The 76 th Session of the United Nations General Assembly which began on September 30 will address an item of protection and promotion of the rights of the child at its Third (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) Committee.

Since protecting and healthily raising children is a matter of great importance which bears direct upon the development and future of every country, nation and humankind as a whole, the topic of children’s rights is taken up as a main item at the international meetings devoted to human rights.

Everyone could now witness over the world the miserable phenomena where children, who are supposed to learn and lead happy lives to their satisfaction under the care of the family, state and society, are fading away, being reduced into the victims of all social evils.

Notably in the Western countries which boast of its materialistic prosperity, child poverty comes up as a serious social problem, and the practices of child abuses are increasing on an unprecedented scale. Moreover, sexual offenses and trafficking committed against children are prevailing among these countries, and the acts of violating children’s rights in a way of refusing admission of refugee children to school are increasing as well.

In our country however, the policy of love for coming generations is unvaryingly carried out under the slogan of “The best for the children!”, holding up children as kings and queens of the country.

On the basis of having provided legal guarantees for protection and promotion of the children’s rights by the Socialist Constitution, the Law on the Protection and Promotion of Children’s Rights, the Law on the Nursing and Upbringing of Children etc., the DPRK government is directing primary attention to providing material and social conditions for their practical implementation.

Thanks to the universal free medical care system, children are growing up healthily and free from diseases, being regularly examined, checked and treated throughout the period of their childhood at the children’s hospitals of Provinces and the pediatric departments of people’s hospitals in Districts and Counties.

Our children are benefiting from the universal 12-year compulsory education system, so they are learning to their heart’s content and preparing themselves to become excellent talents of the country.

Nationwide measures for enhancing the quality of education are being taken, and national investments into the education are increasing. Against these backgrounds, a notebook factory with a yearly production capacity of 150 million was newly spruced up, and there are also bag factories newly built in every Province, and good-quality school uniforms, school bags, notebooks and stationery are supplied to the pupils and students.

Extracurricular bases such as school children’s palaces, school children’s halls, children’s camps, children’s parks and sport parks are newly built or reconstructed at the beautiful places throughout the country, thus enabling children to conduct to their satisfaction various extracurricular activities as befit their desires and aptitudes.

Particularly in the recent years, modern baby homes and children’s homes and primary boarding schools as well as secondary boarding schools were newly built for the parentless children, where a wonderful nursing and educational environment and all living conditions have been fully provided. There, the children having no parents are growing up and learning happily with nothing to be envied under the special attention and care of the state and society.

Even though everything is lacking and difficult due to the unprecedented ordeals and hardships, the Party and state are increasingly reinforcing their policies for the children.

At the 3rd Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea which discussed and decided on important matters of the Party and the state, a new childcare policy was formulated to provide all children in nurseries and kindergartens throughout the country, who are at the most important age of growth and development, with nourishing food including dairy products at the state’s expense. According to this policy, cow milk, goat milk and processed milk are daily supplied.

Our people feel every day and every hour the benevolent policies of the Party and the state being implemented for the coming generations, and they are sure of the promising future of their children, looking at their happy faces.

As a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, our country will, as ever, make continued efforts to protect and promote the children’s rights without regard to conditions and environment, and actively take part in the international cooperation in this regard.