government.

Children are not meant to be passively raised up, taught and guided by adults alone. They have the rights to think on their own, speak up and act accordingly.

Children cannot be left out from society. In fact, children are directly affected by the society created by adults. However, children’s right to expression is not accepted by the society due to the excuse of them being “merely children”.

Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) addresses “the right to expression”, which stipulates the right to express themselves freely in many cases. Based on this article, it implies that children can actively participate as society members and play a role in changing the future.

According to such viewpoint, the CRC guarantees that, as “the subject of rights”, children have various rights as members of society, such as freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of assembly.

Adults must not see children only as the subject to guide and educate, and only think of how to fit them well into today’s society. In fact, it is necessary to seek for the way to solve the problems in different areas such as in family, school, local areas, and nation.

Consequently, in order to protect our world which is confronting with “silent emergency” such as poverty, starvation, and environmental destruction, or war and dispute, adults and children must think and act together. The attitude of thinking about one’s own interests and leave problems to others must be questioned.

To make this happen, children and adults must communicate as equal human beings and deeply understand each other. In addition, to solve problems at global level, children around the world must overcome differences such as nationality, race and gender discrimination by exchanging broadly and seeking for solidarity.

One of the Network for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (NCRC)’s objectives is to play a role as a space for such exchange.

Accordingly, in order to integrate the CRC into the society, we must get its meaning and content across widely by making the information about the convention such as documents and literature accessible by anyone at any time. The NCRC, thus, wishes to play a role as a center for documents and information related to the CRC.

The Network supports personal standpoint and opinion of each person who admires the implementation and promotion of the CRC. Hereby, it calls for participation by everyone, including children.

November 17, 1991
Network for the Convention on the Rights of the Child