A meeting of children took place at the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren's Palace in Pyongyang on Wednesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted to provide children with a better world that ensures peaceful, equal, safe and clean environment.

The CRC, comprising three chapters and 54 articles for the provision of rights of every child such as the rights to life, survival and development, was adopted by the 44th United Nations General Assembly on November 20 1989.

The event was attended by officials of the Education Commission, the Grand People's Study House and other relevant units, schoolchildren, diplomatic envoys and representatives of international organizations and members of their missions in Pyongyang, including the UN resident coordinator and representative of the WFP and the representative of the UNICEF country office in the DPRK.

Pak Sun Chol, director of education of the Grand People’s Study House, in his speech said that it is the consistent policy of the DPRK to give priority to granting and protecting children’s rights and interests and spare nothing for them regarding them as the king of the country.

“The DPRK government adopted several laws including the Public Health Law and the Law on the Nursing and Upbringing of Children to legally guarantee the rights of women and children, has increased state investment for their health and welfare and extended all social policies for them such as the free medical service and free compulsory education systems.”

The CRC became the first legally binding code of the distinct rights of the child in history, the representative of the UNICEF in the DPRK said. “To date, all countries in the world except one ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, making it the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history.”

He said all states/governments have to do the utmost in their power and with available means to prioritize the wellbeing of children.

As the sole agency mandated by the CRC to advance its implementation, UNICEF applauds and supports the progress made in the DPRK in making the promise of the convention a reality for every child in it and commitment to overcoming remaining and new challenges, he said.

“UNICEF, as part of the United Nations family, will continue to do all it can to assist the government of the DPRK in the ongoing effort of giving every child, every right; of giving every child, dreams.”

At the meeting there was an awards ceremony for the drawing competition which was held on the theme of “my dream, my hope” to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the CRC in July.

At the drawing competition “Small painter” drawn by Hwang Kon, a pupil at Jungsan Primary School in Jungsan County, South Phyongan Province, took the first place, with “I will become an agronomist” by Kim Thae Yong from Rungna Primary School in Taedonggang District, Pyongyang, finishing runner-up and “I will become a teacher” by Ji Ryo Phyong from Jongju Primary School in Jongju City, North Phyongan Province, coming third.