JICRC (Japan International Center for the Rights of the Child)

Japan International Center for the Rights of the Child (JICRC), established in 1992, works towards the realization of the rights of all the children around the world.

Our main activities are to raise public awareness on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the actual situation of children whose rights are denied, and to provide support to such children. We especially focus on the issues of child labour and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) in Southeast Asian countries.

We do not take a charitable approach considering children concerned as helpless victims but see them as "partners in solving the problems and changing the world". We believe in child participation and child protagonism.

We publish educational materials and hold panel exhibitions to show how the deprived children are trying to solve their problems and to change exploitative situations in which they find themselves. We conduct workshops to promote understanding of the situation of children whose rights are denied and/or violated.

We also support projects run by NGOs and children in India and provide them funding for their project. We are hoping that more people will realize the importance of solving these issues and will join us. Please feel free to contact us for volunteer work, or become a member to support us.

UNCRC forms the foundation of our activities. Through international co-operation, partnership building with children and NGOs in other countries, and development education, we aim to achieve a world where the rights of every child, in both the south and the north, are fulfilled.

Through development education, we create opportunities to raise awareness among children and the general public in Japan on issues of development, child labour and CSEC. Our activities include the development and publication of educational materials on the above issues.

We hold participatory workshops and seminars on child rights on a regular basis under specific themes such as child participation, CSEC, and Japanese laws which prohibits child pornography.

The main objective of this project is to support the empowerment, education, protection and rehabilitation of working children and sexually exploited children in India in partnership with local NGOs. We financially support the Concerned for Working Children (CWC) and Butterflies.

We started relief and rehabilitation activities with counterpart NGOs in India that work with children and women, after the earthquake in Gujarat, India in January, 2001.

JICRC was one of the major NGOs taking part in the organization of and advocacy towards the Congress, which was held in Yokohama, Japan in December 2001. Prior to the Congress, JICRC held a number of workshops to raise public awareness on CSEC and the Congress. Youth JICRC members who participated in the Congress attended the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children (UNGASS) in May 2002. A report on UNGASS is due to be published in 2003.

JICRC publishes quarterly newsletters for its members, reports and books on child rights and empowerment. We also run a website and mailing lists for an information sharing purpose on related issues. height="15"> height="15"> height="15"> height="15"> height="15"> height="15">

Established in 1992 in Osaka, west Japan, JICRC has been one of the major organizers of the UNCRC Forum which has been held in Japan every year since 1993. During 1993-97, JICRC campaigned for Japanese-Filipino Children who were born to Japanese fathers and Filipino mothers but who had not received any protection or benefit from their fathers and the Japanese Government. After the success of the campaign in 1998, child labour became the main focus of our activities. Awareness creation was sought through seminars with NGO staff and children. In 1999, Japanese children who had been participating in JICRC activities formed a group called Namaskara, and they exchanged views and concerns with child representatives of Bhima Sangha, a Indian child workers' organization. In 2001, after an earthquake hit Gujarat, JICRC started emergency relief activities in order to support NGOs in the stricken area. In 2001, we joined other NGOs for the rights of the child to co-host the Second World Congress against Sexual Exploitation of Children. Our main office is currently located in Tokyo.

We are trying to protect children’s rights of Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances (CEDC) or Children in Needs of Special Protection (CNSP) such as working children, at risk children of trafficking and sexual exploitation, and street children through supporting our local partners.

Partnership for JICRC

We have common vision, mission and goals:
Vision: We create the world where every child's right is protected.
Mission: We promote understanding and awareness on child rights, particularly on CRC and child participation, and the plight of the children who are deprived of the rights, in each of our society and in the world through workshop, seminars, publications and advocacy activities. We target the key persons such as teachers, caretakers of children and NGO workers whenever possible.

In order to achieve the goals:
1) JICRC and partner organizations exchange the information, experiences related to child rights and each other's activities through meetings, visits to project areas, documents and E mails.
2) JICRC support partner organizations financially when fund is available.
3) JICRC and partner organizations may launch some joint campaigns on specific issues such as CSEC and child labour or joint campaigns for fundraising.

The following four NGOs are our partners in Cambodia

1. HCC (HEALTHCARE CENTER FOR CHILDREN)

http://www.sccf-hcc.org/hcc/hcc_index.htm

2. AFESIP (ACTING FOR WOMEN IN DISTRESSING SITUATIONS)

http://www.afesip.org/

3. Mith Samlanh/FRIENDS

http://www.streetfriends.org/

4. CRF (Child Rights Foundation)

Activities in Cambodia

Preventing children from being trafficked and sexually exploited by financially supporting formation and empowerment of CBPN (Community Based Prevention Network) implemented by Healthcare Center for Children in 2004

Preventing children from being trafficked and sexually exploited by financially supporting formation and empowerment of SBPN (School Based Prevention Network) as well as income generation program for families of at risk female students implemented by Healthcare Center for Children in 2005

Psychological care for the victims of trafficking in the centers of AFESIP for one year 2004-05

Supporting victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation by providing care service to their children in a center of AFESIP in 2005-06

Protecting street children in Phnom Penh from sex tourists by providing a digital camera and motorbikes for Child right team of Mith Samlanh/Friends in 2005

Publication of CSEC leaflets "Protect yourself and your friends from sexual abuse" produced by Child Rights Foundation in 2004

Publication of guidebooks of child participation "Children and Monitoring The Implementation of the CRC" and "Child Rights Promotion by Children and Youth" produced by Child Rights Foundation in 2005

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Address of JICRC

Tokyo office
Maruko Bldg. 3F, 1-20-6, Higashi-Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo, 110-0015 JAPAN
TEL/FAX: (81)-3-5817-3980
E-mail: info@jicrc.org

Osaka Contact office
c/o Osaka NPO Plaza 4-29-20-131 Yoshino Fukushima-ku Osaka-shi, Osaka 553-0006 JAPAN
TEL/FAX: (81)-6-6462-6735
E-mail: osaka@jicrc.org

Cambodia Office
1st. Floor House No.9, Street306 Boeng Keng Kang, Phonom Penh CAMBODIA
E-mail: cambodia@jicrc.org