|
 |
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we had the Global Child Rights Dialogue (GCRD) in four countries: Japan, South Korea, Sweden, and Tanzania. The GCRD is to discuss the current status of child rights outlined in selected ten articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) during COVID-19 and to propose policies to improve and advance them. This project is a form of "Research with Children", which has not yet become common in Japan, in which children themselves discuss and solve problems that concern them.
This article focused on the GCRD implemented in Japan as part of this initiative. We outlined the specific policy proposals concluded by the children through the GCRD to advance their rights for each of the ten articles and further reclassified the proposals in light of the four principles of the CRC. The number of proposals by GCRD was categorised as follows: 42 for No Discrimination, 89 for Best Interests, 99 for the Right to Live and Develop, and 33 for the Right to Express Opinions. We used text mining to analyse the words that frequently appeared in the proposals, and by picking out words that were particularly important to the right, we analysed them using qualitative methods.
The children's policy proposals included ideas that adults would never think of. They included proposals for the school or local community, government policies, and even global solutions. We are convinced that we can improve children's futures by listening to children's voices and implementing policies that incorporate their proposals.
Research papers (publications of university or research institution)
