Children's Participation

Children demand respect for their rights as workers

2011-03-21T20:35:00.003+07:00

In Bolivia, where there are an estimated 850,000 working children, members of the country’s largest union of child workers, UNATSBO, have sent a proposal to the government in which they call for their rights as workers to be recognised. Several of the children’s demands include legislative amendments to recognise that work for children begins at age six, not at age 14, as the law currently provides; protection against exploitative or hazardous work, or work that hinders a child’s health and physical, mental and social development; and that their salaries be brought in-line with the national minimum wage. Bolivians approved a new constitution last year, and legislators are currently in the process of rewriting existing laws to conform to the new legal code. The children's unions are pushing lawmakers to reform the Code of Children and Adolescents, which governs child labor.They want to ensure that children earn the same wages and have the same financial tools as their adult counterparts. In some sectors, they earn less than half the salary of their adult colleagues. Moreover, children don't have access to savings accounts and often give their earnings directly to their parents. Union members also lobby for safe work environments and for better medical care, especially for children whose jobs present a health risk.
The lack of recognition of children who work forms one of the major obstacles in achieving better living conditions for working children.

Read more:
Child workers of Bolivia Unite!
Niños y adolescentes trabajadores exigen garantías
"Mi fortaleza es mi trabajo" by UNATSBO (the publication is in Spanish only)

The Right Stuff magazine

2011-02-19T11:20:00.000+07:00

The Right Stuff magazine was designed and written by more than 30 under 18 year-olds from across England, with the aim of promoting young people’s interest in children’s human rights and encouraging them to take action to achieve change for children. Articles cover a range of topics including the experiences of children in care; how children seeking asylum in the UK are treated; student protests; human rights fashion; protest music; and discrimination based on hair colour

Children's rights to nationality

2011-02-18T07:27:00.003+07:00

A child's right to acquire a nationality is evident in the Convention on the Rights of the Child—the main United Nations treaty governing states' human rights obligations towards children. But the way states are supposed to interpret and implement that right is unclear.

In this document, the Open Society Justice Initiative urges the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child—the body that interprets the Convention—to issue a General Comment. The comment would clarify and emphasize the obligation that governments bear for stateless children and would raise the profile of the issue in high-level discussion.

See also:
Children and statelessness - questions and answers

CRIN's Editorial on children's statelessness

The child as citizen

2011-01-20T17:24:00.004+07:00

The American Academy of Political and Social Science has decided to open online during January free access to its January 2011 issue of The ANNALS, "The Child as Citizen." This covers the 20th Anniversary of the CRC. The volume, edited by Felton Earls, will be open for free downloads through the end of January, meaning that individuals and institutions do NOT need to have a subscription to the journal to access and download the full-text articles.

Table of Content of the January 2011 Issue:
o Felton Earls - Children: From Rights to Citizenship
o Paula S. Fass - A Historical Context for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
o Geraldine Van Bueren - Multigenerational Citizenship: The Importance of Recognizing Children as National and International Citizens
o Marta Maurás - Public Policies and Child Rights: Entering the Third Decade of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
o Irene Rizzini - The Promise of Citizenship for Brazilian Children: What Has Changed?
o Elizabeth Bartholet - Ratification by the United States of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Pros and Cons from a Child’s Rights Perspective
o Donald J. Hernandez, Nancy A. Denton, and Victoria L. Blanchard - Children in the United States of America: A Statistical Portrait by Race-Ethnicity, Immigrant Origins, and Language
o James Bohman - Children and the Rights of Citizens: Nondomination and Intergenerational Justice
o Andrew Rehfeld - The Child as Democratic Citizen
o Allison James - To Be (Come) or Not to Be (Come): Understanding Children’s Citizenship
o Judith Torney-Purta and Jo-Ann Amadeo - Participatory Niches for Emergent Citizenship in Early Adolescence: An International Perspective
o Daniel Hart and Robert Atkins - American Sixteen- and Seventeen-Year-Olds Are Ready to Vote
o Mary Carlson and Felton Earls - Adolescents as Deliberative Citizens: Building Health Competence in Local Communities
o Clotilde Fonseca and Maria Eugenia Bujanda - Promoting Children’s Capacities for Active and Deliberative Citizenship with Digital Technologies: The CADE Project in Costa Rica

Undocumented Children - Children's right to identity

2010-06-24T15:06:00.004+07:00

This Is Who I Am is a project for recognizing the identity of vulnerable children - touching upon the core of children's citizenship rights.

If you loose your passport, identity document, birth certificate…

How do you prove who you are?

Millions of children worldwide are unregistred - and as a result stateless:
Without nationality or identity they are not included in official statistics - they basically do not exist and do not have any protection.

This Is Who I Am is an ambitious project aimed at providing children who are unregistred with an identity, proof that they do exist, that they do have a background, a history.

Knowing Children will soon put up a website that provides further information and ways to scale up the project to recognize the identity of undocumented children.

Children’s Participation: Experiences in capacity building and training

2010-06-15T12:49:00.006+07:00

Children’s Participation: Experiences in capacity building and training, by Henk van Beers, Save the Children Sweden, ISBN 91-89366-96-4, Stockholm, 2002.

I have decided to make this book available in PDF (although the quality is poor since it is a scan of the hard copy) because the experiences are still valuable and maybe helpful when it comes to capacity building on children's participation, and people have been asking me for a copy. Hard copies should still be available from Save the Children Sweden in Stockholm.

This book reflects on experiences in building the capacity of staff of organisations for street and working children to do participatory action research in Kenya from 1995-2000.

In 1995 SNV (Stichting Nederlandse Vrijwilligers – Netherlands Development Organisation) launched a programme in Kenya to assist street children projects in improving their work with children. The programme’s main components were organisational strengthening and capacity building, targeting both staff and management. Over a five year period, four 10-month training courses in Participatory Action Research with children were organised for staff of approximately 30 projects to enable them to undertake their own research, to find out more about the children they work with and to enhance the involvement of children in programming. The training also aimed to enhance the skills of staff in working with children.

In two projects a comprehensive in-house training scheme for all staff and management was conducted to address various constraints in their work in a child-focused way. In addition, a number of separate workshops and seminars on children's rights and participation were organised for various groups of organisations which with children in need of special protection measures. Additional training needs were addressed where they arose such as the need to improve counselling skills.

The experiences show that major benefits can be derived from involving children at project level, in policy development and in research. Looking at existing interventions from children’s perspectives may require a critical review of approaches, as is shown in this report. However, by providing children with an active role in their own development interventions become more relevant and effective.

This publication analyses experiences from capacity building and training in children's participation in project contexts. It examines the results of training adults and provides detailed examples of different ways to involve children.

The lessons learnt may be useful for organisations and individuals who plan to promote children's participation in their policies, research and interventions. It may be of specific use for agencies and professionals who work in different socio-cultural contexts where the concept of children's participation may be seen as alien to existing societal norms and values. Children can participate and make contributions to issues that affect them – and this report shows the benefits of children's participation both for children and adults.

Understanding article 12

2010-06-07T22:52:00.008+07:00

The Committee on the Rights of the Child adopts general comments based on specific articles, provisions and themes of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to assist the States parties in fulfilling their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and to stimulate international organizations and specialized agencies to effectively work on the full realization of children's rights. These general comments basically are the Committee’s interpretation of the content of certain articles or thematic issues.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child has issued general comments on the following subjects:
1. The aims of education
2. The role of independent human rights institutions
3. HIV/AIDS and the rights of the child
4. Adolescent Health
5. General measures of implementation for the Convention on the Rights of the Child
6. Treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin
7. Implementing child rights in early childhood
8. The right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment
9. The rights of children with disabilities
10. Children’s rights in Juvenile Justice
11. Indigenous children and their rights under the Convention
12. The right of the child to be heard

The Committee sometimes decides to develop a general comment on an article, provision or theme that has been discussed earlier in one of its General Day of Discussion. Since 1992, the Committee on the rights of the Child organized 13 general days of discussion on specific provisions of the Convention or on related issues. The Committee always adopt recommendations at the end of such a thematic discussion day.

In 2009 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child published a general comment on article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention) is a unique provision in a human rights treaty; it addresses the legal and social status of children, who, on the one hand lack the full autonomy of adults but, on the other, are subjects of rights. Paragraph 1 assures, to every child capable of forming his or her own views, the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with age and maturity. Paragraph 2 states, in particular, that the child shall be afforded the right to be heard in any judicial or administrative proceedings affecting him or her.

The right of all children to be heard and taken seriously constitutes one of the fundamental values of the Convention. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has identified article 12 as one of the four general principles of the Convention, the others being the right to non-discrimination, the right to life and development, and the primary consideration of the child’s best interests, which highlights the fact that this article establishes not only a right in itself, but should also be considered in the interpretation and implementation of all other rights.

In 2006, the Committee held a day of general discussion on the right of the child to be heard in order to explore the meaning and significance of article 12, its linkages to other articles, and the gaps, good practices and priority issues that need to be addressed in order to further the enjoyment of this right. The present general comment arises from the exchange of information which took place on that day, including with children, the accumulated experience of the Committee in reviewing States parties’ reports, and the very significant expertise and experience of translating the right embodied in article 12 into practice by governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community organizations, development agencies, and children themselves.

The general comment aims to support the effective implementation of article 12 and strengthening the understanding of the meaning of article 12 and its implications.
It aims to elaborate the scope of legislation, policy and practice necessary to achieve full
implementation of article 12 and to highlight the positive approaches in implementing article 12. It also propose basic requirements for appropriate ways to give due weight to children’s
views in all matters that affect them.

Dissecting paragraph 1 of article 12
The first paragraph of article 12 reads:

“1. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child."

“shall assure”
Article 12, paragraph 1, provides that States parties “shall assure” the right of the child to freely express her or his views. “Shall assure” is a legal term of special strength, which leaves no leeway for State parties’ discretion. Accordingly, States parties are under strict obligation to undertake appropriate measures to fully implement this right for all children. This obligation contains two elements in order to ensure that mechanisms are in place to solicit the views of the child in all matters affecting her or him and to give due weight to those views.

“Capable of forming his or her own views”
States parties shall assure the right to be heard to every child “capable of forming his or her own views”. This phrase should not be seen as a limitation, but rather as an obligation for States parties to assess the capacity of the child to form an autonomous opinion to the greatest extent possible. This means that States parties cannot begin with the assumption that a child is incapable of expressing her or his own views. On the contrary, States parties should presume that a child has the capacity to form her or his own views and recognize that she or he has the right to express them; it is not up to the child to first prove her or his capacity.

no age limit
The Committee emphasizes that article 12 imposes no age limit on the right of
the child to express her or his views, and discourages States parties from introducing
age limits either in law or in practice which would restrict the child’s right to be heard in all matters affecting her or him.

Research shows that the child is able to form views from the youngest age, even when she or he may be unable to express them verbally. Consequently, full implementation of article 12 requires recognition of, and respect for, non-verbal forms of communication including play, body language, facial expressions, and drawing and painting, through which very young children demonstrate understanding, choices and preferences;

“The right to express those views freely”
“Freely” means that the child can express her or his views without pressure and can choose whether or not she or he wants to exercise her or his right to be heard. “Freely” also means that the child must not be manipulated or subjected to undue influence or pressure. “Freely” is further intrinsically related to the child’s “own” perspective: the child has the right to express her or his own views and not the views of others.

The realization of the right of the child to express her or his views requires that the child be informed about the matters, options and possible decisions to be taken and their consequences by those who are responsible for hearing the child, and by the child’s parents or guardian. The child must also be informed about the conditions under which she or he will be asked to express her or his views. This right to information is essential, because it is the precondition of the child’s clarified decisions.

“In all matters affecting the child”
States parties must assure that the child is able to express her or his views “in all matters affecting” her or him. This represents a second qualification of this right: the child must be heard if the matter under discussion affects the child. This basic condition has to be respected and understood broadly.

“Being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child”
This clause refers to the capacity of the child, and stipulates that simply listening to the child is insufficient; the views of the child have to be seriously considered when the child is capable of forming her or his own views.

By requiring that due weight be given in accordance with age and maturity, article 12 makes it clear that age alone cannot determine the significance of a child’s views. Children’s levels of understanding are not uniformly linked to their biological age.

The general comment on article 12 has many more insightful points to better understand the right to be heard within the context of the CRC - see the full text of the general comment.

The Middle Way - Bridging the Gap Between Cambodian Culture and Children’s Rights

2010-06-06T11:16:00.015+07:00

The Middle Way - Bridging the Gap Between Cambodian Culture and Children’s Rights
By Steve Gourley, 2009 NGO Committee on the Rights of the Child, Cambodia, 2009.

This is an exciting piece of research that addresses the lack of comprehensive information available in Cambodia relating to knowledge, attitudes, and practice of ‘children’s rights’. Awareness-raising about children’s rights (CR) has been undertaken on a large scale by civil society organisations and the government and many people in Cambodia can mention at least a few rights that relate to children. Whereas awareness is relatively high, the practice appears to significantly lag behind, especially at the family level where traditional values at times interfere with certain rights, especially when it comes to participation.

The research recommends that governmental and private agencies should adopt more culturally-appropriate methods of education and promotion if children’s rights are to be fully realized at the family level.

Children were involved in planning the research, data validation, formulating recommendations. In addition, a very high proportion of child respondents (50% of all focus group participants and survey respondents) was intentionally selected to ensure that children’s interests were clearly and directly represented in the findings.

Steve Gourley presents a very useful comparison between the values of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and common Cambodian values.

UNCRC values in comparison to Cambodian values:

Equality and participation in contrast to Hierarchy
Transparency in contrast to Honour and Reputation
Gender equity in contrast to Patriarchy
Empowerment in contrast to Patronage
Justice in contrast to Harmony
Individualism in contrast to Collectivism

Steve Gourley notes:
“In view of the dramatic differences that exist, it is important to understand how each contributes to the overall functioning of society – and thus how and why specific values influence behaviour in a particular way. Each of the values above meets specific needs and therefore offers different benefits depending on the context in which they occur. Understanding the positive contribution of each can help decrease the tendency to judge a particular value or value system as “better” than another, illuminate how decision-making and behaviours can differ in various socio-cultural contexts, and help explain the conflicts that often occur between traditional parents and modern children.” (p.17)

The right to be properly researched: How to do rights-based, scientific research with children

2010-06-04T05:18:00.017+07:00

This is a boxed set of 10 concise and easy to handle manuals for fieldworkers, giving step-by step guidance, linked to downloadable website materials and covering all aspects of research from conception to report writing.

Manual 1
Where do we start? explains the rights-based approach to research with children and how it relates to other research approaches.
Manual 2
How do we protect children? deals with the ethical rules and methods necessary in all research with children.
Manual 3
How can we be good researchers with children? provides information necessary for training, so that all researchers are fully equipped to work with children.
Manual 4
What do know already and what do we want to know? sets out the procedures of deciding on research topics and questions.
Manual 5
How are we going to find out? takes researchers through the process of choosing research methods and designing and piloting research tools.
Manual 6
How can we get the best data? provides guidance on research planning and management.
Manual 7
How do we count data? details the processes necessary for numerical analysis.
Manual 8
What do numbers mean? demonstrates the means of changing numerical results into meaningful answers to research questions.
Manual 9
How do we write the report? provides guidance on writing clear reports about research results for a variety of readers, including children.
Manual 10
Research dictionary, is an easy reference dictionary that clarifies the meanings of research terms as they are used in the rights-based approach.

The manual is written by Judith Ennew together with Tatek Abebe, Rattana Bangyai, Parichart Karapituck, Anne Trine Kjorholt and Thanakorn Noonsup, and it can be seen as the ultimate remake of Children in Focus - a Manual for Participatory Research with Children, which she wrote together with Jo Boyden in 1997 and which has been highly popular with people doing research with children.

I normally only publish information here that is available for free on the web, but this case warrants an exception. The printing costs need to be recovered before it can be made available on the web.

US$39.99 a set including postage and packaging

>A powerpoint presentation can be downloaded from the Knowing Children website with further information

Boxed set of 10 paperback manuals
English, diagrams and tables
ISBN: 978-616-7333-00-7

Heroes in Action: Child Advocates in South Africa

2010-05-10T22:51:00.004+07:00

Children as advocates, involved in the development of the new Children's Bill in South Africa. This article in Children, Youth and Environments 17(3), 2007 is a case study reflecting on the experiences of the children to contribute their views and ideas to the legislative process.

Here is the abstract as presented in the journal:

Dikwankwetla – Children in Action is the name of an advocacy group of children who participated in the deliberations around the new Children’s Bill in South Africa. Their participation in a legislative process broadens the scope of venues for children’s participation, and challenges the discourse about child participation at a new level. It also raises important conceptual questions about the extent to which children can participate in legislative processes. This paper presents the efforts of Dikwankwetla as a case study, reflecting on its practice and challenges. It interrogates children’s agency in this process, and argues that childhood must be re-conceptualized to recognize that children are political actors in their environments. Looking at the concepts of power and representation, it recognizes the need for a shift in the adult-child relationship, from one based on control to one based on rights and responsibilities. More importantly, it reflects on the implications of facilitating children’s participation in the context of a developing country, where socio-economic and cultural conditions raise different challenges from those in the developed world.

And here is the report of the evaluation of the project by the Children's Institute in Cape Town:

Dikwankwetla – Children in Action Project Evaluation Workshop Report

Children's participation is based in human rights

2010-05-02T21:01:00.005+07:00

The basis in human rights
The United Nations is the source of the international human rights laws currently in use globally, dating from shortly after the Second World War (1939-45). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) makes it clear that freedom to take part in democratic society is a right for all human beings, an idea that is spelt out in more detail in the 1966 United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As human beings, children should not be excluded from these rights, but this was not made explicit until the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It is frequently argued that rights must be counterbalanced by responsibilities (or duties). Although the UNCRC does not mention children’s duties, this is a feature of the regional law of African countries – the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

1. United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
… The General Assembly [of the United Nations] … Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind …

Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21
1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
2. Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country.
3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures. …

Article 23
1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests. …

Article 29
1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. res. 217A (III), U.N. Doc A/810 at 71 (1948). http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

2. United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966

Article 1
1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
2. All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic co-operation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case
may a people be depri ved of its own means of subsistence.
3. The States Parties to the present Covenant, including those having responsibility for the administration of Non-Self- Governing and Trust Territories, shall promote the realization of the right of self-determination, and shall respect that right, in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations. …

Article 19
1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.
3. The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph 2 of this article carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary:
(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others;
(b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals. …

Article 22
1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
2. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those which are prescribed by law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public
health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. This article shall not prevent the imposition of lawful restrictions on members of the armed forces and of the police in their exercise of this right.
3. Nothing in this article shall authorize States Parties to the International Labour Organisation Convention of 1948 concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize to take legislative measures which would prejudice, or to apply the
law in such a manner as to prejudice, the guarantees provided for in that Convention. …

Article 25
Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any of the distinctions mentioned in article 2 and without unreasonable restrictions:
(a) To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives;
(b) To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of
the will of the electors;
(c) To have access, on general terms of equality, to public service in his country.

United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cpr.html

3. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), 1989
Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989. Entry into force 2 September 1990, in accordance with article 49.

Article 12
1. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.
2. For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law.

Article 13
1. The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the
child‘s choice.
2. The exercise of this right may be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary:
(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others; or
(b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals.

Article 14
1. States Parties shall respect the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
2. States Parties shall respect the rights and duties of the parents and, when applicable, legal guardians, to provide direction to the child in the exercise of his or her right in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child.
3. Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.

Article 15
1. States Parties recognize the rights of the child to freedom of association and to freedom of peaceful assembly.
2. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of these rights other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection
of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/pdf/crc.pdf

4. African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 1990
Organization of African Unity (OAU) 1990. Entered into force November 29, 1999. Now falling under the remit of the African Union, which replaced the OAU in 2001.

Article 7: Freedom of Expression
Every child who is capable of communicating his or her own views shall be assured the rights to express his opinions freely in all matters and to disseminate his opinions subject to such restrictions as are prescribed by laws.

Article 8: Freedom of Association
Every child shall have the right to free association and freedom of peaceful assembly in conformity with the law.

Article 9: Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion
1. Every child shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
2. Parents and, where applicable, legal guardians shall have a duty to provide guidance and direction in the exercise of these rights having regard to the evolving capacities, and best interests of the child.
3. States Parties shall respect the duty of parents and where applicable, legal guardians to provide guidance and direction in the enjoyment of these rights subject to the national laws and policies.

Article 31: Responsibility of the Child
Every child shall have responsibilities towards his family and society, the State and other legally recognized communities and the international community. The child, subject to his age and ability, and such limitations as may be contained in the present Charter, shall
have the duty:
(a) to work for the cohesion of the family, to respect his parents, superiors and elders at all times and to assist them in case of need:
(b) to serve his national community by placing his physical and intellectual abilities at its service;
(c) to preserve and strengthen social and national solidarity;
(d) to preserve and strengthen African cultural values in his relations with other members of the society, in the spirit of tolerance, dialogue and consultation and to contribute to
the moral well-being of society;
(e) to preserve and strengthen the independence and the integrity of his country;
(f) to contribute to the best of his abilities, at all times and at all levels, to the promotion and achievement of African Unity.

African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1990)
http://www.africa-union.org/official_documents/Treaties_%20Conventions_%20Protocols/A.%20C.%20ON%20THE%20RIGHT%20AND%20WELF%20OF%20CHILD.pdf

John Dewey

2010-05-01T20:37:00.005+07:00

"From the standpoint of the child, the great waste in the school comes from his inability to utilize the experiences he gets outside the school in any complete and free way within the school itself; while, on the other hand, he is unable to apply in daily life what he is learning at school. That is the isolation of the school - its isolation from life. When the child gets into the schoolroom he has to put out of his mind a large part of the ideas, interests, and activities that predominate in his home and neighborhood. So the school being unable to utilize this everyday experience, sets painfully to work, on another tack and by a variety of means, to arouse in the child an interest in school studies."

Dewey, J., 1990, The School and Society, Chicago, University of Chicago Press: 75.

John Dewey (October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform.

John Dewey’s educational theories trusted children far more than many contemporary child participation enthusiasts which can also be seen in 'My pedagogical Creed' which was published in 1897.

Education for Citizenship early years case studies

2010-04-28T22:44:00.005+07:00

This website gives concrete examples for working on children's citizenship rights with very young children.

Following is information from the website about working with pre-primary school children on citizenship rights.

Learning about rights

Paisley Children’s Centre is a large, purpose-built family centre providing care and education for children aged from 6 weeks to those not yet attending primary school (76 full-time equivalent places).

The children come from various catchment areas and the nursery is based in central Paisley within Renfrewshire Council. The nursery has extended opening hours (7.30 am to 5.30 pm) to meet the diverse and sometimes challenging needs of the families.

The nursery has a staff team of 24 full-time and part-time staff who strive to provide a warm, supportive and nurturing educational experience for all of their families.

Aims of the project

Responsible active citizens

Staff in the nursery wanted to promote further active citizenship as a way of nursery life. They wanted to involve the children in teaching and learning, through genuine consultation. They also wanted to ensure that young children would recognise that rights are linked to responsibilities, fostering relationships based on mutual respect.

They developed two main initiatives which highlight their commitment to involving very young children in decision making.

· A children’s meeting room has been established where staff work with small groups of children to support them to express their views and be involved in meaningful decision making.

· Children are often involved in the nursery to ‘help’ with the organisation of resources. The children work together to decide which responsibility groups they will volunteer for. This serves to reinforce the importance and value placed on the children’s contribution to life in the centre.

Meeting room

The children’s meeting room was situated intentionally at the entrance to the building, and beside the parents’ room, to include everyone who is directly involved with the children. This provides the opportunity for staff and children to reinforce to families that children’s opinions are valued, sought and acted upon on a regular basis within the nursery.

The entrance to the children’s meeting area is illustrated by symbols based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Meaningful discussion

The area is used for purposeful and meaningful consultation with the children in areas that directly affect them. Some of these consultations have included:

Children’s Rules - which informed the rules for the whole nursery
What Makes Us Happy? - which informed the purchase of play resources, in the redevelopment of the literacy area
Curriculum Activities - children’s responses were used to plan meaningful activities on the topics of Halloween and Scotland.

Recording discussions

Mind mapping and symbols are used as a tool for discussion and staff find this is a useful technique to encourage all children to participate at their own individual level.

Responsibility groups

Staff worked with the children in small groups to identify and discuss the responsibilities that there were or should be within the nursery. After mind mapping these jobs, the children decided on names for the groups and produced badges for them.

The responsibility groups were:

the Peace Patrol
the Toy Tidiers
the Lunch Bunch
the Toilet Monitors.

Role of the adult in discussions

Staff in the nursery had clear guidelines to facilitate the children’s discussions:

Give clear guidelines at the beginning of the session - explain to the children what they are entitled to expect, but also what they may give to the group.
Discuss what will meet the needs of your service - ensure workable capabilities to ensure success and build on children’s self-esteem.
Encourage further thinking - respect children’s choices even when it may be the same group chosen week after week, exploring issues such as real ownership.
Promote further active citizenship as a way of nursery life - modelling genuine consultation and participation.

The two initiatives in the nursery have emphasised the central role the children play in learning, teaching and developing skills as responsible citizens. Children have learned that they have a valuable contribution to make to the nursery. They have explored their own values and those of others in a safe, supported environment, and have developed effective communication skills.

Meeting room

Children feel real ownership, having their own designated space for meaningful discussion, which is comfortable and attractive. The room clearly indicates to the whole community that the children's opinions are valued.

Appropriate resources are easily accessible for both children and staff and don’t need to be sought out prior to meetings or activities. Projects can be displayed, and added to for extended periods, effectively building on learning experiences.

Nursery staff ensure that children are aware that these consultations are used to inform improvements and change within the service.

Responsibility groups

The responsibility groups were a fun and appropriate way to engage with and motivate all children to be aware of the role of a responsible citizen.

The children developed relationships with peers and adults, based on mutual respect and responsibility. They had to link and apply different types of learning in new situations, carry out plans and resolve problems, while learning about early leadership roles.

A Curriculum for Excellence planning table

Successful learners

Confident individuals

Responsible citizens

Effective contributors

Carry out plans and resolve problems

Learn independently and as part of a group

Link and apply different types of learning in new situations

Make reasoned evaluations

Create and experience learning

Collaborate and negotiate in groups

Relate to others and manage themselves

Assess risk and take informed decisions

Achieve success in different areas of activity

Participate in goup activities

Develop a sense of fairness in respect of self and others

A form of trustworthiness

Become responsible

Make informed choices and decisions

Be sensitive to the feelings, interests and needs of others

Communicate effectively with others

Engage effectively and safely in a range of situations

Take the initiative and lead

Work in partnerships and teams

Express feelings in words

Parental involvement

Parents were surprised at the level of involvement the children had in the nursery and were encouraged to discuss their work with the children at home. They were very impressed by the responsibility that the children were able to demonstrate in carrying out their nursery jobs.

You will also find information about teaching on citizenship rights with primary and secondary school children.

Beyond Article 12 Essential Readings in children's participation

2010-04-27T13:24:00.012+07:00

Beyond Article 12 Essential Readings in children’s participation by Henk van Beers, Brian Milne and Antonella Invernizzi was published in 2006 by Black on White Publications and aims to provide an overview of legal, philosophical, theoretical and practical writing from the broad debate on children's participation.

The book provides excerpts from key works of reference and established writers in three sections:
What does participation mean?
Are children citizens?
Children's participation in practice

Brief introductions to each section and subsection provide a guide through some of the issues that are often taken for granted by specialist writers. Suggestions for further reading are included so that readers can explore their own interests in greater depth.

From the introduction:

“As far as possible, we aimed to present a systematic, non-partisan and holistic view of the topic. By providing basic material on history, theory and practice we want to facilitate an increased understanding of the complex issue of children’s participation, as well as to encourage readers to seek further information. The Readings include legal instruments, philosophy, implementation, practice, experience and the broad debate on what children’s participation should or should not be.”

….

“Some of the most notable gaps occur in theory. There is no holistic approach to children’s participation. History, underlying philosophies and the implementation of legal instruments appear to be disconnected. Indeed one of the most disconcerting aspects of the way the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, Reading 3) has been used by some devotees of child participation has been a total resistance to think beyond article 12.
Not only are other participation rights infrequently visited by writers and activists but also there is no critique of these oversights. Yet, when the work of pioneers is examined, a broader vision becomes apparent. The ideas of Janusz Korczak (1878/9–1942), the Polish doctor and philosopher who is often credited with beginning modern debates on children’s rights, most certainly harboured a wider range of possibilities. John Dewey’s educational theories (Reading 43) trusted children far more than many contemporary child participation enthusiasts and Ivan Illich’s critique of education (Reading 47) most certainly placed greater trust in the hands and minds of all ages – children included. Perhaps the most illustrative of all is the work of Alexander S. Neill (Reading 48) who foresaw, advocated and practiced intellectual and personal freedoms for children of the kind included much later in the UNCRC. Children give living examples that these principles work.”

Until the costs for printing have been recovered this book is only available in hard copy and can be ordered at Knowing Children. As per April 2010 there were 100 copies left. Price is USD 12.50 including postage and packaging worldwide.

I will publish a few extracts from the publication in future posts.

Participation rights of pre-mature babies

2010-04-25T21:35:00.012+07:00

At what age can children participate?
From the moment they are born.
Priscilla Alderson, Joanna Hawthorne and Margaret Killen present a strong case for citizenship rights of babies based on fascinating research in four neonatal intensive care units in Southern England. Their paper aims to show how rights are realistic and relevant to premature babies and, therefore, to all older children too.

"part of being a rights-holder is to have some say in how one’s rights are defined and respected. There is a transfer of some acknowledged expertise and authority to the child. The neonatal examples suggest that babies too can have unique insight into their best interests, and adults need to take account of these if their decisions about care are to be adequately informed and humane."

Participation rights of young children

2010-04-25T06:26:00.022+07:00

When it comes to children's participation it is rare to see involvement of children below the age of 8 years. Yet, very young children have the same rights to participation as any other children and they should be equally involved in matters that affect them.
Even a two year old child can be meaningfully involved in decision making. Take the example of a parent who prepares the clothes for her son to wear that day. It may well be that the boy says, 'I don't like this, I want to wear that!' The mother could then look at what the boy would like to wear and decide whether the clothes will suit the weather conditions. When they do, she could say, 'okay, fine, you can wear those clothes instead.' When the weather does not permit to wear the clothes the boy has identified, the mother should explain to her son that the clothes are either too hot/or too thin to wear given the circumstances. She can explain what the implications will be when he would wear the clothes he wants - catching a cold for example. This is a clear and simple example of children's involvement in decision making - in this case with a very young child. It typically happens within the family environment, it is not 'a big thing' but it may well be important for the child's development. The boy has been given an opportunity to be involved in a decision that affects him, he has been given choices, he has received information that will help him understand the implications of his choice. It also shows how the best interest of the child may play a role in such decisions - i.e. the mother's concern about her son's health in his choice of clothes to wear.

Over the years a number of articles have been published that look into young children's participation rights.

An important protagonist has been The Bernard van Leer Foundation who has been publishing Early Childhood Matters for many years.

Early Childhood Matters is a journal about early childhood. It looks at specific issues regarding the development of young children, in particular from a psychosocial perspective. It is published twice per year by the Bernard van Leer Foundation. Some of the issues have specifically focused on young children's participation rights:

Realising the rights of young children: progress and challenges

This issue looks at various aspects of how child rights are being realised. It starts with a look at General Comment 7 on implementing child rights in early childhood. Additional articles include contributions from child-focused organisations in India and Brazil, and discussions about child rights in relation to Roma children, the challenges of implementing child rights in emergency situations, the "forgotten article" regarding the right to play, improving child-friendliness of urban environments, improving the education of key professionals, and the development of indicators.

Young children's participation: Rhetoric or growing reality?

Raises the importance of providing participative environments to children in which they can express themselves readily, knowing they will be listened to. It presents an overview of current thinking at an international level on how young children can effectively play a role in programming and in decisions that affect their lives.

Listening to children

This edition focuses on participation by children of 0-7 years in the conceptualisation, implementation and evaluation of early childhood development programmes. Articles show how adults are taking the crucial steps in developing that participation: establishing environments and practices that enable young children to express themselves confidently and fully, and to develop some experiences in participation.

Effectiveness for children

Among the first publications looking at young children's involvement, this edition reviews ideas and programmes of work that seek the views of children and that value children as contributors to, and participants in, all aspects of early childhood development.

Other Bernard van Leer publications that specifically focus on rights of very young children, including participation rights, are:

A Guide to General Comment 7: Implementing Child Rights in Early Childhood

This book is a guide to implementing child rights in early childhood. It is based around the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's General Comment no 7. It contains extracts from the papers submitted to the committee at the time of the Day of General Discussion which preceded the General Comment, and other relevant material.

Can you hear me? The right of young children to participate in decisions that affect them. By Gerison Lansdown, May 2005.

This publication makes the case for children’s participation and discusses how it can be put into practice and measured.

Young children's participation: Rhetoric or growing reality?, November 2004.

This publication raises the importance of providing participative environments to children in which they can express themselves readily, knowing they will be listened to. It presents an overview of current thinking at an international level on how young children can effectively play a role in programming and in decisions that affect their lives.

Evaluating the Children’s Commissioner for Wales

2009-01-25T21:00:00.010+07:00

"We think this is the first time anyone has studied a Children’s Commissioner anywhere in the world – certainly the first time it has been done by children and young people. It is not perfect, but we are proud of what we have done and we hope others will follow our example."

A very useful and reader friendly account of a research by children and young people into the performance of the children's commissioner in Wales.

The Children's Commissioner and the team are there to help make sure that children and young people in Wales:
· are safe from harm and abuse
· get the opportunities and services they need and deserve
· are respected and valued
· have a voice in their communities and are able to play as full a part as possible in decisions that affect them
· know about their rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The website has useful straightforward information about the work of the Children's Commissioner and has references and documents such as a survey on child and adolescent mental health services in Wales: Somebody Else’s Business? A report of a scoping exercise of child and adolescent mental health services in Wales in 2007.

Children's Protagonism - Distant Learning Course

2008-03-19T22:13:00.009+07:00

Exciting things are happening in distant learning courses on children's protagonism, children's rights and concepts of childhood.

The Institute for the Formation of Educators of Working Youth, Adolescents and Children of Latin America and the Caribbean (IFEJANT) has opened an on-line course on "old and new paradigms of childhood". The duration is from March 24 - June 27 2008.

Fees are very reasonable: 50 (fifty) USD for the full course.

For that amount you will get:
1. The support through email of a full-time teacher from a pool of experts on issues of family and childhood
2. Access to thought provoking (and often non-mainstream and therefore little known) literature on childhood, children's rights, children's participation and protagonism
3. Access to a Latin American discourse on childhood and children's rights through exclusive translations into English of texts that have been only published in Spanish
4. A certificate of IFEJANT and the School for Social Work of the Main National University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru (indicating the academic hours fulfilled)

The course content:

Unit 1
The concept of Childhood
The vision of childhood in the Andean and Amazonian Worlds
Approaches and paradigms in childhood cultures

Unit 2
Searching for a new pedagogic thinking
Child dignity
Dismissing the language we use with children - metacommunication
Advancing towards cultures that promote learning communities

Unit 3
A childhood with rights - from an object to a subject with rights - the child as a social actor
Rights and duties of children in comparative legislation - Evaluation of the rights situation of girls, boys and adolescents in different parts of the world.

The course will consist of reading a number of key texts followed by written assignments and self-reflection.

Enrollment: http://www.ifejants.org/ Scroll down the page, download and fill in the admission card and send it to: Ifejants@hotmail.com

Minors and young migrants’ involvement in errant mobility and sex work within the European Union

2008-02-24T07:21:00.006+07:00

Minors and young migrants’ involvement in errant mobility and sex work within the European Union. By Nick Mai. 2007

The troubling fate of young migrants in Europe is the subject of this research paper by Dr. Nick Mai from the London Metropolitan University, that provides interesting research and an unconventional view on the shortcomings of standard protection mechanisms.

Perhaps, the most important aim of this study is to provide people and institutions carrying out social intervention projects targeting minor and young migrants with strategic qualitative information about their migration projects and the strategies of survival they engage in, with a specific focus on prostitution. With this study, we hope to show that selling sex can be, for some, the only known viable way to meet many combined cultural, economic, psychological and social needs: to be perceived as likeable and successful, to have a sexual outlet, to be independent economically, to find excitement and adventure, to have new experiences, to send money home, to find a suitable accommodation, to receive care and attention, to challenge and receive moral boundaries, to survive, to detach from parents, to grow up.
For social intervention to become an efficient alternative to errance, all of these needs and the reasons and dynamics underlining them must be recognised and addressed at the same time. The research starts from the de-construction of the victimising paradigms (trafficking, exploitation, etc.) shaping research and social intervention targeting unaccompanied minors and errant migrants. Acknowledging the agency of the subjects involved, the complexity of their needs and priority and the reasons at the basis of their affective detachment from ‘home’ is the only way to respond efficiently to their needs through social interventions. (pages 4-5)

Children as active citizens

2008-02-10T09:40:00.000+07:00

The Inter-Agency Working Group on Children’s Participation (IAWGCP)has just published two publications on children’s citizenship:

Children as active citizens - a policy and programme guide for commitments and obligations for children’s civil rights and civic engagement in East Asia and the Pacific

Children as active citizens - an introductory booklet

The ‘Children as Active Citizens’ publications define children’s citizenship and show how children’s civil rights can be operationalised. The publications explain links between children’s citizenship and development goals, between children’s civil rights and their rights to survival, protection and development. Responsibilities of government and adults are clearly listed along with measurable results for children’s civil rights and active citizenship, including indicators for measuring children’s civil rights and citizenship.

Children as Active Citizens presents an agenda for the promotion of children’s civil rights and civic engagement:

• Promoting a common understanding of children’s citizenship, civil rights and civic engagement;

• Defining programme-specific implications for children’s civil rights and civic engagement (for example in education, child protection, communication, health, emergencies);

• Developing global, regional or country-specific agendas for children’s citizenship and civil rights;

• Developing systems for monitoring children’s civil rights and civic engagement;

• Advocating for wider respect, protection and fulfilment of children’s civil rights, for example on issues of complaints mechanisms for children, early marriage, justice for children, and children’s right to information.

Contents of the booklet:

Introduction to children as active citizens

Birth and civil registration

Expression of opinion and involvement in decisions

Access to information

Complaints mechanisms

Justice for children

Civic engagement and competencies of citizens

Children and the media

Children influencing public decisions

Children-led associations

Content of the programme and policy guide:

Introduction

Part One: Defining children’s citizenship and civil rights

What is citizenship?

Are children citizens?

Capacities for citizenship

Why are children’s civil rights and citizenship important?

Why have children’s citizenship rights been neglected?

An agenda for children’s citizenship and civil rights

Regional context for children’s citizenship and civil rights

References and resources

Part Two: Operationalizing children’s civil rights

1. Birth and civil registration

2. Children’s expression of opinion and control over decisions in daily life

3. Access to information

4. Feedback and complaints mechanisms

5. Justice for children

6. Economic citizenship and access to resources

Part Three: Developing and practicing active citizenship

7. Citizenship competencies and civic engagement

8. Children as active citizens in the media

9. Children influencing public decisions

10. Children-led associations

Annexes

Indicator checklist for children’s citizenship and civil rights

Common myths about (and some risks in) children’s participation

Glossary and acronyms

Index

Children's participation in decision making: Why to do it, When to do it, How to do it

2008-01-17T06:33:00.000+07:00

Children’s participation in decision making: Why do it, When to do it, How to do it

Published in Bangkok in 2007 by the Inter-Agency Working Group on Children’s Participation (IAWGCP): ECPAT International, Knowing Children,Plan International, Save the Children Sweden Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Save the Children UK Southeast and East Asia Regional Office,UNICEF EAPRO and World Vision.

This concise and informative booklet has just been made available in PDF format. The publication clearly explains:

Why children's participation is increasingly accepted and promoted;
How children's participation should become part of the normal operation of governments, institutions and communities;
How children's participation is practiced throughout the world.

Children’s participation in decision making is an important tool for parliamentarians, national leaders and other decision makers as they put into practice greater involvement of children in decision making,

From the introduction:

“People’s participation in public decision making has become increasingly established in a variety of political systems. Children are now beginning to add their ideas and actions. Decision makers and opinion leaders are asking what children’s participation means and why it is essential.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which has been ratified by all but two member states, establishes the rights of children in three important areas: provision, protection and participation. Everyone would surely agree that provision of health care, shelter and education is essential to children’s well-being. In recent years, governments and civil society – not forgetting the mass media – have focused on fulfilling children’s rights to protection from abuse, violence and exploitation. But participation is often seen as something new – and perhaps difficult to carry out.

This booklet shows how to put children’s participation into practice. It is for everyone in roles of public leadership and service, answering questions about how and when children’s participation is needed. Links to further resources are also provided.”
(p.5)

The Inter-Agency Working Group on Children’s Participation is a consortium of Bangkok-based organizations dedicated to promoting and implementing the meaningful and ethical participation of children in decisions made to further their rights and welfare. Member agencies are: ECPAT International, Knowing Children, Plan International, Save the Children Sweden SEAP, Save the Children UK SEEA, UNICEF EAPRO and World Vision Asia Pacific. The IAWGCP now has its own website where its publications can be downloaded.

Ensuring meaningful child and youth participation

2007-12-24T14:30:00.000+07:00

Ensuring meaningful child and youth participation in the fight against commercial sexual exploitation of children: the ECPAT experience

Children's participation is especially important in fighting their exploitation. Children have the right to be involved in decisions that affect them such as the kind of assistance to be provided. They have the right to have decisions (and the considerations that led to those decisions) reviewed. They can play important roles in improving services (in rehabilitation centres for example), they can reach out to their peers to inform them about their rights and make them aware of certain risks, and they can assist in designing prevention, rehabilitation and advocacy programmes.

Unlike many other organisations that deal with exploitation of children ECPAT International has embraced children and youth participation as an important principle and policy in their work.

ECPAT International has published a number of materials related to their practice and policy of involving children and youth, such as:

Good practices for working with experiential and at-risk youth

Information about the ECPAT International Child and Youth Advisory Committee

Information about the Youth Partnership Project in South Asia

ECPAT's latest publication is a report of a survey of its practice worldwide to involve children and youth.

It provides useful insights in practice and methods of involving children and youth and the challenges encountered. The publication also includes the full text of ECPAT’s child and youth participation policy and their child protection policy.

The report notes that:

“Strengthening ECPAT’s child and youth participation has been a process of exploration and innovation which is still at its early stages of refinement and development. As children and youth have been mobilised for social action, the resource needs (both in human resources and financially) have become more apparent. However, if we recognise children’s participation as a fundamental part of the strategy to achieve children’s protection from sexual exploitation, then we are also recognising our own responsibility to uphold children’s fundamental rights.”

An Autobiography of Child Work: a reflexive account

2007-12-23T08:09:00.000+07:00

Children’s perspectives are crucial in understanding the life-worlds of working children

An Autobiography of Child Work: a reflexive account. By Birendra Raj Giri in Childhoods Today, Volume 1 issue 2, December 18, 2007, Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.

This is an impressive account of the childhood of the author, Birendra Raj Giri, from Nepal, highlighting the ‘double trouble’ of combining schooling with work in rural areas. The article shows the importance of the different roles children play in their own family and society and how these are often not acknowledged by adults.

He managed to combine school with a heavy workload at home. Birendra’s description of his experiences brilliantly shows the awkward position of many children whose views are ignored by adults who claim to act in the best interest of children.

“While I loved attending school, teachers would be my worst nightmare because my household work often would not allow me to complete the homework and I had to pay the penalty for that. The common form of punishment at the school was beating from palm to shoulder with a long skinny stick and asking students to straighten their arms or slapping on their backs. The stick would have such an impact that not only the pain but also the ‘blue stripes’ on their hands or backs would last for days and a couple of times, I received cuts on my palm and arm because the teacher was using a rough stick.

……

There were numerous other forms of beating, including slapping students’ cheeks, pulling ears/hair, hitting on the head with books, putting a pen between two fingers and squeezing them, etc.

….

However, I felt the beatings were completely unfair because the teachers were not prepared to listen to my side of the story: although I would arrive at school bare-footed, wearing torn clothes and completely exhausted by working and walking, the teachers would blame me for being indolent; if I told them the truth, they would then accuse me of lying, in spite of the fact most of the teachers were aware of my family circumstances.

Telling my parents was not useful because they would say, “look son, teachers are good people, they want you to be good too; that’s why sometimes they punish you to teach you good discipline.” In Nepal, teachers are considered as ‘gurus’ who cause no harm to their pupils, but this is not always true, especially if you have to go through constant beating like an animal. Moreover, my father had warned me that if I ever failed, he would stop sending me to school. Thus, until I was about 15 years old (I left the village after I completed 10th grade or secondary education), I had no other choice than to believe that everyone was acting in my best interests – they had good intentions, wishing to make me a good person, so I had to continue to carry out household and farm work alongside my studies (Blanchet, 1996; Nieuwenhuys, 1994) - which meant that I was trapped between heavy work at home and severe beating at school.

In the light of such experiences, if those children who only engage in harsh work are called ‘child labourers’, and those who do acceptable jobs are called ‘child workers’, while those who neither work nor go to school are called ‘nowhere’ children, then children like myself should indeed be called ‘double troubled’ children, because they are caught up between heavy work and study, not to mention the severe punishments at school. My childhood experiences therefore make me believe that rural children of Nepal are deprived of education in multiple ways. Firstly, most village parents are extremely poor like my own, and cannot afford to send their children to school. Secondly, there are often no schools nearby and small children cannot walk for hours to reach the school. Thirdly, many children are double-troubled with work and schooling, which often become incompatible. Finally, the inferior quality of education quality and unfriendly student environment (viz. physical punishments) seriously discourage children from attending school.” (pages 9-11)

Based on his own experiences Birendra stresses the need to take children’s views into account in research and discourse on child work:

“[This does, however,] require that we understand children’s living and working conditions and how they make sense of the environment that they (are forced to) work in and only carefully devised research is likely to produce useful results regarding the different sectors in which children are found working.” (p.18)

Childhoods Today is a new e-journal published, bi-annually in the first instance, by the Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, and supported by the Worldwide Universities Network.

The aim of the journal is to publish high quality empirical and theoretical work by up-and-coming researchers in the field of childhood studies and to provide a reference for others working in this and related fields.

Childhoods Today is an externally reviewed journal that is unique in providing an international forum designed exclusively for the publication of articles by postgraduate students (i.e. those studying for their MA, M.Phil. or PhD, as opposed to post-doctoral students) working in the field, which can be accessed by other interested postgraduates and academics.

Minimum Standards for Consulting with Children

2007-12-19T13:10:00.000+07:00

Minimum Standards for Consulting with Children

The Interagency Working Group on Children's Participation in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, consisting of ECPAT International, Knowing Children, Plan International, Save the Children Sweden and UK, UNICEF EAPRO and World Vision Asia Pacific has just published minimum standards for consulting with children, along with a detailed Operations Manual describing exactly how they can be implemented.

The minimum standards have been developed through six years of practice by the multi-agency group, starting with evaluation of children’s involvement in international consultations, the initial drafting and piloting of the standards at the East Asia and Pacific Regional Consultation concerning the United Nations Study on Violence Against Children, in 2005, and a number of other formal consultations with children in different parts of the world.

What are minimum standards?

Minimum standards are statements of the lowest acceptable level of practice by both adults and children to ensure meaningful children’s participation in a formal consultation or conference. Minimum standards ‘draw a line’, stating what is and is not acceptable for children’s participation.

In general, minimum standards need to be:

Adhered to: They should have monitoring mechanisms and sanctions if they are not all met;
Non-negotiable: They draw a line to show what is acceptable or not acceptable;
Transparent: Clear criteria for each standard give details of the steps an agency needs to take;
Permanent: They are fixed and followed consistently and constantly;
Agreed upon: One organization or group is accountable for them (the organizing committee) and key implementing agencies for the standards (local partners) understand and agree on them.
(p.11)

The Minimum Standards are based on five principles:

Transparency, honesty and accountability
A children-friendly environment
Equality of opportunity
Safety and protection of children
Commitment and competency of adults

Download the Minimum Standards here.

Download the Operations Manual here.

The Interagency group has its own website where more of its publications on children's participation can be downloaded: iawgcp.com

Print copies of the minimum standards can be obtained from:
Plan International
Asia Regional Office
18th floor, Ocean Tower 2 Building
75/24 Sukhumvit 19 Road
Klongtoey Nua, Wattana
Bangkok 10110 Thailand
Tel: +66 (0)2 204 2630-4
Fax: +66 (0)2 204 2629
E-mail: asia.ro@plan-international.org
www.plan-international.org/asia/

From the introduction of the minimum standards:
Since the 1990 World Summit for Children in New York, children have increasingly been involved in international events and meetings in which their rights and welfare are discussed. The rationale for this is usually described as their ‘right to give an opinion’ on matters concerning their lives (Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989). However, their involvement in making decisions remains limited, and they may have no actual place at the decision-making table.

Children’s participation in international meetings and conferences is limited by adult control over:
■ The resources required for children to attend;
■ The topics of discussion;
■ The agenda and procedures of the meeting;
■ The selection process;
■ The topics on which children are asked to give their opinions.

In Seen and Heard, a 2004 research assessment on the participation of children from the East Asia and Pacific region in the Special Session and related international forums, the researchers noted that:

selection processes were not always transparent or representative;
some adults had negative or paternalistic attitudes towards children;
children were not adequately protected from potential threats to their health and well-being or from abuse and exploitation;
children were inadequately prepared for their roles in the forums;
the events lacked follow up.

In addition, the researchers noted growing international concern about the approaches used for involving children in international adult settings in which children have little or no influence on the actual decision-making process. This was mostly due to a lack of forward planning, particularly unrealistic budgeting, and failure at the regional level to collaborate fully with national organizations working with children in participatory processes.

The full text of the research assessment can be downloaded here.

NOTE: Inviting children to participate in formal conferences is only one option for consulting with children. There are many valid alternatives. Experience shows that participatory activities with children at the local level, close to where children live, encounter fewer constraints (and may often be the preferred option) compared to formal events. Formal conferences or consultations are more effective when based on a process of local activities with children.

Children hold local governments acccountable

2007-12-10T11:11:00.000+07:00

Children hold local governments accountable

Following is a report by Concerned for Working Children (CWC) about children’s involvement in local government in India.

The report uses terminology which is commonly used in India but may be difficult to understand for those who are not familiar with it. I therefore attached an explanation about the terminology at the end of the report.

The first set of Children's Grama Sabhas - 2007 underway in Karnataka

The reports from the first set of Children's Grama Sabhas 2007 stand testimony to how a well facilitated process of Children's Grama Sabhas not only holds the local government accountable to children and ensures their commitment to children's rights, but also has a powerful impact on strengthening local governance.

The first Children's Grama Sabha report is from Halli Hole, a remote Panchayat of Udupi District, one of the field programme areas of the Concerned for Working Children. Hundreds of children took part in this Sabha last week in which the Panchayat reported back to children about the successful implementation of 19 Programmes that are a direct result of the issues raised by children during Children's Grama Sabha - 2006. These include constructions of toilets in schools and improved access to basic facilities and services, not only for children, but for the entire community. The President of the Panchayat, Shankar Narayan Chatra, said 'It is now absolutely clear to me why children's participation is essential to strengthen local governments. Children do not only list their problems, they also describe the implications of the problems and the importance of addressing them. This has been extremely useful to us to develop our action plans.'

750 children took part in the Children's Grama Sabha at Hardalli Mandalli, also in Udipi District. After carrying out a huge procession in which children voiced their issues, they made detailed presentations about a range of demands, including the need for a community hall for the local high school, water facilities and toilets for many homes that lack them. Hari Prasad Shetty, the President made a special reference to the high quality of children's presentation. He pointed out that "Children have collected the background data and have presented their issues in a very concise matter. We are committed to develop actions plans for their problems in consultation with them." (Please see photographs attached)

Children and adolescents are critical observers of their own condition and should be participants in decisions concerning themselves and their lives. A practical experience of participatory democracy is essential for the moulding of the 'new citizen'. They need to understand and prepare for governance and citizenship and therefore must be enabled to interact in a constructive and meaningful way with local governments at all levels. For children's participation to be truly productive and not just tokenistic the State should create structures for children to; first of all; access their local governments that are closest and most accessible to them.

It may be recalled that Panchayat Raj Ministry, Government of Karnataka issued an Order (638 - 2007 dated 30.10.2007) which makes it mandatory for all Panchayats to provide an opportunity for children to articulate their issues directly with their elected representatives, and emphasises the need for the Panchayats to report back on the action taken regarding the issues flagged by children is a very important step in this direction. It is equally important that the State now conducts systematic capacity building programmes in order to equip the Panchayats, officials and all civil society groups that will be engaged with this process to ensure that Children's Grama Sabhas realise their full potential.

Terminology explained:

India has a federal system of governance – with a Central Government and each state having its own State Government. Within each State, a three tier local government system exists in the rural areas.

The lowest level of local governance (and according to the Indian constitution, the most important) is the Panchayat. This consists of several villages - and is the lowest democratically elected government and the one closest to the people and children. All the plans and the identification of beneficiaries for government schemes and the like are and should be carried out at this level.

Higher than that is the Taluk Panchayat - at the block level. This is more the monitoring body - and also the fund-disbursal body. In Kundapur Taluk, for example, there are 56 Panchayats.

Above this is the District/Zilla Panchayat. This also has a monitoring role as well as a role to inform the policies of the State Government. In Udupi District, for example, there are 3 Taluks (Kundapur, Karkala and Udupi) and 147 Panchayats.

The Children's Grama Sabhas are being held at the level of the Panchayats.It is a meeting of all the children of the Panchayat to discuss issues of their concern and negotiate with concerened officials and elected bodies.

The three tiers mentioned above are democratically elected. The elections at the Panchayat level are supposed to be de-linked from political parties - however, in reality, most often there are party affiliations. Good news is that there are quite a large number of independent candidates in the Panchayat Elections - and the members of Namma Sabha are also considering contesting these elections as representatives of their organisation.

Namma Sabha is an association of youth, composed of artisans, crafts persons and others engaged in various occupations.

See also this webpage for further explanations about terminology.

For more information contact:

Kavita Ratna
Director - Communications
The Concerned for Working Children
303/2, L.B. Shastri Nagar
Vimanapura Post
Annasandra Palya
Bangalore - 560 017
Phones: 0091 80 25234270, 2523461
Email: cwcblr@vsnl.com

The issue was also covered in the Hindu, one of India's national papers on November 23, 2007, highlighting different views on the issue of children's involvement in panchayat raj institutions:

Fiat on children's participation in gram sabhas raises eyebrows

Home alone: Perspectives of home-working children

2007-12-02T09:38:00.000+07:00

Home Alone - León, Nicaragua

Home-working children, "are rarely taken into consideration in discussions about children's rights and child work since they do not have salaried work, and they are not 'in the streets'. These children run a major risk of having their rights violated as they often live in poverty and are left at home without any adult supervision on a regular basis. Still, poor families are dependent on these children while parents and older siblings are working outside the home."

Home Alone is a participatory action research project addressing children who work as caretakers for younger siblings in León, Nicaragua. The purpose of the project is to help León's home-working children improve their situation by involving them in the identification of their problems and empowering them to propose interventions and solutions based on their own experience. Home Alone also aims to ensure that the general public and the media are made aware of these children's problems and perspectives, as well as to advocate for the recognition of this group's rights by people in positions to make structural changes to improve the situation.

The project's central approach is encouraging and enabling children to share their knowledge and ideas, both about their own situation and about how to support other children in taking part in the issues that affect them. This approach is based on the premise that children have the potential and capacity to contribute to their own development. To that end, Home Alone draws on a series of methodologies and tools that facilitate the participation of children in all phases of the research process: from the gathering of the data to the analysis and the dissemination of the results. In this sense, the research is described as "participatory action".

Specifically, organisers work to engage children to participate through fun, attractive, and meaningful activities. Photography, video, child-led interviews, and advocacy are central elements. Some of the particular techniques include:

Children are familiarised with the use of single-use cameras so that they can document whichever elements of their everyday lives, as well as the lives of their brothers and sisters, that they choose. The objective is to collect authentic information about home-working children's reality and interests with a minimum of guidance or direction from researchers. Participants later act as storytellers in a video documentary by explaining in their own words the meaning of the images they have created. Using the children's own photographs as visual stimuli during the interviews is a technique for engaging children in the process of interpreting, analysing, and categorising the collected data (the photographs). The aim here is to use face-to-face communication, expressed through the video medium, to enable children to communicate their concerns in their own environment, to be shared with influential policy makers in these alternative types of "meetings"

As of October 2004, approximately 300 photographs taken by the children involved in the project had been printed. Organisers state that "the experiences in the Home Alone project clearly show that children are very capable taking photographs and that they really like the visual story-telling method as photography offers." They stress that the children and their families have given informed consent for the use of the photographs by the researchers and the communicators, and are consulted each time a photograph is considered for use in different media as part of the project.

The Barcelona-based CrozzCom - Communication for the Development in Action is an NGO working to facilitate collaboration with other NGOs, academics, media professionals, and development practitioners, especially those working to protect children's rights. Organisers say "We believe that visual methods and tools, such as video and photography have much to offer for researchers and development practitioners that work for the wellbeing of children".

Click here for a related report, "Child Interviews: Experiences from the Home Alone Project."

Click here for a related summary, Home Alone - Photography Gives Strength and Comfort to Nicaraguan Children Left Behind.

For more information, contact:
Lena Wall
Project and Communication Manager
Home Alone Project
CrozzCom
Calle Mayor 16, piso 1º
08960 Sant Just Desvern
SPAIN
Tel.: +34933716811
Mobile: +34607222930
crozzcom@yahoo.es

Source
Communication Initiative site

Children as change agents: Guidelines for child participation in periodic reporting on the CRC

2007-11-30T08:51:00.000+07:00

Children as change agents: Guidelines for child participation in periodic reporting on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, by Jennifer Miller, Mississauga: World Vision, 2007.

World Vision has just published this very useful document to guide the involvement of children in reporting to the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

These guidelines respond to the gap in information concerning children’s involvement in the reporting process, and aim to promote and strengthen children’s meaningful participation within this area. The report includes an analysis of a number of alternate country reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and appendixes with specific forms and suggestions. The guidelines also include a glossary, a bibliography and suggestions for additional reading.

The guidelines address:

Creating Meaningful Child Participation

* Principles of Child Participation

* Building Ownership

* Addressing Power Imbalances

* Consulting with Children

* Accessible Information

* Building Support

Practical and Ethical Considerations

* Child Protection Policies

* Unintended Consequences

* Informed Consent

* Confidentiality

* The Roles and Responsibilities for Children, Young Adults, and Adults

* Resources: Funding and Time

Stages of the Reporting Process

* Selection and Representation

* Training and Building Capacity

* Methods for Collecting Information from Children

* Analyzing the Data and Reaching Conclusions

* Preparing the Report

* Child Delegates and Pre-sessional/Sessional Meetings

* Follow-up and Evaluations

Inclusion and exclusion in children's citizenship

2007-11-29T05:17:00.000+07:00

‘The exclusion of children from full political status is an enigma which democratic politics should not allow.... what is at stake here is not simply the denial of citizen rights but the right to be a citizen’ (Bob Franklin, 1986, The Rights of Children, Oxford: Blackwell, p.24)

Citizenship is often defined narrowly by franchise (the right to vote in national elections). The status of ‘child’ is also associated in national and international law by reference to the age of franchise (the age at which a person achieves the right to vote). Thus there may be something contradictory in the idea that children can be citizens. Nevertheless, children often do act as if they are citizens, not least by taking on responsibilities within their families, communities and nations.

For an excellent discussion about the main issues related to children's citizenship and for a comprehensive list of references, read:

Antonella Invernizzi's and Brian Milne's Conclusion: Some Elements of An Emergent Discourse on Children’s Right to Citizenship' in: Children’s citizenship: An emergent discourse on the rights of the child? A. Invernizzi and B. Milne (guest editors), Journal of Social Sciences Special Issue No. 9: 31-42, Kamla-Raj.

The full special issue of the Journal of Social Sciences on Children's Citizenship: an emergent discourse on the rights of the child can be viewed here.

How can we define citizenship in childhood?

2007-11-28T05:56:00.000+07:00

How can we define citizenship in childhood?, by Judith Ennew, Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge in: HCPDS, Working Paper Series, Volume 10 Number 12, October 2000.

This article by Judith Ennew for the Harvard Centre for Population and Development Studies looks at civil and political rights of children.

“Children and youth have been activists in the forefront of political struggles, such as the fight against Apartheid in South Africa. Yet this is more likely to be documented (especially since the overthrow of that system) as the victimisation of children than as child political participation. Child soldiers likewise are usually regarded as victims rather than freedom fighters. With the exception of some writers in Latin America there seems to be little discourse even now about children as ‘protagonists’ who take a leading role in social change.” (p. 5).

Abstract:
This paper examines some of the dilemmas involved in implementing children's civil rights and freedoms. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) represents a challenge to all states party to consider children’s rights outside the traditional concerns with protecting children from harm and providing for their needs. Ideas about children’s civil rights and freedoms are often wrongly limited to the so-called ‘participation’ articles (12-15). These are tempered in the CRC by the need to take into consideration ‘the age and maturity of the child’ and in social life in general by adult control over areas in which children can participate and ways in which they are allowed to do so. Thus children’s political participation is often trivialised. Or limited to local-level democracy that is regarded as part of socialisation. Nevertheless it can be argued that, in modern representative democracies, there is little difference in practice between the citizenship rights of adults and children. One related question is whether age is a sufficient reason to exclude citizens from franchise. Indeed, to ask how citizenship is defined in childhood is to raise questions about the rights and duties of all citizens.

The article looks into:

The civil and political rights of children in the CRC
Children’s political action
Children’s voices articulating adult agenda’s
Children’s resistance as a form of (unrecognised) participation
Children's rights and democracy
The grounds for excluding children from franchise
The political development of children
Ages, stages and the passing of time

African Movement of Working Children and Youth

2007-11-08T05:33:00.000+07:00

I have received new information from the African Movement of Working Children and I have updated my earlier post.

Children speak out: Good work - bad work

2007-11-04T08:22:00.001+07:00

In 1999 Concerned for Working Children (CWC) in India published working children's views on what they consider to be work they can do and work they cannot do, considering the abilities and age of children. The publication is only in hard copy as far as I know and can be obtained from CWC (see below).

A little later World Vision published Good work, bad work, tough choices, which also documents children's views - from India, Thailand and the Philippines - on what they consider work that they can and can not do:

The main thrust of this research project is to highlight the need to listen to children in order to develop effective solutions to the problem of child labour. Children in this project, who live in India,Thailand and the Philippines, told us that they want to work, that they play an active role in choosing the kind of work they do, and that their goal is to support their family. Whether they live at home in the country or on the street in large cities, children say that they hope for good jobs, fear bad jobs, and struggle with difficult choices. They have strong, clear ideas about what kinds of work children should and should not be doing, and they deserve to be heard. (p.7)

An extract from the CWC publication:

WORK WE CAN AND CANNOT DO

COOKING
1. Cleaning and washing rice
2. Cutting vegetables

We can do this work
We are children of age 9-18
We have the information to clean and wash rice and cut vegetables, besides we have the capacity to understand the process.

For those of us who go to school it is okay if we spend half an hour helping with the cooking in our own houses. But we should not stay at home and be engaged in this work for the whole day

We cannot do this work
We are children of age 0-9
We are too young to do any of these chores; we do not have any experience. Our hands are weak. Knives used to cut vegetables can hurt our hands.

3. lightning the ‘choolah’ (oven)
4. cooking (getting food cooked)
5. grinding masala (spices)

We can do this work
We are children of age 15-18
We are well aware of the danger of working with fire. We have the physical ability and skill to do these activities.

If we do this work in our own houses for about 2 hours daily, then it is not harmful.

We cannot do this work
We are children of age 0-15
We lack the ability to do these jobs. Working near the stove/choolah can cause us burn injuries. Smoke from the choolah can cause respiratory problems, headache, burning sensation in the eyes, etc.

While getting rice cooked, the starch has to be separated from the rice. This is very risky and it may cause us burn injuries.

We do not have arms strong enough to grind masala; moreover it can hurt our fingers.

If children with mental or physical disability are engaged in these activities, it is harmful to them, whatever be their age.

Watering the plants

We can do this work
We are children of age 3-9
Our hands are strong enough to water the plants in front of the house for half an hour aday with a jug if the water is already available there.

We are children of age 9-12
If we are school going we can water the plants in front of our house for half an hour a day by bringing the wter from a distance of ½ furlong.

We are children of age 12-18
We have the required physical strength, strong hands and legs to do this work. We can draw water form the well and water our own paddy field and garden for 2 hours a day within a distance of 1km from the house. This is not harmful.

We cannot do this work
We are children of age 0-3
We are too young and lack strength to do any work.

Mentally and physical disabled children of any age group cannot do this work

Work we can and cannot do, by the Children of Balkur Panchayat, published by the Concerned for Working Children, 1999

Concerned for Working Children (CWC)

303/2, L B Shastri Nagar Vimanapura Post
Bangalore 560 017
Karnataka
India
Tel: 0091-80-25234611
Fax: 0091-80-25235034
E-mail: cwcblr@vsnl.com

Janus Korczak

2007-10-14T10:35:00.000+07:00

Let us demand respect for shining eyes, smooth foreheads, youthful effort and confidence. Why should dulled eyes, a wrinkled brow, untidy gray hair, or tired resignation command greater respect?

Janusz Korczak, The child’s right to respect, 1929.

Janusz Korczak (1878 – 1942) was a Polish pediatrician and philosopher, who, early last century, established two orphanages in which he created a form of governance in which children played key roles. His educational ideas were based on his belief that children should be respected and listened to, rather than shaped and trained to according to the wants of adults. In the orphanages children operated a "parliament," held court, and published a newspaper that was distributed as a supplement to a daily with a circulation of 60,000 copies in 1926.

His books How to Love a Child and The Child´s Right to Respect provided teachers and parents with new insights into child psychology. He also wrote books for children such as the classic King Matt the First, which tells of the adventures and tribulations of a boy king who aspires to bring reforms.

As a children's advocate, Janusz Korczak spoke of the need for a Declaration of Children's Rights long before any such document was drawn up by the Geneva Convention or the United Nations General Assembly. Here is a link that compiles the rights Korczak envisaged as most important for children.

Janusz Korczak was killed in 1942 by the Nazis, during the Holocaust, together with the children he cared for.

More information about the life and writings of Korczak can be found below:

http://korczak.com/Biography/kap-0.htm

http://fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~daniel_schugurensky/assignment1/1912korczak.html

More information is being made available on the internet about Korczak, however, his writings are only partly accessible online. Let us hope more of his writings will be downloadable from the internet in the future.

International Movement of Working Children

2007-10-11T15:37:00.001+07:00

Below is some information what the international movement of working children is all about:

Who are the Movements
The Working Children Movements have been active in Latin America, Africa and Asia since the 1970s. These local organisations are a fundamental, and often the only, instrument for protection and promotion of their rights.

The Movements have been promoting projects on the following lines of action: rights education, public education, health, recreation, participation and organisation. The principles that guide this process are the protagonism of children and adolescents, respect for rights, and a critical evaluation of work.

Terminology used by organised Working Children to identify themselves
Different terminology is used to identify organised Working Children, and it is linked to the various continental and local languages. We are going to mention only the main ones, despite the innumerable forms and dialects to be found in many areas of Africa and Asia. NATs (Niños y Adolescentes Trabajadores) is a Latin American acronym which translates into English as «child and adolescent workers». In English-speaking countries we use Working Children and in francophone countries EJT (Enfants et Jeunes Travailleurs).

Methods of organisation and action of the Movements
When analysing the Working Children Movements, we must look at their organisational structure and the pedagogical methods they employ to guarantee an impact through their activities. They are helping children become aware of their own rights and are constantly working to guarantee that they be respected by identifying alternative solutions to exploitation, abuse, discrimination and injustice.

Through their organisational processes, working children and adolescents come out of individual isolation, and start a process of reciprocal recognition as a social group. Through this principle, which is the basis of their collective identity, they start to meet to discuss their problems, to propose initiatives and organise a response. During this process, they are able to create a subjective public and political presence, reaching increasingly complex levels. Therefore, group identity is transformed into a capacity for mobilization and protagonism, from the local, national to international levels.

The term “Movement”, used to define the local groups and associations of working children and adolescents, alludes to a fundamental characteristic of organisation and action of these new social actors.

A social movement is a form of collective action that calls for solidarity that shares a common goal. Its members recognize each other as equals, as active citizens with the same problems, because they come from a given social sector. On the other hand, a movement indicates the existence of social conflict.

Organised Working Children and Adolescents ask to be recognised as Social Movements that work within society to guarantee working children’s rights, and those of children in general. They work on the local and national levels, without forgetting the essential opportunities that are provided by their organisation on the intercontinental and world levels, which is strengthening with time.

“Participation” is fundamental in the Movements’ initiatives. Working Children have organised themselves in a social movement that is struggling to recover full democratic rights for children and adolescents. This means that children and adolescents participate fully in their «own» organisations, in order to recover the full status of citizenship. For example, the Movements have a democratic process for electing both their delegates and their accompanying adults. Even the management and representation of the Working Children’s organisations (whether in the day to day local initiatives or in the wide horizon of international ones), is the responsibility of these delegates who represent their peers.

Organised working children and adolescents have been promoting the importance of participation for the past 30 years, even tough the large international agencies are only just now recognising its significance. It is the main tool to bring about consciousness-raising regarding their situation. The more complete term, “protagonism”, includes everything from exchanges on the social level, to the educational process of perceiving ones own possibilities and rights, to finding common solutions to improve living and working conditions for working children and children in general.

The Continental Movements move towards a world-wide dimension
On the international level, the Working Children Movements began to coordinate their efforts of solidarity and collaboration in 1996, in Kundapur meeting, India. There, 34 delegates of the three continents participated in drafting the 10 points summarising their common struggles and claims (see document: Kundapur Declaration), the first and foremost of which was that their voice be heard and taken into consideration in decisions that affect them directly.

The World Movement had faced and overcome many obstacles when they were able to meet again in 2002 in Milan. There they expressed the need to have a world meeting. They accomplished this goal in 2004, when 33 delegates from Africa, Asia and Latin America met for the 2nd World Meeting of Working Children Movements, in Berlin (see document: Berlin Declaration).

This process continued in 2005, when a small delegation of working children from the three continents was able to meet in Kundapur (India). During this preparatory meeting they defined the agenda and the main issues to be discussed during the 3rd World Meeting of Working Children Movements that took place in Siena in October, 2006 (See document: Siena Declaration).

Source: Italianats website

Italianats is an Italian association of NGO's, unions and companies aiming to support and promote the movement of working children and youth.

The International Movement has met 3 times. All the declarations made at the end of meetings of the International Movement of Working Children and regional meetings since 1996 can be found at the Italianats site, most of them downloadable in 4 different languages. Click here to go the page directly.

Working children and youth organisations and movements

2007-10-11T12:03:00.000+07:00

Working children and youth organisations and movements

I came across a position paper by Nandana Reddy of Concerned for Working Children, on how young workers see their work. This document is a useful compilation of extracts from several Working Children Declarations, quotes from the documentary film Taking Destiny in their Hands, and answers to a questionnaire that was sent out to the three movements of working children in Africa, Latin America and South Asia.

The compilation is organized region wise, with a common framework of six questions:

What is the International movement?
Child and work: is work a good place for a child? Does it depend on the age of the child?
Good work – Bad work : What kind of work a child can and cannot do?
What does work bring to children’s lives?
ILO and working children: are the convention 138 and 182 good for them?
Movement history: did their positions change with time? Are there differences of opinion between the members?

It starts with explaining the position of the International Movement – as it presents the foundational principles all the movements agree on, and then goes on to describe the regional positions. The document ends with some general observations.

NOTE: Throughout, the document speaks of the "Asian Movement", which is rather unfortunate since Southeast and East Asia region is not represented in this movement. It is not a matter of exclusion - from either side, however, the organisation of working children has developed differently in Southeast and East Asia.

More about the International Movement of Working Children (also referred to as the World Movement of Working Children) in the next post.

A Journey in Children's Participation

2007-10-11T07:45:00.001+07:00

Publication:

A Journey in Children’s Participation. By Nandana Reddy and Kavita Ratna. 2002, Bangalore: Concerned for Working Children

This is one of my favourite publications about protagonism of children.

The Concerned for Working Children have been working in partnership with children for over 25 years, to enhance their protagonism and participation and realise their rights. This document brings together some of the experiences and perceptions related to children’s participation that have been gathered over the years.

The link to this website is an updated version, dated December 2002, which includes many concrete examples of what is being discussed in the text.

From the introduction:

Children’s Participation is not a project, it is not event based; it is a running theme through every action or intervention and it requires a major paradigm shift. The understanding of participation and the way it is translated into action varies and seems to be defined by the socio-cultural context of the child and the ideological frame

surrounding this understanding. However it is important to arrive at a culturally neutral definition of children’s participation, where the principles are common, though the manifestations may vary according to the situation of children.

When Children’s Participation is seen within the frame of protagonism it takes on another dimension. The right and the ability to advocate on one’s own behalf, to be in control and a part of decision making processes and interventions. This form of participation of children and youth enhances the concept of civil society participation and strengthens democratic processes.

Children’s participation should enhance children’s personhood. Often their individual growth is side lined, especially when they are a part of an organisation. Children’s participation should also be in keeping with their capacity and ability (milestones of development) and contribute positively to the process of children’s growth and development. However, all this operates within the context of children’s rights and their participation is the means by which children realise their rights.

(p.5)

Child and youth participation resource guide

2007-10-07T23:01:00.000+07:00

Publication:
Child and youth participation resource guide
By Junita Upadhyay. 2006, Bangkok: UNICEF. isbn 974 68507 2 5

This resource guide has been very popular from the moment it came out and it is now available on the web. The good thing about this guide is the categorisation in different areas and the fact that most documents are downloadable from the internet.

From the guide:

The participation of children and youth in schools, community action, media, and governance has gained growing support over the past 15 years. This interest in their active involvement is being stimulated by a greater recognition of children’s and youth citizenship and their rights to expression.

This Child and Youth Participation Resource Guide was jointly compiled by UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific Regional Office and published in June 2006, as a response to a growing need to organize the large and diverse literature on children's participation. It provides information on publications that focus on the protection of children and adolescents from exploitation, violence and abuse, child and youth participation in community and national programmes, HIV prevention, health, hygiene and sanitation and more.

How to Use This Document

This document is divided into several sections focusing on different areas in which the participation of children and youth have been prominent. In each section the author, title and brief summary of the document is included and hyperlinks are given for the full text PDF version for each publication. The link will lead you to an outside web platform. An e-mail address of the appropriate contact person has been provided when the publication cannot be directly linked. Please contact this individual/organization to acquire the document.

The Adolescent Development and Participation Unit at UNICEF Headquarters is presently preparing to make this guide available as an interactive web-based resource for wider use by its staff, partners, governments, policy makers, non-governmental and civil society organizations and especially children and youth themselves.

Looking for childhood book reviewers

2007-10-07T19:54:00.000+07:00

Childhood studies
A journal of global child research is looking for reviewers for a variety of books. Please contact Prof. Dr. Leena Alanen and ask for a list if you are interested in reviewing books. You are also invited to recommend other books of interest for reviewing in the journal – she’d be happy to contact their publishers and ask for copies to be added to the list. Books published in the Anglophone academic world practically make 100 % of books sent by publishers to the journal for reviewing. This is fairly obvious for a number of reasons: the language of the journal is English and publishers of books in other languages can hardly count on a big enough clientele for their publications in the English-language countries, and therefore do not offer their publications for reviewing. It would however be important also to make the non-English section of childhood studies available to the international readership of Childhood; otherwise it is the English-language research literature that unfortunately has to represent what is done in the field. Prof. Alanen would therefore especially like to encourage you who are readers of non-English childhood research as well as know of books on childhood published in other languages to come forward with suggestions of books for reviewing in Childhood.

Source: e-mail message from:
Leena Alanen, Professor (Early Childhood Education), Department of Educational Sciences, P.O.Box 35, FIN-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland, e-mail: lalanen@edu.jyu.fi

Children's voices in child protective proceedings - overview of 195 countries

2007-10-07T09:45:00.000+07:00

Do you want to know whether children have the right to express their opinions in court proceedings in Azerbaijan or Kiribati? You can find it at a database of the Yale Law School, together with all the other countries you can think of. It is part of a survey, Representing Children Worldwide, conducted at the Yale Law School researching the legal provisions of 194 countries concerning how children's voices are heard in child protective proceedings in 2005.

The website has concise information about the law that relates to children's opinions in child protective proceedings in 195 countries together with relevant references. In many cases the information is provided in the original language with (sometimes unofficial) English translation.

The site also provides:

Country Category Chart

Which categorizes the countries by both mandatory and discretionary legal models.

Country by Country Chart

Which provides a brief description of each country's child protective proceedings, explaining the way that children convey their opinions, where applicable.

From the website:
"Representing Children Worldwide is a research project which compiles information and resources on how children's voices are heard in child protective proceedings around the country and around the world in the year 2005. The website provides a summary of the practices of the 194 signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child (UNCRC) with respect to this question, as well as background information on the jurisdiction's child protective practices and web resources and contact information for further research in this field.

Our research focuses particularly on how different countries' practices relate to Article 12 of the CRC, which guarantees children's right to express views freely in all matters concerning them, and particularly to be heard in all judicial and administrative proceedings that concern them. "

Monitoring and evaluation of children’s participation in development projects

2007-10-06T20:38:00.000+07:00

Publication:

Monitoring and evaluation of children’s participation in development projects.

By Gina Arnillas Traverso and Nelly Pauccar Meza (researchers) and Gina Solari and Blanca Nomura (coordinators). 2007, Lima: Save the Children Sweden, ISBN 978 9972 696 51 0

I promise you, this is not easy reading, even when your native tongue is Spanish, in which case you might as well read the original.... However, as soon as you have gone through the more conceptual and theoretical discourse this publication becomes surprisingly practical and to the point. Indicators for children's participation need to have a sound grounding and once you have sorted that out you can look at very concrete and useful evidence that helps you understand and measure the impact of children's involvement in project development, implementation and evaluation of its impact.

Another good thing about this publication is that the indicators have been identified and developed together with children, through a thorough process of consultation and validation.

Legislative History of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

2007-10-06T10:46:00.003+07:00

Publication:
Legislative History of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Volumes I and II.
By: United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Save the Children Sweden (SCS). 2007, New York and Geneva: United Nations

In addition to the travaux preparatoires of the Convention on the Rights of the Child - produced by Sharon Detrick (which, unfortunately, has only been available in hard copy) there now is an extensive compilation of the legislative history of the Convention on the Rights of the Child written by Simone Ek who has been involved in the 10 year long drafting process of the CRC right from the start. Simone Ek compiled the proceedings of the debates during 1979–1987, which form the basis for the Legislative History of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The publication can be a support for governments, Convention states, UN organs, international voluntary organisations and universities in their work to make the Convention on the Rights of the Child easier to understand. The aim has been to explain the thinking behind the decisions. It also illuminates the important part that non-governmental organisations have played in this work

Find all the discussions on children's participation rights at pages 437 - 471.

Download PDF from:
http://www.scslat.org/web/noticias_detalle.php?id=I&tip=P&cod=267&are=7&sare=23&rgc=&srgc=&ani=

A hard copy can be obtained at SCS in Stockholm for 349 SEK exclusive postage.
http://shop.rb.se/Product/Product.aspx?ItemId=4882937

Children's participation in events with adults

2007-10-05T14:41:00.000+07:00

Publication:

Patricia del Pilar Horna Castro

Easier to say than to do. Children’s participation in events with adults.

2007, Lima: Save the Children Sweden Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean. ISBN 978-9972-696-50-3

This is a recent English translation of the Spanish original.

This is one of many downloadable publications by Save the Children Sweden in Latin America. They have an excellent, regularly updated, website with information in Spanish, English and Portuguese. I will post more information from this website shortly.

From the introduction to this book:

“Children’s participation is, without any doubt, a key issue in our societies. There is plenty and varied literature regarding children’s participation. The civil society and the States are now facing this global challenge. This guide, developed by Patricia Horna, is useful in many ways: it simultaneously introduces profound considerations, mandatory theoretical background, and above all, a friendly way to enhance the relationships between adults and children when they participate in the same activities.”

(Alejandro Cussianovich, p.7)

The book provides a review on the different approaches, conceptions and myths on children and adult participation in training workshops, seminars, discussion roundtables, etc.

“It is addressed to adults who have understood that they cannot speak about what children feel or think without considering and incorporating their very voices. And, of course, it will also be useful for children to keep watch so conditions in these events meet the conditions for a “real and effective” participation, just as they have demanded.

This material wants to contribute precisely to what many adults frequently hear, read, and say: children have a right to express themselves freely in every aspect which affects them —in other words, they have a right to participate.”

……….

“….the book is divided in three chapters which are, at the same time, the three big steps we are proposing to follow. The first one displays the current approaches and ideas on children’s participation; the second refers to the myths around children’s participation in events with adults, and the third chapter provides guidelines, ideas and suggestions which will render conditions for an effective and active participation.”

(p.11)

Geographical Information Systems use in research with children

2007-10-04T12:52:00.000+07:00

An exciting project is ongoing in Finland where researchers use GIS in a very interactive, creative and fun way to do research with children on the quality of their living environment. Children can identify their own neighbourhood, their own houses and schools and indicate things such as how they spend their free time, what they consider to be safe or dangerous places, and how they make use of and perceive their environment. They can also answer questions in relation to their wellbeing.

See and try it out here!

For more information visit SoftGIS in Finland, or get in touch with the leading researcher:

Marketta Kytta
Centre for urban and regional studies
Helsinki University of Technology
marketta.kytta@tkk.fi

For the academically inclined, view her dissertation "Children in Outdoor Contexts - Affordances and Independent Mobility in the Assessment of Environmental Child Friendliness"

Children's involvement in local budgeting

2007-10-04T10:22:00.000+07:00

Publication:
Children and young people in action, participating in budget work
Editors: Margarida Maria Marques, Neiara de Morais Bezerra, Renato Roseno de Oliveira,Talita de Araujo Maciel. The Ceará Centre for Protection of Children and Adolescents – CEDECA-Ceará, Brazil, November 2005. ISBN: 0-620-35519-0.

This document describes the process of the involvement of a group of young people in the monitoring of the public budget of Fortaleza, in Brazil.

In 1999 CEDECA-CEARÁ initiated its programme of monitoring the Fortaleza city budget. This was done from the understanding that the struggle for the human rights of children and young people has to be conducted through the discussion of public policies that give effect to these rights, by knowing about the allocation of public resources to implement those policies and through social control in the allocation and spending of public resources.

Brazilian society has managed, through a process of broad social mobilisation, to have written into the 1988 Federal Constitution that children and young people have rights and that these need to be fully protected as a matter of absolute priority. Further, the Children and Adolescents Act (ECA) stipulates that meeting this priority envisages children having first call on public resources. Unfortunately, the democratic culture of the country does not fully recognise the rights of children and young people nor does it allow for the exercising of social control of public budgets.

Therefore, taking as a main objective the promotion of social control of policies and public budgets, the programme uses three complementary strategies: the empowerment of organised groups within civil society; the provision of technical subsidies for intervention in the drafting and implementation of budgetary legislation; and support during active mobilization and lobbying for the development of public policies for children and young people.

During the first three years, our principal partners were NGOs, forums and networks for the protection of the rights of children and young people. These were important partnerships, as the most significant networking among children’s rights organizations today includes a focus on budgetary issues in the city and in the State of Ceará. One example is the case of the DCA-Ceará Forum (a Forum of Non-governmental Organisations for the Protection of Children and Young People), which took the matter of budget allocations directly to the State, the Commission for the Protection of the Right to Education and the Forum Against Sexual Violence of Children and Adolescents.

Nevertheless, the perception that there were organised groups of young people in our city, discussing rights and public policies, but that they were absent from the decision-making processes on these same policies, led us to reconsider our project. Why had these groups not yet achieved the right to be heard? This question and the meeting with our partner, Save the Children Sweden, for whom direct participation is a fundamental principle of work focusing on rights, led us to the conviction that one cannot speak of democracy while excluding such a significant group within the population, even more so when the subject is precisely the policies targeting that very group. The story told here is that of the first experience of empowering and supporting groups of young people to intervene in the public budgeting process. In this narrative we describe the phases of that empowerment as well as the involvement of these young people in pressure groups for the development of budgetary legislation.

We are not dealing with a methodology created by or exclusive to CEDECA-Ceará, but rather formulated during the first year of the project with the active participation of the young people involved. The approach was adapted to daily events and the reality in which we found ourselves, taking into account the diversity of the young people, with the CEDECA team not only filling the role of educator, but also that of apprentice. Daily practices were revised and adjusted to respond to the problems and difficulties that we confronted during the project.

If certain doubts remained regarding the relevance of a project to align the public budget with the promotion of the right to participation, these doubts have been replaced by the certainty that participation is something quite necessary, not only for the young people, but also for the city.

For CEDECA-Ceará, promoting the exercise of the right to participate is about more than protecting that right; it is also a strategy to strengthen the protection of all the human rights of children and young people.

As posted on IDASA website. IDASA, in South Africa, has a children's budget unit, more about that later.

Hard copies can be ordered at:
Save the Children Sweden
Regional Office for Southern Africa
PO Box 13993
Hatfi eld, 0028
Tel: +27 (0)12 342 0222
Fax: +27 (0)12 342 0305
E-mail: postmaster@za.rb.se
Web: http://www.rb.se

Useful link: Magic

2007-09-26T20:47:00.000+07:00

About MAGIC

Magic has a lot of information in relation to childrens' rights and the media and provides useful resources and links. I especially like their collaboration with oneminutevideo junior . (Recently, however, it has been difficult to access this website - let us hope it is only temporarily).

In 1996 the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which advises governments on their implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child held a consultation on children and the media.

A working group then began to explore the issues involved in developing a positive relationship between children and the media. In 1998, the Norwegian Government and UNICEF initiated a process that would identify examples of good practice, forge cooperative links among the many sectors involved, and produce resources to encourage further developments in the field.

In November 1999, young people involved in media projects, media professionals and child rights experts gathered in the Norwegian capital Oslo to discuss the role the media can play in the development of children's rights throughout the world, under five headings:

• Children's right of access to the media, including new media

• Children's right to media education and literacy

• Children's right to participate in the media

• Children's right to protection from harm in the media and violence on the screen

• The media's role in protecting and promoting children's rights

From their deliberations emerged the Oslo Challenge.

The Oslo Challenge Network was set up for professionals and organizations working in the field of children and the media to share information and ideas. This network - now known as the MAGIC Network - communicates through an email group. If you would like to join this group, just go to the Join MAGIC section of this website.

Children's participation in Latin America

2007-09-10T22:26:00.000+07:00

The CYE Journal has just published a new issue (vol. 17, no. 2), which includes 11 new papers on participation with youth in Latin America, guest edited by Yolanda Corona Caraveo and Mara Eugenia Linares Ponton as well as essays on children and nature by Peter Kahn and Emily Stanley, and several book reviews.

The issue includes papers from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, Colombia, and other countries in Latin America. It is available from the journal's home page on: http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/

Recognising children as social agents

2007-09-03T08:02:00.000+07:00

Researching Children’s Morality: developing research methods that allow children’s involvement in discourses relevant to their everyday lives.
by Sam Frankel, in: Childhoods Today Online Journal, Volume 1 Issue 1 - July 2007

The article describes how young children can be involved in research as long as research methods are relevant to the children's own context and understanding. Among other methods, the author details how he developed a questionnaire by combining it with an audio recording that not only captured interest of the children but also resulted in accurate processing and a high response to the questions. The research makes a case to see children as social agents, "who draw and develop meaning based on their own social experiences. Without this move to engage children in the context of the social world they inhabit, policy and practice will remain based on generalisations, clouded by adult perceptions of childhood (Mayall, 2002; Oakley, 1994)." (p.21)

From the journal:

Abstract: Contemporary children’s childhoods are full of discourses about children and right and wrong. However, the foundation for these moral debates is often based on adult assumptions about children rather than reliable knowledge obtained from them. This article therefore seeks to explore ways in which children can be involved in the research process, such that their voices can be heard. Through looking at a number of creative research it argues that children can be competent and legitimate research partners within moral discourses, providing data that can inform more effective policy and practice.

(p.1)

The research

".... looked at the way in which children experience morality within their everyday lives and endeavours to explore ways in which children as social agents can be legitimate and competent partners in a quest for understanding. Such work can then be used as a foundation for policy makers to move away from a reliance on adult assumptions, allowing them to draw on reliable knowledge of children’s childhoods."

(p.2)

Children's participation in China

2007-09-01T07:25:00.000+07:00

From Performance to Practice: Changing the Meaning of Child Participation in China by Andy West, Chen Xue Mei, Zhou Ye, Zhang Chun Na, Chen Qiang, in Children, Youth and Environments 17(1): 14-32.

Andy West and his colleagues have written an excellent article that gives a good insight in the concept and practice of children's participation in modern China.

The article discusses some recent developments in children’s participation in China, indicating a shift is taking place in the meaning of the term “participation,” away from the traditional idea of participation as performance, which fits with school and other childhood cultures, toward taking children more seriously.

The authors describe how children's participation has been advocated in the social, cultural and political context of China focusing on how it can be done and how it can make a difference in research and working with children.

“However, arguing for children’s participation as a right is probably neither the only nor the best strategy: there must also be some demonstration of what participation is and how it can be achieved.”

…………..

“Training alone has not been successful in changing the notion of participation from one of performance and activities to acceptance of true participation as a right. Recognition of practical, useful forms of participation by adults in positions of authority was a necessary starting point. These forms include children being consulted and involved in decisions on matters to do with community, school management, and where children live. The institutionalization of such participation requires changing adult practice and attitudes.
This need to develop practical participation work still requires basic training and understanding. However, the need to show how participation can be done must also avoid the trap of providing ready-made recipes.” (p.9)

The article also accounts of what is “probably the first child- and youth-operated organization in China:” called “Springbud Service Station for Disabled Children and Young People,” founded in 2004 and registered in 2005.

The African Movement of Working Children and Youth

2007-08-12T07:42:00.000+07:00

The African Movement of Working Children and Youth

The AMWCY was set up in 1994. As of March 2007, the African Movement of Working Children and Youth had 80 associations, in as many as 64 towns of 20 African countries. It is made up of about 728 grassroots groups including more than 37,000 active members. Members include housemaids, girls who are vendors in the market, independent working children and youth in streets and markets, as well as female & male apprentices. 70% of members are below 18, and 53% of members are girls. More facts (in French) including all contact details of the associations can be found in the latest annual bulletin of the movement: "WCY face the challenge, volume 7".

The Working Children and Youth began by organising themselves in their working and living places. They set up associations in their own towns in order to strengthen their solidarity and also gain respect from authorities, as well as from communities. From 1996 onward, the AMWCY noted that the promotion of their rights should be fulfilled through concretisation.

Movement of Working Children and Youth organisational set up
Grassroots groups from the same town get together in Associations of WCYs (AWCY), in the same area. Several AWCY are often created in the same country. They form themselves into a National Association or into a National Coordination of AWCY.

During the African meetings of the AMWCY (every 2 years), these Associations or Coordinations elect a female or male delegate (below 18 years) who will represent them at the Regional Commission of the AMWCY which meets once a year.

The AMWCY has developed clear criteria to become a member of the movement (such as being active for at least one year, providing an annual report, and having an action plan). At present 20 associations are being considered to become members.

Activities of the Movement of Working Children and Youth

Technical assistance
Promotion of the rights
Lobbying
Fight against child trafficking
Income Generating Activities (IGAs)
Technical assistancePromotion of their rights

The WCY articuled 12 rights which they consider to be the backbone for all WCY in 64 African towns. They match children’s rights, mentioned in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and in the African Charter on Human Rights and Children’s Welfare, but they are very specific towards the situation of working children such as the right to remain in the village.
Promotion of these rights can be voiced through “information” and “implementation” activities. Information about the 12 rights is dispatched to the WCYs themselves, so they can be aware of them in order to be able to defend and promote those rights by themselves. This information also gets to the public through direct contacts, or via the media.

ENDA Jeunesse Action International
The Jeunesse Action team from ENDA Tiers Monde supports children living in difficult conditions. Its objectives are to strengthen children's organisation on the local, national and regional levels. They facilitate exchange, training and communication between organisations and supporting institutions that assist children living in difficult conditions in more than 60 towns in 20 African countries. The International Office in Dakar, coordinates the regional activities of the Calao Programme. It includes three working groups which are coordinated by a Committee made up of three persons in charge and of a regional coordinator.

WCY face the challenge is an annual news bulletin of the African Movement of Working Children and Youth published by Enda Tiers Monde, Jeunesse Action in Dakar. The editorial committee is made up of WCYs with the assistance form the Dakar Jeunesse Action team. In this bulletin, we find articles, interviews, impressions, portraits, poems, games, etc. produced by the WCYs and their supporting structures from Africa and Latin America. It is aimed at the general public, authorities, decision-makers informing them about the life, problems and daily fight WCYs go through.

“Calao Express” is a monthly electronic (through Email) news bulletin published by Enda Tiers Monde, Jeunesse Action in Dakar, which was first released in February 2005. At a click, one can get lots of information on WCYs activities, as well as their supporting institutions and NGOs and other organisations in Africa and worldwide in French, English, Portuguese, Italian and German.

Is participation the new tyranny?

2007-08-11T22:14:00.000+07:00

"Participation has therefore become an act of faith in development, something we believe in and rarely question. This act of faith is based on three main tenets: that participation is intrinsically a 'good thing' (especially for the participants); that a focus on 'getting the techniques right' is the principal way of ensuring the success of such approaches; and that considerations of power and politics on the whole should be avoided as divisive and obstructive. "

(Francis Cleaver, 2001, 'Institutions, agency and the limitations of participatory approaches to development', in Cooke, B. and Kothari, U. (eds.), Participation: The New Tyranny, London, Zed Books, 36-55, page 36).

It rings true more and more in relation to children's participation.....

Seen and Heard

2007-08-11T21:37:00.000+07:00

Seen and Heard, participation of children and young people in Southeast East Asia and Pacific in events and forums leading to and following up on the United Nations General Assembly Special Session for Children.
Judith Ennew, Yuli Hastadewi. Save the Children Sweden, SEAP region, Bangkok, 2002.

This report presents the results of a research evaluation of the participation of children in the Southeast Asia and the Pacific region in events and processes connected to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children in May 2002.

From the report:

The contrast is clear. In 1990, children had read statements written by adults. They were seen - but not heard in anything other than a decorative sense. In 2002, they were not only seen but also 'introduced' their opinions and ideas. Yet it might still be argued that, particularly given the frequent reiteration of the phrase 'giving children a voice', this amounts to little more than giving voice to personal opinion and experience (Lim and Roche, 2000). If children's participation is to be associated with democreacy and group representation - indeed if it is to be anything more than a decorative device - their 'passions, questions, fears, challenges, enthusiasm, optimism, ideas, hopes and dreams' must not only be brought to the adult decision-making table and heard, they should also have an impact on the decisions taken. Nevertheless .... the same argument also applies to much adult representation in international meetings.
...
(p.29)

A recent article by the same authors which brings out the main points of their research can be found here.

Useful Link: Children, Youth and Environments

2007-08-11T18:23:00.002+07:00

Children, Youth and Environments

CYE publishes a peer-reviewed online journal that offers researchers a high-quality, refereed outlet for sharing their work and learning about new studies in the field. Several databases provide supplemental information (see resources listed in the Site Map).

CYE has a global audience and seeks to connect the worlds of research, policy and practice.

The journal publishes papers on a broad range of topics and using different approaches, including quantitative and qualitative empirical research, theoretical, methodological and historical investigations, critical literature reviews, design analyses, post-occupancy evaluations, policy studies, and program assessments. We welcome papers from diverse viewpoints, varied approaches, and different cultures.

Although CYE’s scope is not restricted to a particular disciplinary or professional paradigm, its organizing focus is the physical environment. CYE takes a special interest in papers that focus on children and youth in environments of disadvantage and those with special needs as well as in papers that recognize the capacity of children and young people for meaningful participation in the processes that shape their lives.

One of the latest issues looks at critical perspectives on children's participation.

More about that later.

Useful Link: School councils in Wales

2007-08-11T15:41:00.000+07:00

The Welsh Assembly Government has ordered all schools in Wales to have a school council.

Click here to see how this is being implemented.

Useful Link: Funky Dragon - children and young people's involvement in decision making in Wales

2007-08-11T15:16:00.000+07:00

From their website:

Funky Dragon - the Children and Young People’s Assembly for Wales - is a peer-led organisation. Its aim is to give 0 – 25 year olds the opportunity to get their voices heard on issues that affect them. The opportunity to participate and be listened to is a fundamental right under the United Nations Convention Rights of the Child. Funky Dragon tries to represent as wide a range as possible and work with decision-makers to achieve change.

Funky Dragon’s main tasks are to make sure that the views of children and young people are heard, particularly by the Welsh Assembly Government, and to support participation in decision-making at national level.

Grand Council

The Grand Council is made up of a total of 100 young people from across Wales, representing the views of a wide range of both voluntary and statutory organisations. Young people across Wales can access the Grand Council through the different ways below.

Local Authority Wide Forums

Statutory Sector – 22 places
Voluntary Sector - 22 places
School Councils - 22 places

Funky Dragon is using the term local authority-wide forum as we recognise that some forums representing the geographical area of a local authority are either independent or are supported by an agency other than the Local Authority such as the Princes Trust or the Children’s Society.

Each Local Authority Wide Forum is offered two places for young people (one for the statutory sector and one for the voluntary sector) on the Grand Council. It is up to each forum to democratically elect their representatives. Representatives are asked to commit to a 2 year term with the Grand Council.

Each Local Authority Wide Forum will be responsible for carrying out its own election process. The only conditions Funky Dragon puts on the process are:

The young people involved are aged between 11 and 25
The election must be a fair and democratic process
Only young people are able to vote
One young person should represent the statutory sector e.g. youth clubs, schools, social services etc
One young person should represent the voluntary sector e.g. local charities, uniformed group, young farmers etc

Funky Dragon reserves the right to refuse any representative if any of the above conditions are ignored.

Specific Interest Places

Young people have chosen 8 issue areas in which they feel need specific representation in the Grand Council:

Gay & Lesbian
Disability
Young Carers
Looked after Young People
Black and Minority Ethnic
Have been Homeless
Have been in Juvenile Justice System
Long Term Health Problems (but not necessarily a disability)

Where organisations or systems are in place for particular areas we will be approaching them to see how we can recruit young people that not only represent an organisation, but also that particular area. For example, with the area of looked after young people, we have approached Voices from Care and with black and ethnic minority young people, we have approached the Black Youth Network. Where more than one organisation wishes to put a young person forward, elections will take place at the Annual General Meeting.

Co-options

In effect these are empty places. The aim is to make sure that the Grand Council is as representative of children and young people in Wales as possible, whilst recognising the fact that 60 young people will never be truly representative of young people across Wales.

Once the Grand Council is in place these will be used to ensure as wide a range of representation as possible. Should the Grand Council feel that they are under represented in anyway then they can actively seek organisations to get young people representing an area/ interest.

Ambassadors

The ambassadors are members who have served their two year term on the grand council but who’s experience is considered to be vital. They are invited to stay on, as part of the Grand Council, so that they can pass on the working methods and history of the organisation to newer members.

The Election Process

Within the structure of Funky Dragon there are positions that require an election by the Grand Council. These are for positions on the grand council and the management committee.

For the Grand Council these are:

Special Interest Places
Co-option Places

For the management committee these are:

Trustees under the age of 18
Trustees aged 18 or over

If you are interested in joining the grand council you need to go through your local youth forum. Click on youth forums and you will find contact details for your local youth forum worker who will be able to help you.

Funky Dragon also developed standards for participation of children.

European Network of Masters in Children's Rights

2007-08-11T11:21:00.000+07:00

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was agreed in 1989 and has been ratified by all European countries. Despite the commitment and intentions from state parties in Europe and different efforts from civil society, it has become evident that professional human resources dedicated to the development and promotion of children’s rights requires specialised education.
Higher university programmes are needed that promote:

Adult attitudes that recognize children as subjects of rights
Professional ethics that respect children as competent subjects
Children’s rights to resources and participation in decision-making

The European Network of Masters on Children's Rights was founded in September 2004 in Berlin.

The initiative to create ENMCR came from the regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean of Save the Children Sweden (SCS) and individuals in Europe devoted to the promotion and realisation of children's rights.

ENMCR cooperates with the Latin American Network of Masters on Children’s Rights, a network of six universities that offer MA study programmes on childhood studies and children's rights in five Latin American countries.

What is the Network?

The network aims to

foster cooperation
produce innovative knowledge
promote learning between advanced programmes on children’s rights across European Universities.

The network brings together academics, researchers, NGOs, public agencies and students.

Activities of the Network include:

Developing common resources such as virtual exchange, funding and scholarships, conferences and seminars
Exchanging experiences in teaching and curriculum development
Raising the profile of the field through disseminating information
Staff and student exchange
Exploring common research areas and developing joint student projects
Cooperating with other networks
Organisation of workshops, seminars, conferences.
Conference Report: "Focus on Children in Migration- from a method and research perspective", Warsaw, 20-21 March 2007 (pdf 585 KB). Organised jointly with Save the Children, Sweden and the Separated Children in Europe Programme.

Useful Link: Participation Works

2007-08-11T05:45:00.000+07:00

Participation Works online gateway for youth participation. A hub for information, resources, news and networking on the involvement of young people in dialogue, decision making and influence across a wide range of settings.

Participation Works is a collaboration of agencies committed to children and young people's participation. The website has a number of 'rooms' of thematic content. Each room brings together resources on key youth participation themes, links to relevant organisations and an archive of relevant news, events and comments. Check out the resource hub.

UK focused but useful materials for other contexts as well.

Creating an enabling environment

2007-08-10T21:25:00.001+07:00

Creating an Enabling Environment - Capacity Building in Children's Participation, Save the Children Sweden, Vietnam, 2000-2004. By Henk van Beers, Vo Phi Chau, Judith Ennew, Pham Quoc Khan, Tran Thap Long, Brian Milne, Trieu Tri Anh Nguyet, and Vu Thi Son. Bangkok, 2006, Save the Children Sweden, Southeast Asia and Pacific Regional Office.

Since 2000, Save the Children Sweden in Viet Nam has operated a programme to build the capacity of adults at all levels in facilitating children’s participation with the long-term aim of raising awareness of children’s potential for political participation, not only in Viet Nam but regionally and internationally.
In order to build the basis for planning future programmes to further children’s participation in Viet Nam and elsewhere, Save the Children Sweden commissioned a research assessment which combined three simultaneous research processes using a single research protocol to assess:
• Children-friendly activities in Ho Chi Minh City
• Vietnamese national forums for children
• The impact of the capacity-building programme in Viet Nam, the Southeast Asia and
Pacific region, and globally.
The research process was rights-based, including children’s views and experiences, using appropriate methods and ethical procedures. Building on previous documentation of Save the Children’s promotion of children’s participation, the information in this Report will assist other efforts to ensure that children’s participation becomes both an everyday reality and a high-quality, meaningful experience for the children and adults involved in similar processes worldwide.

Adults First!

2007-08-10T20:59:00.001+07:00

For children's fundamental participation rights to be realised, it is adults, not children, who most urgently need to learn. Children's participation rights demand that adults listen to children, understand them and take action based on what children say. Adults often need to encourage children to participate and provide opportunities for them to do it. Thus, children’s rights to participate is, for now at least, heavily dependent upon adults.

More and more organisations working in the field of children’s rights see the need to train their staff in how to facilitate children's participation. Although they recognise that children have the right to be involved in informing, designing, implementing and evaluating programmes that can directly influence their lives, these organisations have found that providing meaningful opportunities for children to do it is a good deal more challenging than perhaps they expected. One important and often overlooked fact is that, for an organisation to involve children properly, everyone from programme managers to finance and personnel officers down to staff in day-to-day contact with children needs to have at least an understanding of the key practical and ethical concerns in facilitating the participation of children.

Adults First! describes a typical organisational training on children's participation run by Save the Children Sweden for a small Cambodian NGO, the Child Rights Foundation. In it, the workshop’s facilitator and Save the Children Sweden’s children's participation adviser for South East Asia and the Pacific, describes and explains the training activities used in the workshop, and outlines several more.

Adults First! is aimed at staff and managers of child-focused organisations hoping to improve their work with children. People thinking of facilitating such trainings should also find it a rich source of ideas and exercises to use with adults and young people.

Beers, Henk van and Caspar Trimmer: Adults First! An organisational training for adults on children's participation. Child Rights Foundation Cambodia, 2004 and Save the Children Sweden, SEAP region, Bangkok, 2006. ISBN 974-94170-9-7

Useful Link: Better Care Network

2007-08-10T19:34:00.000+07:00

About BCN

The Better Care Network brings together organizations and individuals concerned about children without adequate family care. It is committed to:

Reducing instances of separation and abandonment of children;
Reuniting children outside family care with their families, wherever possible and appropriate;
Increasing, strengthening and supporting family and community based care options for children who cannot be cared for by their parents;
Establishing international and national standards for all forms of care for children without adequate family care and mechanisms for ensuring compliance; and
Ensuring that residential institutions are used in a very limited manner and only when appropriate.

The Better Care Network facilitates active information exchange and collaboration on these issues and advocates for technically sound policy and programmatic action on global, regional, and national levels.

The Better Care Network is guided by the UNCRC and the Stockholm Declaration.

Involvement of children is a crucial aspect in the philosophy of Better Care Network which is exemplified in many of the resources and research that is listed on the site.

Especially relevant in this context are articles 12 and 25 of the CRC:

Article 12

1. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.

2. For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law.

Article 25

States Parties recognize the right of a child who has been placed by the competent authorities for the purposes of care, protection or treatment of his or her physical or mental health, to a periodic review of the treatment provided to the child and all other circumstances relevant to his or her placement.

Information on the site is categorised as follows:

Useful Link: Childrights Information Network

2007-08-10T06:12:00.000+07:00

CRIN - Child Rights Information Network - Home

Very informative and resourceful with dedicated sites to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Rightsbased programming, violence against children and Better Care Network.
An informative email newsletter (CRINMAIL) and extensive resource database.

The Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) is a global network that disseminates information about the Convention on the Rights of the Child and child rights amongst non-governmental organisations (NGOs), United Nations agencies, inter-governmental organisation (IGOs), educational institutions, and other child rights experts.

CRIN has a membership of more than 1,700 organisations in over 140 countries. Membership is free. About 85 percent of members are NGOs; and 65 percent are in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In addition to working with member organisations, CRIN services the information needs of 2500 organisations and individuals who have joined their mailing lists.

Information is arranged around the following themes:

Useful link: Communication Initiative

2007-08-10T06:05:00.000+07:00

The Communication Initiative - http://www.comminit.com/index.html

The Communication Initiative is a space to share, debate and advance effective communication for development progress.

The site has special focus on:

Democracy & Governance

NRM, Environment

Imm,Vacc,Polio

The Media and Children's Rights

2007-08-09T18:58:00.000+07:00

A very useful and reader friendly handbook on children and the media:

The Media and Children's rights

This is a new (2005) edition of a handbook designed to help journalists monitor their government’s performance as signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The Media and Children’s Rights has been produced by the Bristol-based media ethics charity MediaWise on behalf of UNICEF. The revised and expanded, pocket-sized edition, based on the practical experience of working journalists, includes story ideas drawn from issues raised by the UNCRC and checklists to ensure that media professionals acknowledge children rights in their working practices.

It is a useful addition to “Putting children in the right” (Guidelines for Journalists and media professionals) by the International Federation of Journalists.

Children's views on physical and emotional punishment

2007-08-09T18:24:00.000+07:00

What children say: Results of comparative research on physical and emotional punishment of children in Southeast, East Asia and Pacific in 2005.

This publication is the result of an unprecedented study by Save the Children Sweden, regional office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, of children's experiences of physical and emotional punishment, coordinated between teams from eight different countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific (Cambodia, Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, The Philippines, and Viet Nam) involving more than 3000 children and over 1000 adults.

A code of ethics was maintained throughout the exercise, and researchers were responsible for making sure that the research did no harm to the children, and that participation was voluntary.

The findings highlight the extraordinary levels and types of violence to which children are subjected in the name of discipline and childrearing - a violence that becomes part of their psychological and social makeup and thus integral to all levels of society and all human relationships.

One clear message from this research is that a contradiction is revealed when what children say is compared with what adults say. Although adults say direct assaults are not an appropriate way to punish children, children report the main form of punishment they receive is direct assaults. Adults do not act according to what they say they believe. This leaves children with a range of problems when they try to assimilate the obvious contradictions in the discipline they receive.

The document can also be downloaded from:

http://www.crin.org/docs/SCS_What_Children_Say.pdf or http://seap.savethechildren.se/South_East_Asia/

Hard copies and CD ROM’s can be obtained (free from charge) from:

Save the Children Sweden
Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific
14th floor, Maneeya Center, South Building
518/5 Ploenchit Road, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Tel: +662 684 1046/7 Fax: +662 684 1048
Email: scs@seap.savethechildren.se

Giving children a voice in the media

2007-08-09T17:28:00.000+07:00

The Media Code of Conduct is a code developed by the Concerned for Working Children in consultation with children, other organisations working with children’s issues and media persons, on how the media should protect and promote the rights of children in the design, production and distribution of media.

This publication explores issues related to:

Children as ‘producers’ of Media

Themes include Children as creators of media in society; Creating spaces for children’s expression and opinions of realities around them

Children as ‘users’ of Media

Themes include Children’s Access to Media; Right to information; Children's Rights Programming of content, Right to protection from harmful content

Children as ‘subjects’ of Media

Themes include Children as subjects rather than objects of the media; Right to protection from misrepresentation and stereotyping; Right to privacy, confidentiality and dignity

The authors hope this will become an affirmative protocol - a useful self-regulatory tool for all those who respect Children's Rights.

See for more details the article by Kavita Ratna at:

http://www.infochangeindia.org/features410.jsp

Copies of the Media Code to Realise Children’s Rights can be obtained by writing to

Kavita Ratna

The Concerned for Working Children (CWC)
303/2, L.B. Shastri Nagar,
Vimanapura Post,
Bangalore - 560 017
# 91 - 80 - 25234611/25234270
Web: www.workingchild.org

Video as a means to freedom of expression

2007-08-09T17:14:00.000+07:00

It is really worthwhile to visit http://www.theoneminutesjr.org/ because it provides opportunities for young people to present their ideas and views on issues of their concern and interest through one minute videos. Many of these videos are on the website – and many are really good. For more information see below and their website.

From the website:

What are one minute videos?
They are sixty-second videos made by young people (between the ages of 12 and 20) from all over the world. Time may be limited in a oneminutesjr video (this challenges the youngsters to form their ideas clearly), but not the freedom to express oneself creatively, which is the basic right of every person.

What is the oneminutesjr network?
It is a non-commercial community without any set political belief or ideology. the network gives young people – especially those who are underprivileged or marginalised – the opportunity to have their voices heard by a broad audience, to share with the world their ideas, dreams, fascinations, anxieties,and viewpoints.

Why does the oneminutsjr network do what it does?

Because we want to:

encourage youth expression, motivating youngsters to articulate their opinions and concerns about their communities, their environments, and about life itself.

create an international platform for the visual communication and exchange of one-minute messages, unhindered by language barriers.

create the opportunity for all young citizens to speak out and make their voices heard by a broad and diverse audience.

provide a space for informal learning, innovation and creativity.

stimulate networking, debate and discussion.

bridge the gap between the media, the arts and young people.

involve marginalised youngsters and give them more of a chance to participate in opinion-making processes.

offer an arena and suitable tools for experiencing diversity – both differences and similarities.

Children's participation's basis in human rights

2007-08-09T07:12:00.000+07:00

The United Nations is the source of the international human rights laws currently in use globally, dating from shortly after the Second World War (1939-45). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) makes it clear that freedom to take part in democratic society is a right for all human beings, an idea that is spelt out in more detail in the 1966 United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights . As human beings, children should not be excluded from these rights, but this was not made explicit until the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Introduction to theory and practice of children's participation

2007-08-09T06:45:00.000+07:00

A good introduction to theory and practice of children's participation can be found in a new publication, Beyond article 12 – Essential readings in children's participation.

This publication presents a collection of important statements and theories, some legal information and a few practical examples that are particularly thought-provoking.

All the materials included were written by adults for adults in attempts to tackle some of the challenges raised by children’s participation.

The book presents a systematic, non-partisan and holistic view of the topic. By providing basic material on history, theory and practice the editors wish to facilitate an increased understanding of the complex issue of children’s participation as well as to encourage readers to seek further information. The Readings include legal instruments, philosophy, implementation, practice, experience and the broad debate on what children’s participation should or should not be.

Henk van Beers, Antonella Invernizzi and Brian Milne (editors), 2006, Beyond article 12 – Essential readings in children's participation, Bangkok, Black on White Publications, Knowing Children. ISBN 974-93296-1-9

When you want to know more about Knowing Children please visit their website: http://www.knowingchildren.org/

From the editorial introduction to Beyond article 12:

“Some of the most notable gaps occur in theory. There is no holistic approach to children’s participation. History, underlying philosophies and the implementation of legal instruments appear to be disconnected. Indeed one of the most disconcerting aspects of the way the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, Reading 3) has been used by some devotees of child participation has been a total resistance to think beyond article 12. Not only are other participation rights infrequently visited by writers and activists but also there is no critique of these oversights. Yet, when the work of pioneers is examined, a broader vision becomes apparent. The ideas of Janusz Korczak (1878/9–1942), the Polish doctor and philosopher who is often credited with beginning modern debates on children’s rights, most certainly harboured a wider range of possibilities. John Dewey’s educational theories (Reading 43) trusted children far more than many contemporary child participation enthusiasts and Ivan Illich’s critique of education (Reading 47) most certainly placed greater trust in the hands and minds of all ages – children included. Perhaps the most illustrative of all is the work of Alexander S. Neill (Reading 48) who foresaw, advocated and practiced intellectual and personal freedoms for children of the kind included much later in the UNCRC. Children give living examples that these principles work.

Knowledge about, and analysis of, participation of children in their everyday lives has received very little attention. Yet a focus on rights violations, implementation of the UNCRC or child-rights planning, programming and practices should not obscure the fact that, outside any attempts by adults to promote respect for article 12, children do indeed participate in their everyday lives, are sometimes listened to and have their decisions and opinions respected. Analyses of these practices are inspiring both for policy and practices. However, these same decisions children take, the processes and (adult) partners involved, are likely to vary considerably from one context to another, depending on cultural practices and socio-economic contexts. Better knowledge in this area would promote practice and policy based on existing resources and strengths.

…………….

Each section and subsection of this book is preceded by a brief introduction to the Readings it contains, to explain why we chose these excerpts and to place them in the context of past history and current debates. A final bibliography merges all the references in the excerpts, and is followed by a list of suggested further texts that may be of interest. To help readers wishing to use it as a reference tool, the book is indexed by names of authors as well as topics, and Readings contain internal references to other Readings where relevant.”

(pages viii – ix)