Abstract
A great deal of the changing status of children came with the emergence of human rights and the eventual passage of early twentieth century concern for children’s rights that set in chain the process that lead to the drafting and eventual adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989. Particular emphasis on the articles of the CRC that address children’s participation are then addressed leading into the question of children’s social capital which is one of the keys to its success. The history of child participation and its importance begin examination of education and children’s participation in civil society and also the situation of ‘looked after children’ as a particular group with constraints on their involvement in decision making. There is then critical appraisal of participatory approaches in international development, followed by a brief insight into children in human geography, environmental planning and participation as those fields understand see them. Finally, participation as a contributor to the citizenship-like status of children is addressed.
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Notes
- 1.
The English Bill of Rights is one of the fundamental documents of English constitutional law, is substantially different in form and intent from the American Bill of Rights. It was intended to focus on the rights of citizens represented by Parliament against the monarchy. However, some of its basic tenets were adopted in the American Bill of Rights. James Madison, the author of the American Bill, incorporated the ideas of John Locke, whose Two Treatises of Government (1698) argued that civil society was created for the protection of property (that which is one’s own: ‘life, liberty, and estate’). He also put forward the notion that each individual is free and equal in the state of nature and also that natural rights that are inherent to all individuals, a concept Madison mentioned in his speech presenting the Bill of Rights to the 1st Congress.
- 2.
Somalia has been in a state of civil unrest with no single, internationally accepted government for over 30 years. Consequently there is no single authority or government recognised by the UN that could sign and ratify the CRC.
- 3.
The USA played an active role in drafting the CRC and signed it on 16 February 1995, but has still to ratify it. Opposition is partly due to ‘potential conflicts’ with the Constitution and some political and religious conservatives. Two reasons frequently given for not ratifying were that Texas allows capital punishment of children which the CRC does not allow and that it could undermine parents’ rights. The Heritage Foundation views the conflict as an issue related to national control over domestic policy. President Obama described the failure to ratify the CRC as “embarrassing” and promised to review this. The USA has however signed and ratified both optional protocols.
- 4.
Participation is well enough defined by any good dictionary, yet there has been considerable competition among ‘experts’ to redefine what it is because it is ‘children’s participation’ thus held to different to plain ‘participation’. The competition to reach a definitive definition has generally confused rather than clarified and offers little if anything toward the notion of the child as a citizen since participation has come to mean quite specific things rather than having all of the all entailing qualities of citizenship.
- 5.
At present some countries are beginning to lower communal and occasional general electoral rights to age 16. Nicaragua lowered the voting age from 21 to 16 in November 1984. Over recent years in Germany the states of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein have lowered the age to 16 years for municipal elections. The Isle of Man changed from 18 to 16 in July 2006 with legislation in force in time for the General Election of 23 November 2006. The Austrian Council of Ministers adopted a plan to lower the electoral age to 16 during March 2007. The motion passed into law on 1 July 2007. During May 2007 the Swiss canton of Glarus voted to reduce the voting age from 18 to 16 for cantonal and local elections. In Scotland the SNP’s annual conference voted unanimously on 27 October 2007 in favour of a policy of reducing the voting age to 16 as soon as possible.
- 6.
Describing ‘child led’ organisations such as MANTHOC in Peru, the Concerned for Working Children/Bhima Sangha in India, ENDA-Jeunesse throughout West Africa or the Movimento Nacional de Meninos e Meninas de Rua in Brazil in detail would be a wasteful indulgence here, however these and numerous other organisations have websites and have produced a sizeable number of publications over the last 30 or so years. At the time of working on this text, the Concerned for Working Children are one of the nominees for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize which of itself endorses the positive nature of this children’s organisation.
- 7.
These can be birth parents, adoptive parents or legal guardians.
- 8.
This is the first option in countries with fostering schemes although in many of those a placement in an institution will precede that. In countries with no alternative care systems, homes are the usual option although placement with approved relatives is also a possibility.
- 9.
Much of what is said here is self-critical. A large part of my income over the last two and a half decades was earned as an evaluator. Rapid appraisal has been the only viable choice since such situations as evaluation visits to several communities in a number of geographical dispersed provinces within a few days with terms of reference that stipulate a participatory approach demand it. I have always been the first to acknowledge the fact that it is categorically not research and is as prone to its failings as it is often useful.
- 10.
Rather than develop this here, I would recommend looking at the International Labour Organisation’s International Programme on Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) resources database. Since they began work in the 1980s they have lacked sensitivity toward the children they intend to ‘save’ as participants in programmes with opinions that sometimes also include explicit arguments for being allowed to work. One notable omission from those resources is: McKechnie, Jim, and Sandy Hobbs (Eds.), 1998, Working children: Reconsidering the Debates: Report of the International Working Group on Child Labour. Although the report was published by Defence for Children International Netherlands, IPSCAN and ILO/IPEC were commissioning partners and donors. This report went against the grain of ILO policy and has been notable for the fact that the ILO has always disowned their part in its existence. For other dimensions of the issue see Woodhead (2007).
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Milne, B. (2013). Children’s Human Rights and the Contemporary Interest in Child Participation. In: The History and Theory of Children’s Citizenship in Contemporary Societies. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6521-4_9
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