UPS- president Javier Herrán Gómez, Cuenca Mayor Marcelo Cabrera Palacios and other authorities from the province of Azuay took part in the opening ceremony of the Encuentro Nacional Por la Protección Integral de Derechos (National meeting for the integral protection of rights) held in the University “P. Carlos Crespi” theater.

Father Javier Herrán Gómez said “We are here because of Juan Bosco’s heart, the Salesian community’s raison d’etre and Universidad Politécnica Salesiana’s mission statement. You are all involved in the topic of children’s and adolescents rights because you believe a better world is possible, because you believe that your children and your fellow citizens’ children can enjoy a city that unites people, where they can run and walk, feel the city rivers cold and pure water, and listen to the birds sing. I invite you to turn this national meeting into a place of common ground where your love for children and adolescents will be the best methodology to unite efforts and achieve our goals, which is for Ecuador to have boys, girls and adolescents as protagonists of public policies for industrial and commercial development as the core of our society”.

The Mayor of Cuenca, Marcelo Cabrera said “Due to the huge importance that a child’s and an adolescent’s well-being and development have on society and because of the difficult effects that the noncompliance and the lack of respect of their rights bring, we aim at making Cuenca and Ecuador the best places in the world to live and work in. And the only way to do it is by changing obsolete models and negative attitudes to hope, respect and equity through municipal child development centers where our children will learn by playing and having fun. Children will grow in a healthy danger free environment that will help their integral development”

The national meeting had two main objectives: To generate spaces for active participation of society and to have tools to make up the Rights Protection System nationwide by creating regulations that will help other city councils according to their needs. They also discussed possible topics for the Summit on children’s and adolescents’ rights that will be held in Mexico.