2-8-24 pia NPO307 Chikkou Minato-ku, Osaka-shi,Osaka, 552-0001
info@kojoken.jp
http://www.kojoken.jp/

Listening to Children's Voices and Thinking with Them
Child Information Research Center is a citizens' group that conducts activities with the aim of creating a society where every child and adult is respected. It was established in 1977 and has been making various efforts in order to advocate the rights of children and families that are raising children. Various efforts include releasing information through their magazine "Harappa," conducting counseling, providing a place for children who have truancy issues, providing support in raising children, and conducting research on children's rights and human rights education for preschool and school children. Following is an introduction highlighting some of their counseling services.
"Child Line Osaka," in operation since 2000, is a hotline where children can make anonymous phone calls to talk about their everyday events and issues. "Child Line" is a worldwide hotline, and sixty groups in Japan alone conduct this hotline service. Rather than giving advice or teaching children, the hotline focuses on listening to children's feelings and ideas while protecting "children's rights to be heard" and in turn thinking together with the children.
In 2003, the research center (CIRC) opened the "Children Family Counseling Room," which provides the opportunity to think together towards specific solutions to problems while focusing on the children's best interest. This counseling service is available to anyone, including children, parents, and teachers, as long as it concerns children. Working with the Osaka Prefectural Board of Education since 2004, this counseling service has also been acting as a window to "'Victim Relief System' for School Children and Students," which prevents and deals with bullying, sexual harassment, and physical punishment issues in schools.
Child Information Research Center's counseling services give the highest regard to listening to and thinking with the children about what's best for them as "an objective party" and "a citizen" who isn't their teacher or parent.

4-11 Nakano-cho Takarazuka-shi, Hyogo, 665-0056
videodoc@osk2.3web.ne.jp
http://www.osk.3web.ne.jp/~videodoc/

Osaka Prefectural Children's Empowerment Support Program for Children's Safety
In recent years in Japan, there has been an increase in the cases of atrocious crimes targeting young school children. Given this situation, various activities and efforts have been taken throughout the country in order to protect the children.
Empowerment Kansai for Women and Children created the "Children's Empowerment Support Program" in 2006. This program, which was entrusted by the Osaka Prefectural Board of Education, had the aim of helping children to develop the ability to protect themselves while respecting children's rights. The NPO developed the first teaching program of this kind in Japan and provided training for all elementary school teachers who teach first and second grade, with the exception of the cities of Osaka and Sakai, so that they could utilize the teaching program in their classes.
The program's intention was to prevent children from becoming victims or the perpetrators of violence. The program highlights four areas; "a sense of belonging," "boundaries," "emotions," and "power." Each of these four areas is broken into about ten different workshop topics. Teachers can choose from any of these materials for any of their classes depending on the children and the classroom needs.
Empowerment Kansai for Women and Children also conducts projects on violence prevention and human rights education and provides information regarding these projects. It also holds study groups so that, while respecting each other, men and women will become aware that they are members of society and subjectively participate in social activities. These efforts will in turn help to create a society that doesn't tolerate human rights violations against the weak, such as women and children, furthermore a society where all people's rights are respected despite race, gender, and age. All these efforts and activities have the aims of empowering adults and children to work together to expand their ability to live and of contributing to the creation of a prosperous civil society.

2-6-1 5F Fukuume Building, Hirano-cho Chuo-ku
Osaka-shi, Osaka, 541-0046
info@npo-zutto.com
http://www.npo-zutto.com/

Bullying Prevention Workshop
ZUTTO, an organization that promotes the sound growth of children and gender-equality, organized the "Japan-British Partnership Project against Bullying." This project involved a workshop where junior high school students did presentations about bullying through games and skits in order to find solutions to this problem. In February 2007, four British junior high school students visited Japan and participated in four workshops at two schools. Japanese students later joined the program and in March 2007 Japanese students visited Great Britain and held similar workshops at five different schools.
In Osaka on April 25th 2007, the students gave a report about their thoughts on how British students are dealing with bullying.

1-20 Hacchonishi-machi Takatsuki-shi, Osaka 569-0095
station@npo-sean.org
http://www.npo-sean.org

SEAN, established in 1997 as a childcare support group, has been providing support for raising children and women's self-reliance. Understanding the necessity for preventative education on "gender and violence," SEAN developed the human rights education SEA program in 2002. Using this program, SEAN has been providing in-school lectures to all ages from preschool to high school and even adults.

In the autumn of 2007 SEAN developed an 18-minute DVD for elementary school students titled, "Girls and Boys : Everyone Lively ~ Developing Relationships That Respect Individual Characteristics." The DVD shows the program in action in elementary schools and an animation that gives students an opportunity to learn that imposing gender roles causes a denial of emotions and creates a chain of violence, and furthermore to think about how to "be a strong and kind person in life."

6-20 Osaka-fu Shigaku Kyouiku Bunka Kaikan, Amijima-cho Miyakojima-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka, 534-0026
sigagakuji@lime.ocn.ne.jp
http://www.shigaku-jinken.gr.jp/

Osaka Prefectural Association of Human Rights Education in Private Schools, Committee Against Sexual Discrimination focuses on sexuality issues. They develop materials that students and teachers can use together, and also conduct and promote study opportunities related to this topic.
Sexual Harassment Prevention for School Children: A Picture Story Performance, "Can You Say NO?"
This large-sized picture story consists of five different themes; "I feel uncomfortable been touched!" "What is manliness and womanliness?" "Please don't do things I don't like!" "Express your feelings!" and "I'm growing up!" The picture story allows children to participate in the stories by encouraging the children to come up with their own answers to the questions that the stories address. Ex-planations make it ready to use in classes.
They also made a sexual harassment prevention DVD titled "For a Comfortable School Life" for junior high and high school students.

The Dawn Center conducts group visits to their facility. In the 2005 and 2006 fiscal years, 169 people from 23 different groups and 500 people from 27 groups visited the Dawn Center respectively. The visitors included administrators, individuals from various groups, and junior high and high school students as a part of their human rights education. Here is an example in which the Dawn Center was utilized for educational purposes: In July 2007 a group, which studies how men and women live together, from Nishi Junior High School in the town of Nose visited the center. Twenty-three students and their teacher toured the hall and the infor-mation library after the staff from the Dawn Center ex-plained the facility's basic philosophy.The students showed an exceptional interest in the library, which focuses on women's issues. "Are there issues concerning men?" "Are the majority of the writers women?"- the students asked the staff.