The Child's Right to Participation – Reality or Rhetoric?

Abstract: This dissertation examines the child’s right to participation in theory and practice within the context of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international human rights instruments.Article 12 of the Convention establishes the right of the child to express views and to have those views respected and properly taken into consideration. The emphasis of the study is on the democracy aspects of child participation and on how the implementation of the right to participation could become more effective. For these purposes, the theoretical underpinnings of the child’s right to participation are examined with a particular focus on the impact of power structures. In order to clarify how state parties to the Convention have implemented article 12 and the way they argue regarding possible obstacles for implementation, jurisprudence and case law (practice) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, as well as supervisory bodies of other international human rights instruments, are studied. In particular, the importance of traditional attitudes towards children on the realisation of participation rights for children is analysed. The case of India is presented as an example of how a state party to the Convention can argue on this matter.The conclusion drawn from the analysis is that the problem lies not in certain societies/cultures (often labelled traditional) being less inclined to allow and facilitate matters for children to participate in decision-making than in other more “modern” societies. Instead, the same view of the child prevails, regardless of the society in question. The challenge thus lies in changing adult attitudes towards children and child participation. In the final chapter, suggestions are presented in relation to how state parties can be encouraged to find the political will essential for effective treaty implementation and for bridging the gap between theory and practice.