We are speaking up for those who don’t have anyone listening to them, for those who can’t talk about it just yet, and for those who will never speak again.
Emma González, Advocate for gun control
Child participation as a human right
Child participation means that children and young people under the age of 18, individually and in a group, have the right, the means, the space, the opportunity and, where necessary, the support to freely express their views, to be heard and to contribute to decision making on matters affecting them, while their views are given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity.1 The rights of children and young people to participate applies without discrimination on any grounds including race, ethnicity, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, disability, birth, sexual orientation or other status.
Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) guarantees the participation of children by declaring the right to be heard. This right should be exercised on two levels: on the level of individual decision making – including judicial and administrative procedures – and through involvement in public decision making regarding all matters affecting children. The “matters” should be interpreted broadly, to include not only the issues covered by the CRC, but in accordance with the clause “affecting the child”, in order to make sure the process is relevant for the life of the children.
The child has the right “to express those views freely”, without manipulation, influence or pressure. Every child, who is capable of forming their views should be heard: this is not a limitation but an obligation on the state to assess this capacity on a case-by-case basis instead of imposing age limits.
The views of the children must be “given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child” and they should be informed about the outcome of any process and told how their views have been considered. At the same time, consideration needs to be given to the notion of the evolving capacities of the child, and to direction and guidance from parents.
Participation should not be limited to a one-off event, but should be an ongoing process which contributes to building a culture of participation throughout the whole of a child’s environment – in the family, at school, in caring institutions, in the healthcare system, in the community and society as a whole. For both adults and children, the development of such a culture of participation can be a very powerful exercise in democracy.
The most important precondition for meaningful participation of children and young people is that adults respect their ability to take part in decisions, and recognise them as partners. A democratic partnership will be the result, taking the place of traditional relationships built on adults’ power and control over children. Without respect for the children’s abilities, participation is likely to be tokenistic: children may give their opinions, but will have no influence on the result.
Models of participation
Between tokenism and full involvement and influence, there are various degrees of participation. These are well illustrated by the eight-stage ‘Ladder of participation’, developed by Roger Hart2. The first three stages are manipulation, decoration and tokenism, regarded as false forms of participation.
Genuine forms of participation include the ‘Assigned and informed’ stage, in which specific roles are given to children, and the ‘Consultation and informed’ stage in which children give advice on programmes run by adults and they understand how their opinion will affect the outcome. The most advanced stages are ‘Adult-initiated’ participation, a shared decision-making process with children, and ‘Child-initiated and directed’ projects in which adults appear only in a supportive, advisory role. This last stage provides children with an opportunity for joint decision making, co-management and shared responsibility, with adults and children accessing each other’s information and learning from each other’s life experiences.
Ireland’s National Strategy on Children and Young People’s Participation in Decision-Making3 translated Article 12 of the CRC into a model composed of four distinct and interrelated elements in a chronological order:
Space: Children must be given safe, inclusive opportunities to form and express their view
Voice: Children must be facilitated to express their view
Audience: The view must be listened to
Influence: The view must be acted upon, as appropriate.4
