Is children's participation a right or a favour

Abstract

Apart from suffering from a list of problems such as poverty, shortage of financial support, of basic services and facilities and of understanding, children suffer also from lack of participation. Historically, social policy did not consider children as persons with a voice but rather as objects of concern. Young people were marginalized from participation processes and limited in their ability to affect decision-making. This article addresses the theory of children's right of participation. The purpose is to argue whether children's participation is a right or a favour. The first part focuses on the different theories and approaches dealing with the concept participation. The next section explores the right to participation in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and especially Article 12. Then, there is an emphasis on the crucial role that Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have in promoting children's participation. Finally, there is a focus on children's mechanisms such as ombudsmen, juvenile courts and youth parliaments.