Interviewees
Mr. Daigo Ueno
Preparatory Office Director, Children's Rights Support Centre, Children's Bureau, Kumamoto City (and his team)
In Kumamoto City, a new Children’s Bureau was established in 2023, within which the Preparatory Office for the Children’s Rights Support Centre was created. The Kumamoto Children’s Hotline has been set up to receive consultations from children, and utilizing the kimino micata system, a project to receive online consultations directly from students in Kumamoto City will begin in autumn 2023. “We would like to use kimino micata to receive consultations from children,” said Ueno. Teachers at the Children’s Rights Support Centre also expressed their high hopes for kimino micata.
What is the Children's Rights
It was decided that a new organization to protect children’s rights and human rights, the Children’s Rights Support Centre, would be established in 2023, and the Preparatory Office was first established in April 2023. The support centre belongs to the Kumamoto City Children’s Bureau (also newly established in 2023). It provides consultation to children on problems that occur inside and outside of school, and conducts investigations and coordination based on reports from the Board of Education. From now on, the cooperation between the Kumamoto City Board of Education and the Kumamoto City Mayor’s Office will be increasingly strengthened, and by having multiple consultation channels, we will receive as many children’s voices as possible and work together on how to deal with them.
What are your expectations of kimino micata?
The fact that kimino micata is a “system designed from the child’s point of view” and that it protects and respects children’s rights is in line with our policy. Children in every country, not just Japan, have the right to live happily and grow up as healthy human beings. That is very important. kimino micata values children’s confidentiality and we similarly do not inform schools or families without the children’s consent. We want to work with kimino micata so that the children feel safe, have trust, and can talk to us about their concerns.
