The City of Bonn is committed to taking children's rights into account in its administrative actions. Municipalities that visibly express this to the outside world are awarded the Child-Friendly Municipality seal by the association of the same name, which is supported by UNICEF Germany and the German Children's Fund. Mayor Katja Dörner accepted the award on Thursday, March 6, 2025, at a ceremony in the Old Town Hall.
"I am delighted that our action plan has convinced the Association of Child-Friendly Communities and that we have been awarded the Child-Friendly Community seal. I am convinced that if a city is child and youth-friendly, it is better for everyone to live in. It is up to the local authorities to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the ground, where children and young people live and shape their everyday lives. We are aligning our urban policy and administrative actions even more closely with the needs of young people. By receiving the seal, we regularly undergo an external audit and show our commitment and dedication to focusing even more strongly on children's rights in Bonn."
In addition to Christian Schneider, UNICEF Managing Director Germany, actress and UNICEF ambassador Marie-Luise Marjan also congratulated the city of Bonn. Claudia Kittel and Christiane Richard-Elsner, two experts from the Child-Friendly Community Association, gave an assessment of Bonn's action plan. The band "Awake&Alive", made up of pupils from Beuel Integrated Comprehensive School, and poet Carla Moschner provided the musical and cultural backdrop. Dominik Bär, Managing Director of the Child-Friendly Community Association, hosted the event.
Naturally, young people were also invited to the award ceremony. A group that had also worked on the action plan took part in a round table discussion with the Mayor of Bonn. Among other things, they discussed with Mayor Katja Dörner what child and youth friendliness means to them, which of the 20 measures from the action plan are most important to them personally and what they would like the Mayor of Bonn to do when it comes to child and youth friendliness and the implementation of their rights.
For Mayor Katja Dörner, the child-friendly municipality has been successfully implemented when children's and young people's rights are visible in the cityscape and adults inside and outside the city administration are made aware of the importance of children's rights. It is crucial that children and young people know who they can turn to if they need support and that their interests are represented.
The action plan for the child-friendly community
In November 2024, the city council adopted the Child-Friendly Municipality Action Plan. It lists 20 measures to better integrate the rights of children and young people into administrative action. This was reviewed by the board of the accompanying association Kinderfreundliche Kommunen. In addition to internal administrative measures, such as strengthening child and youth representatives or further training for employees, the action plan includes structural improvements such as a barrier check in leisure, sports and cultural facilities. The action plan is completed by measures that bring directly visible improvements for children and young people, such as the child-friendly redesign of public spaces, more cleanliness in play and recreational areas and safer mobility on the way to and from school. The measures are based on a large survey of children and young people, and children and young people have been and will continue to be involved in the ongoing process.
By participating in the program, the city of Bonn has committed itself to implementing the applicable law of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child at local level and to aligning its administrative actions with it. By participating in the sealing process, the city administration has undergone an external and independent review as part of a status analysis and developed the action program in the further process. The city of Bonn now has until 2027 to implement the measures agreed in the action plan (opens in a new tab).