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Pushing the Boundaries:A guide to increasing the realisation of children’s civil rights and freedoms

Child Rights Governance

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Contents:Section Page

Acknowledgements..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3

1. Introduction..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................4

2. Understanding children’s civil rights and freedoms.......................................................................................................................................................................6

3. Programming options on children’s civil rights – an overview and ‘getting started’.................................................................................................11

4. Identifying and overcoming obstacles and risks............................................................................................................................................................................14 5. Name and nationality (Article 7) and preservation of identity (Article 8)..................................................................................................................18

6. Children’s right to be heard (Article 12).........................................................................................................................................................................................21

7. Freedom of expression (Article 13) and access to appropriate information (Article 17).................................................................................29

8. Freedom of association and peaceful assembly (Article 15)................................................................................................................................................35

9. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 14) and protection of privacy (Article 16)...............................................................40

10. The right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Article 37a)...........43

Annex 1: Using the basic requirements in children’s participation as a checklist...........................................................................................................45

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Acknowledgements

The document was authored by Claire O’Kane. Regular communication with Jennifer Grant (Deputy Director of Child Rights Governance Initiative) and Hannah Mehta (Child Participation Adviser) has significantly informed the development of this guide on children’s civil rights and freedoms – thanks to both. In addition I would like to acknowledge the rich and helpful contributions from a number of other practitioners who participated in the e-discussion on children’s civil rights and/or who provided helpful feedback on an earlier draft of this report. These practitioners included: Abdullah Alkhamissy, Clare Back, Menaca Calyaneratne, Teresa Caprio, Sheila Carreon, Shyamol Choudhury, Marsie Gonsalez, Meer Ahsan Habib, Turid Heiberg, Pedro Hurtado Vega, Ding Jingjing, Vibeke Jorgensen, Ei Thant Khing (Gracy), Julia Koch, Julias Kwizera, Hans Lind, Monica Lindvall, Judas Massingue, Maman Mubarak, Solomon Mulat, Yui Mutumol, Harry Shier, Bandana Shreshta, Ljiljana Sinickovic, Lene Steffen and Rachele Tardi-Forgacs. I also appreciate inspiration provided by Bill Bell, Alejandro Cussaniovich, Clare Feinstein, Annette Giertsen, Roger Hart, Bijan Kimi-agar, Gerison Lansdown, Blair Osler, Rita Panicker, Kavita Ratna and Joachim Theis.

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1. IntroductionSave the Children is a leading independent organisation working to increase fulfilment of children’s rights. Save the Children’s vi-sion is a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation. Its mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

This guide has been developed to support Child Rights Governance staff to develop programme work to strengthen the civil rights and freedoms of children within their broader CRG programme strategy. In acknowledgement that much of this work might be new to certain staff, it expands upon Save the Children’s overarching CRG programme guidance1 by providing more detailed guidance in the particular area of civil rights and freedoms. It especially builds on the sub-sections on children’s civil rights and freedoms, support systems for birth registration and efforts to increase the rights of stateless children in Section 2.

This guide is also relevant to CRG work (and sections in the overarching programme guidance) on relationships among key actors, and Investments in Children, as it supports efforts to increase space, capacity and opportunities for various actors to engage with children and young people as active citizens, including children’s engagement in participatory budget processes.

This guide will be most useful to those drafting CRG programme strategies following the completion of their CRG analysis. The reader should at the very least have read the section on civil rights and freedoms in the CRG analysis tool.

The guide is entitled Pushing the Boundaries as it necessitates efforts to enter into new areas of programming and to increase systematic efforts by governments, civil society, media and other actors to develop policies, legislation, structures and processes that increase the fulfilment of civil and political rights for all children. It also requires risk assessments and risk mitigation strategies to identify strategic opportunities and planning to overcome obstacles specific to each socio-cultural and political context in order to effectively and safely promote children’s civil rights and freedoms.

This guide outlines programme options encompassing a range of initiatives (including but not limited to):

• promoting birth registration and the rights of stateless children • strengthening children’s participation in local and national governance • strengthening children’s associations • supporting children’s engagement as political activists and lobbying for reduced ages for voting • increasing children’s access to information and supporting children’s media initiatives • undertaking research and lobbying for legal reforms to increase children’s civil rights.

It is recognised that the feasibility and appropriateness of different programme options will vary according to the socio-political situation in the country and the associated risks. However, the guide also recognises that in many socio-political contexts children and young people are already engaging as social and political actors in their society and are demanding increased space in govern-ance and political processes which affect so that they can assert and claim their rights. Save the Children can support and engage in efforts to increase space, capacity and opportunities for children to exercise their civil rights and political rights meaningfully and safely.

The guide is divided into ten key sections. Following the introduction (Section 1), Sections 2-4 provide background information to inform the development of programmes on children’s civil rights and freedoms, including understanding of key concepts, an over-view of key programming options, tips on ‘getting started’, and consideration of key obstacles and risks. Sections 5–10 focus on specific articles in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (UNCRC) which concern children’s civil rights and freedoms, in order to provide information and ideas for programme activities, case examples, and sources of further reading.

2. Understanding children’s civil rights and freedoms. This section draws upon relevant publications which can enhance understanding and application of children’s civil rights and freedoms by governments and civil soci-ety. Various regional approaches to children’s citizenship are also briefly outlined.

3. Programming options on children’s civil rights – an overview and ‘getting started’. This sec-tion is about building upon existing efforts and strengthening programmes which promote and address a number of civil rights in an integrated manner in recognition of the crucial linkages between the civil rights and freedoms.

4. Identifying and overcoming obstacles and risks. Programming on children’s civil rights and freedoms is relatively new to Save the Children, and a range of obstacles may be faced at the individual, organisational, govern-mental and society levels. In some socio-political contexts there will be risks associated with programming on children’s civil and political rights. It is therefore crucial to analyse both the obstacles and the risks in order to inform programme options and shape strategies to mitigate risks.

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5. Name and nationality (Article 7) and preservation of identity (Article 8) – and efforts to advo-cate for and address the rights of stateless children.

6. Children’s right to be heard (Article 12) – sharing key guidance, especially Every Child’s Right to be Heard: A resource guide on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment No. 12.2

7. Freedom of expression (Article 13) and access to appropriate information (Article 17) – on children’s rights to express their views and obtain information, with a particular focus on children’s media initiatives.

8. Freedom of association and peaceful assembly (Article 15) – sharing key programme and advocacy guidance to strengthen child-led organisations and networks and to increase children’s rights to peaceful assembly.

9. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 14) and protection of privacy (Article 16) – sharing relevant programme and advocacy guidance.

10. The right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Article 37a) – and its relevance to programme measures to protect child rights defenders.

caSe examPleS Programme oPtionS

toolS reading

Each section may include:

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2. Understanding children’s civil rights and freedomsCivil and political rights form the original and main part of international human rights. They comprise the first portion of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (with economic, social and cultural rights comprising the second portion). The UDHR states: “Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representa-tives.”

In this guide, as in the human rights discourse, the terms ‘civil rights and freedoms’ and ‘civil and political rights’ are used interchangeably. Civil and political rights are those which relate to the liberty of the individual. Within that cluster of rights, the freedoms represent those rights which place boundaries on the abuse of power by the state, including freedoms of expression, thought, conscience, religion, associa-tion and peaceful assembly.

Civil rights are often considered as protections and freedoms given to citizens, and citizenship means a collection of rights and obligations that define the members of a community. 3 Western discourse on citizenship is largely influenced by T H Marshall’s (1949) work on ‘citizenship and social class’. Marshall defined citizenship as a status conferred upon people with full membership in a community.

A number of international human rights instruments establish civil-political rights for all individuals, citizens and non-citizens alike, including stateless people. These include Article 19 of the UDHR, Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and Article 12 and 13 of the UNCRC. These articles all enshrine similar provisions regarding freedom of opinion and expression. Regional instruments also extend such rights.4 With regard to rights attached to children specifically, the UNCRC affirms that the child has civil and political rights, or in other words, rights of “individual personality”, which go beyond usual guar-antees of security, health, education and welfare.5

citizenship, a status conferred upon people with full membership in society, entitles one to:

• civil rights: freedom of speech, liberty and justice • political rights: participation in political decision-making • social rights: economic and social security, provisions of social welfare.

children’s civil rights and freedoms6

In addition to the general principles of the UNCRC (non-discrimination – Article 2, best interests – Article 3, right to life – Article 6, and children’s participation – Article 12), there are eight articles relating directly to civil rights and freedoms of children:

• Name and nationality (Article 7) • Preservation of identity (Article 8)• Freedom of expression (Article 13)• Freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 14)• Freedom of association and of peaceful assembly (Article 15)• Protection of privacy (Article 16) • Access to appropriate information (Article 17)• The right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment

(Article 37 (a)).

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“As UN chairperson Jaap Doek has stated, in a rights-based approach all children, including those who are stateless, should be treated as citizens and have opportunities to express their civil rights:

“The recognition of the child as a citizen requires some concrete measures such as an immediate registration at birth and the provision of a nationality. But from the UNCRC perspective a broader approach is needed. Every child, and not only those with a birth certificate and a nationality, should be treated as a citizen. This means inter alia the full respect for and implementation of the rights of every child in order to allow her/him to live an individual and decent life in society and to facilitate his/her active and construc-tive participation in the community. It requires that we acknowledge the child’s grow-ing autonomy and that we respect the gradual acquisition of independent exercise of rights... Citizenship starts today and from birth.”7

Unlike economic and social rights, the right of the child to freedom of expression, religion, association, assembly and privacy can-not be linked to a state’s economic condition.8 These rights must be guaranteed to all children, including stateless children, without discrimination. For example, the child’s language or disability must not impede respect for the obligation to extend the freedom of expression to children.

Yet, more than 20 years after ratification and implementation of the UNCRC there is growing recognition that there has been insufficient progress in realising children’s civil and political rights.9 Children are disenfranchised by their lack of power to vote, and few governments have made significant efforts to invest budgets, legal frameworks, policies or programmes that enhance realisa-tion of children’s rights to expression, information, participation, association, peaceful assembly and other civil rights. In many coun-tries prevailing socio-cultural attitudes towards children also limit realisation of their civil rights. Furthermore, discrimination on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, religion, caste, income or other factors creates further obstacles to children’s realisation of their civil rights.

When considering advocacy for lower voting ages, programming on children’s civil rights and freedoms should also encompass more systematic work with governments, civil society and the media to increase systems, mechanisms and processes which can in-crease the fulfilment of children’s civil rights (access to information, free expression, association, and participation in public life) for all girls and boys. Efforts to promote children’s rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and to privacy, and to ensure that children do not face punishment, torture or arrest as a result of exercising their civil rights, are also important.

A systematic approach is needed that supports broader efforts by state governments, UN agencies, NGOs and others to act upon their responsibilities to fulfil children’s civil rights and freedoms. All children must be registered at birth. All children should have access to information, and institutional space for children’s representation in governance processes must be created at all levels (in schools, communities, local governance, sub-national and national levels). Networking and legal recognition of children’s associations and freedom of assembly at different levels will also enhance meaningful opportunities for children and young people to influence national, regional and global policy developments on issues affecting them.

“ “The negation of citizenship begins in childhood, not only because it is mainly and mostly associated with the right to vote, but also because institutions such as schools and fam-ily do not promote participatory decision-making processes… That children are social subjects and subjects of rights is the centre of a vision about children that goes hand in hand with a new vision of citizenship, which is not limited only to the exercise of some political rights”. (Save the Children staff member, Nicaragua)10

“ “Over the past 20 years, many governments, alongside civil society organisations, have begun to grapple with the implications of this new obligation to recognise children as citizens, as participants and as active contributors both to decisions within their own lives and to the wider society”.11

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A systematic effort to realise children’s civil rights and freedoms requires a willingness by Save the Children to engage in dialogue, debates, programmes, research and advocacy concerning children’s and young people’s place and power in society. It requires real dialogue and programming concerning politics, power, governance, good governance, accountability, transparency, equity, non-discrimination, participation, civic engagement and citizenship. It requires a return to the original meaning of the word politics, from the Greek politikos “of, for, or relating to citizens”.

The wave of anti-government protests sweeping the Middle East and North Africa during 2011 and 2012 has highlighted the power of citizen-led protests and movements as an expression of civil rights and freedoms, as well as the risks and dangers associ-ated with civil and political rights. While protesters have been pressing for the removal of those in power, greater freedom of ex-pression, and reforms to address long-standing inequalities, some states have responded by further limiting civil and political rights, in many cases where state of emergency laws already exist. As a CRINMAIL document noted in December 2012, “The young age of those involved in the protests has been a defining feature across the board – a reflection of the region’s young population. In Yemen, for example, where protests are also taking place, 70 per cent of the population is under 25. While in Egypt, reports tell of the participation of children who are out on the streets with their families, on their own, or in some cases even leading the protests.”12

Citizen participation in social accountability measures, including citizen report cards or score cards, is also another mechanism which is being scaled up and which could be made more inclusive to children and young people as active citizens in diverse socio-political contexts:

“ “Citizens have begun to demand and enforce accountability from those in power. As existing, formal institutions of accountability often fail them, a growing range of citizen-led mobilisation, activism and demands, known as social accountability, is developing. These forms of citizen engagement and social accountability are particularly promising for those whose voices are not easily heard in formal policy and governance processes, including young people.”13

ensuring inclusion, attention to diversity, and children’s evolving capacity

In each initiative and programme, special efforts are needed to ensure that the most marginalised girls and boys (including children with disabilities, out-of-school children, stateless children, ethnic minorities, children affected by HIV, etc) have opportunities to experience their civil rights and freedoms, to challenge different forms of discrimination and to assert their rights. Gender and diversity analysis is required to better under-stand whether certain groups of children face increased violation of their civil rights and freedoms as a result of gender, ethnicity, religion or other factors. It is also important to recognise children’s evolving capacity and differences in programming on children’s civil rights and freedoms with babies, infants, children and adolescents. For example, while it may not be relevant to promote freedom of association and peaceful assembly for in-fants, we can encourage and support initiatives which promote the meaningful participation of infants to build their capacities and confidence to express themselves, to access information and to influence decision-making – all of which are foundations for realisation of their civil rights and freedoms.14 Furthermore, we can ensure advocacy for birth registration of all infants.

A very brief overview of concepts relating to children’s civil rights in different regionsIn the Latin America region the concept and practice of children’s protagonism has been promoted for many years.15 In this region the socio-political context and the existence of a process of strengthening a strong civil society movement have enhanced op-portunities for children to participate and to organise themselves as key actors and protagonists in a democratic society (including strong movements of working children). There is a clear articulation of power relations and promotion of children’s participation as a means of addressing inequalities by ensuring that children’s voices are heard and taken seriously. Furthermore, within the region a number of countries (including Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua) have reduced the voting age to 16 years.

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In South and Central Asia, from 2000 to 2005 a regional Save the Children ‘Children Citizenship and Governance’ initiative was implemented to strengthen and support the role of girls and boys as active citizens in diverse contexts within the region. There has been strategic support to strengthen children’s organisations and partnerships with adults, children and young people to increase their citizenship rights.16 In addition, in the Asia and Pacific region there have been significant inter-agency efforts to increase recognition and engagement with children as active citizens – with the production of a policy and programming guide on commitments and obligations for children’s civil rights and civil engagement.17 Moreover, in the Asia and Pacific region there are some examples of lower-age voting rights which could be used to influence the development of similar rights in other countries in the region. Children aged 17 years have the right to vote in East Timor, Indonesia, North Korea and the Seychelles. In the Philip-pines children aged 15–17 are allowed to vote and run for office in the youth councils that are part of the local government unit.

In the Africa region there has been a cultural focus on children’s responsibilities, as well as children’s rights. Both rights and respon-sibilities of children are reflected in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1999). The African movement of children and youth is organised across 3 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, lessons learned from children’s and young people’s activism in the civil rights movement in South Africa can be built upon. In its regional summit in 2011 the African Union included discussion of the legal age to vote in the region. With most states setting the minimum age at 18 years (apart from South Sudan and Sudan, where you can vote at 17 years), The Guardian reported that governments are not acknowledging the existing social and political realities of the region, as the continent has the youngest and fastest-growing population in the world.18

In the Middle East region recent social unrest and political upheavals have led to heightened awareness of young people’s role as political actors and active citizens. While we must ensure a focus on the best interests of the child and child protection, there are increasing opportunities to advocate for and support children’s and young people’s role as active citizens, and to support their role in political processes affecting them, including peace building and conflict resolution.

In the European region there is an increasing focus on children and young people as active citizens, and the relevance of citizen-ship education:

There are also increasing debates regarding the voting ages in the European region. Children aged 16 can vote in Austria. People aged 16–18 can vote in Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro if they are employed, and in some other countries (including Switzerland and Germany) young people can vote in municipal elections from the age of 16.

“ “European countries need citizens to be engaged in social and political life not only to ensure that basic democratic values flourish but also to foster social cohesion at a time of increasing social and cultural diversity... In 2010, all the Member States of the European Union adopted the Council of Europe’s Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education”. (Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, 2012)

Smrity, 18, and neider, 12, are both memberS of Save the children’S global children’S Panel; a grouP of young PeoPle from acroSS the globe who work with Save the children uk to influence high-level deciSion-making within the organiSation, to hold it to account about what it haS done for children and to raiSe iSSueS of imPortance to children globally.

Photo: Teri Pengilley

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A Cussaniovich and A Marquez, Towards a Protagonist Participation of Boys, Girls and Teenagers, Save the Children, 2002http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/1480

A Petren and T Hammarberg, ‘The Political Influence of Children’ in Save the Children and UNICEF, Children’s Rights: Turning principles into practice, Save the Children and UNICEF, 2000

Inter-Agency Working Group on Children’s Participation, Children as Active Citizens: A policy and programme guide Commitments and obligations for children’s civil rights and civic engagement in East Asia and the Pacific, Inter-Agency Working Group on Children’s Participation, 2008http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/2035

A Invernizzi and J Williams (eds), Children and Citizenship, SAGE Publications, 2008

G Lansdown, Every Child’s Right to be Heard: A resource guide on the UN Committee on the Right of the Child General Comment No. 12, Save the Children and UNICEF, 2011http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/5259

C O’Kane, Children and Young People as Active Citizens: Partners for social change, Save the Children South and Central Asia, 2003 http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/1248

P Hurtado Vega, Un nuevo significado de ciudadanía, Save the Children, 2011http://www.savethechildren.org.ni/files/Un_nuevo_significado_de_ciudadania.pdf

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3. Programming options on children’s civil rights – an overview and ‘getting started’This section of the guide provides a table outlining some key programming options to increase realisation of children’s civil rights and freedoms. After the table it also provides some tips for ‘getting started’. Programme choices should be informed by the in-depth CRG sector analysis and by a systematic risk assessment and risk mitigation strategy. In view of the inter-linkages between children’s civil rights and freedoms, it is important to consider programme options which enable realisation of a number of civil rights. Furthermore, some of the proposed areas of programming may be combined in more integrated ways, for example, strengthening inclusive child-led organisations and supporting children’s representation in governance and/or children’s role as activists. Programme choices should be informed through collaborative planning with key actors including children and young people, civil society organisations, government and media.

interlinkages between children’s civil rights

Birth registration provides children with a name and nationality (Articles 7 and 8), and legal recognition which increases their access to services and protection by the state. Stateless children face increased risks of denial of their rights, including their rights to information, expression and association. If children wish to express their opinion about issues that affect them (Articles 12 and 13), they need to have freedom of thought and con-science (Article 14). In addition, access to information (Article 17) is a prerequisite for meaningful participation. Children’s expression and participation can be enabled through children’s rights to form associations (Article 15). Children can also express their views and opinions through peaceful assembly (Article 15). Children and young people must also be protected from punishment, torture or arrest (Article 37a) arising from their ex-ercising their civil rights (eg, for disseminating information on their rights or participating in a political process). Thus, children’s civil rights are interlinked and all need to be realised to ensure that their civil rights and free-doms are respected, protected and fulfilled.

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Promoting and strengthening children’s par-ticipation in local and/or national governance

• Reviewing and lobbying to amend laws, policies and budget allocations which increase opportunities for children’s participation in local and national governance.

• Advocacy and sensitisation with local/ national government to support inclusive chil-dren’s participation in governance structures and processes.

• Piloting, monitoring, evaluating and documenting ‘models’ of children’s participation in local/national governance (ensuring reflection and learning on ways to involve the most marginalised children).

• In collaboration with the government and other key actors, scaling up ‘models’ of children’s participation in local governance to ensure more genuine participation of children and young people in national governance.

• Developing the capacity of governments, media and civil society organisations to involve children in governance.

• Supporting children’s participation in monitoring and reporting on child rights. • Piloting, monitoring, evaluating and scaling up children’s participation in social ac-

countability measures, including children’s participation in participatory planning and budgeting processes and/or in citizen score cards mechanisms.

• Supporting the establishment of a Children’s Ombudsman with increased power to advocate for and influence children’s participation in governance processes.

articles 12, 13, 15, 17

Strengthening child-led or-ganisations and networks

• Mapping/ research of existing child groups and movements in the country/ region. • Reviewing laws and policies and lobbying for reforms to allow legal registration of

child-led organisations (CLOs) and networks.• Supporting the formation, strengthening and expansion of inclusive CLOs and net-

works (with a focus on inclusion of the most marginalised children, including stateless children, children with disabilities, working children etc).

• Providing capacity-building support to CLOs (to strengthen self-management, inclu-sion, partnerships and/or sustainability).

• Providing funding and material support to CLOs and their networks for their own action, research and advocacy initiatives.

• Sensitisation and advocacy with government and civil society to increase engagement with CLOs and networks.

• Supporting engagement of CLOs and their networks in governance and/or political processes affecting them at local, sub-national, national, regional and/or global levels (including reconstruction and peace-building processes).

articles 12, 13, 15, 17

examPleS of relevant activitieS

articleS addreSSed through thiS Pro-gramming oPtion

Promoting birth registration and rights of state-less children

• Research, lobbying, technical assistance and awareness-raising to promote universal, compulsory and free birth registration, including in emergencies (when birth certifi-cates or identity cards may need to be replaced).

• Budget analysis and lobbying to ensure that there is an identifiable, dedicated and suf-ficient government budget for civil registration and birth registration.

• Ensuring that comprehensive advocacy and information campaigns are being conduct-ed through all possible media to reach the most marginalised groups (eg, poor rural and remote communities, ethnic minorities, refugees and displaced people).

• Supporting stakeholders, including civil society organisations, children’s organisations, and individuals in the community which can provide an entry point into the birth registration system, to work in a coordinated fashion under government leadership to support birth registration for all children.

• Supporting participatory action research with and by stateless children to identify and address violations of their rights.

articles 7, 8, 12, 17

key Potential areaS of Program-ming

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Tips for ‘getting started’

- Undertake an ‘internal exercise’ with the CRG team to:• discuss and map out what programmes you are already doing in relation to children’s civil rights and freedoms• identify which civil rights and freedoms you are already promoting and how, and which civil rights you are not

doing much on• discuss ideas about how you can build upon and/or strengthen existing programmes to more systematically

influence the government and other key duty-bearers to increase policy and practices which would increase realisation of children’s civil rights for all children

• identify whether there are certain groups of children whose civil rights are more violated on account of gen-der, disability, ethnicity, religion or other factors, and how your programmes can address such discrimination

• share ideas about how you can build upon existing programmes or develop new initiatives to increase realisa-tion of children’s civil rights.

- If you are planning to undertake an in-depth CRG sector analysis, ensure a key focus on children’s civil rights. En-sure gender and diversity analysis when analysing the results. Use CRG sector analysis findings to inform strategic opportunities to develop programmes and advocacy initiatives.

Supporting chil-dren as political actors and/or activists

• Undertaking participatory research on existing experiences and learning concerning the roles, risks and outcomes of children’s and young people’s political activism in country/ region.

• Forming coalitions with child-focused organisations (INGOs, NGOs, child groups/ networks) and civil rights interest groups to develop and implement advocacy cam-paigns to lobby for reduced ages of rights to vote in national and/or local govern-ance.

• Supporting children’s and young people’s political activism through: promoting safe mechanisms for children’s participation on political issues affecting them; capacity building; access to social media to access information and contribute to debates and campaigns; support for child-led research, action or advocacy initiatives; support for children and young people to meet and dialogue with political parties/ civil society groups/ interest groups to raise questions and issues concerning them and/or to be part of political rallies or protests on issues affecting them (where safe).

• Assessing risks and taking measures to ensure protection of children who choose to engage as activists, including lobbying, sensitisation, capacity building and/or legal advocacy measures to ensure protection of child rights defenders from punishment, torture or arrest.

articles 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 37a

increasing children’s access to information and supporting children’s media initiatives

• Advocacy with the government – Ministry of Information (or equivalent) – to increase plans and budgets to develop and disseminate child-friendly and accessible information on policies, practices, governance systems and budgets affecting them.

• Advocacy to ensure information on the UNCRC is integrated into education cur-ricula.

• Supporting child-led media initiatives (radio, print, TV, social media, etc) through capacity building, technical support, supporting partnerships with mainstream media organisations.

• Sensitisation and capacity building of media organisations on children’s rights.• Increasing children’s and young people’s access to, and promoting the safe use of, the

internet, social media and social networking tools.

action research on the status of children’s civil rights

• Undertaking quantitative and qualitative participatory research (involving children and young people, social scientists and lawyers) to explore the status of children’s civil rights, including legal, social, political and other obstacles which prevent realisa-tion of children’s civil rights, to inform future strategic or programming work in these areas.

• Research and documentation of children’s civil rights initiatives and movements.

articles 7, 8, 12–17, 37a

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4. Identifying and overcoming obstacles and risksIn order to develop strategic and practical programming to enhance fulfilment of children’s civil rights and freedoms, we must de-fine the social, legal, economic and political dimensions of children’s civil rights in each country20 and identify obstacles at different levels (individual, organisational, governmental, society) that prevent realisation of children’s civil rights.

In each country the initial CRG sector analysis can be used to identify relevant areas of programming to progress children’s civil rights and freedoms. As part of the in-depth CRG sector analysis the first part of Lansdown’s Framework on Monitoring and Eval-uating Children’s participation (see below) may be used to inform more detailed analysis concerning the status of children’s civil rights to expression, information and association. Undertaking a risk analysis (see tool below) may also inform strategic decisions about which areas of programming and advocacy work are most feasible and constructive in any given socio-political environment.

Table to identify obstacles and opportunities to further children’s civil rights (example)

obStacleS oPPortunitieS21

individual Traditional beliefs/socio-cultural attitudes towards children prevent girls and boys from speaking up in front of adults (parents, teach-ers, community elders, government officials, etc) and/or engaging in political processes affecting them.

Æ Sensitise adults (parents, teachers, community elders, government officials, etc) about the benefits of children’s expression, participation and associa-tion.

Æ Build upon children’s evolving capac-ity and empower girls and boys with confidence, information and skills to express themselves and to participate in decisions affecting them.

Æ Ensure gender and diversity analysis to better understand how gender, disabil-ity, ethnicity and other factors influence children’s opportunities to exercise their civil rights, and develop strategies to address discrimination.

Æ Ensure application of basic require-ments/practice standards in children’s participation to ensure safe, inclusive and meaningful participation. Under-take risk assessments with children and adults to identify and minimise risks associated with children’s participation.

Æ Advocate for child-sensitive social protection.

Æ Promote and support the develop-ment and dissemination of child-friend-ly information.

Adults are unaware of children’s rights, especially children’s civil rights and freedoms.

There may be risks associated with children or young people’s engagement in civil or political processes (eg, punishment, arrest, torture).

Children lack information to make informed decisions.

Socio-cultural attitudes and discrimination based on gender, disabil-ity, ethnicity, religion, caste, income or other factors may increase violation of children’s civil rights.

Struggle for daily life due to poverty, hunger, conflict or instability.

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organisa-tional

Organisations do not prioritise children’s civil rights, and so inadequate human and financial resources are allocated to sup-porting programming and advocacy on children’s civil rights.

Æ Carry out internal advocacy concerning the relevance of advocacy and program-ming on children’s civil rights as a key area of CRG work. Sensitise senior managers and staff regarding children’s capacities and their important role as active citizens.

Æ Ensure planning and budget allocations which support meaningful children’s participation.

Æ Undertake a CRG sector analysis and/or mapping on children’s participation rights22 (see below) to assess the current status of children’s civil rights. Use the sector analysis to inform a CRG strategy with key objectives on children’s civil rights.

Æ Identify risks so that sensitive collabo-rative strategies can be developed to increase children’s civil rights.

Æ Undertake a mapping of existing child/ youth groups and/or participation initia-tives in the country and explore oppor-tunities to enhance partnerships and to build upon these initiatives to further children’s civil rights.

Æ Increase capacity building and support among child-led organisations at different levels (local, sub-national, national).

Æ Advocate for birth registration/ identity of ‘stateless children’.

Æ Support the establishment of independ-ent child-friendly complaints mechanisms.

Æ Advocate with governments to share information and feed back to children.

Senior managers and/or staff do not think children have the capacity to participate in governance processes affecting them.

Managers think it may be ‘too political’ and ‘risky’ to work on civil rights issues, or that it involves children taking on too many responsibilities. Tensions between child protection and child participation.

Organisations are not yet working in partnership with child/ youth organisations or networks that already exist in the country.

Existing children’s groups and networks are not sufficiently inclusive and/or active.

Independent complaints mechanisms (such as child helplines) are not in place to enable children to seek redress without fear of reprisals.

civil society

Civil society networks and/or other initiatives are not inclusive of youth- or child-led organisations.

Æ Advocate with existing civil society networks regarding the importance and relevance of child/ youth organisations and engagement with children as active citizens.

Æ Save the Children should engage with a wider range of civil society actors to promote children’s role as citizens, eg, farmers’ groups, environmental groups, disability organisations, social media groups.

Measuring the creation of a participatory environment for children. (Part 1 of A Framework for Monitoring and Evaluating Children’s Participation by Gerison Lansdown, 2011) http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/4733

The matrices in Part 1 of A Framework on Monitoring and Evaluating Children’s Participation can be used as part of the in-depth CRG sector analysis to measure the extent to which governments have created a participatory and respectful environment for children. As the Framework notes, “In many diverse countries across the world the environment is not child-friendly. The legislative and cultural context is hostile to the introduction of the right of children to participate. Unless efforts are undertaken to challenge this hostility and promote a legal, policy and social context in which those rights are respected, child participation initiatives will continue to be short-term, isolated and ad-hoc pockets of good practice. In addition, it is important to recognise that the realisa-tion of children’s participation rights is not resource free. All relevant government departments need to have adequate budgets to ensure the effective implementation of these rights.” (p 13)

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Five matrices are included in Part 1 of the framework, on:

• measuring legal entitlements to participate• measuring the right of access to information• measuring awareness-raising on children’s participation rights• measuring opportunities to influence agendas• measuring respect for children’s participation in daily lives

The matrices (pp 14–19 of the Framework) are a tool which can help ‘map’ where a given country currently stands with regard to these civil rights. Use of this tool will complement information gathered as part of the in-depth CRG sector analysis.

Risk assessment of programme options concerning children’s civil rights and action planning to mitigate risks and to inform decision-making in the best interests of the child

Programming on civil rights in different socio-political contexts can incur risks to children, to staff and/or to the organisation. Sys-tematic risk assessments concerning programme options are therefore required to inform strategic and practical decision-making about programme choices and activities. The UNCRC principles (right to life – survival and development, best interests, non-discrimination and participation) can inform and guide decision-making, as well as the humanitarian principle ‘do no harm’.

As part of risk assessments, children and young people should be supported to identify and protect themselves from significant risks that they may face as a result of their expression, association, peaceful assembly or participation in public or political process-es. Respectful, informed and open dialogue between children, young people and adults regarding a sensitive issue or a risk situation is more likely to inform decision-making in the “best interest of the child”. Applying basic requirements in children’s participation (see Annex 1) can further support adults in promoting and supporting children’s meaningful engagement in civil or political pro-cesses affecting them, while also taking measures to enhance children’s protection.

Proposed programme work on chil-dren’s civil rights

Identified risks/threats to girls/boys, caregivers/parents, staff or partners or organisation

likelihood of risk (high, medium, low)

Severity of risk(high, medium, low)

risk mitigation – what actions have been taken to reduce risks?

further action needed to ensure decisions in best interests of the child

1.

2.

3.

Risks associated with children’s expression of their civil rights

In Chile, university and high-school students demanding equitable access to education for all students in re-sponse to the country’s underfunded public school system have been met with the use of tear gas and pressur-ised water hoses, while hundreds of protesters have been arrested. As a result of the unrest, a public order law has been drafted that seeks to increase punishment for unsanctioned protests.

In Pakistan, 15-year-old Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban as a result of her campaign for the rights of girls to go to school. She was badly injured and received medical treatment in the UK. While progress reports reveal Malala’s motivation to continue her campaign, she may require guards to increase her safety and security.

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UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 12: The right of the child to be heard, CRC/C/GC/12, 2009 www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4ae562c52.html

CRINMAIL 1306, December 2012: ‘Children’s right to participate in public life’ http://www.crin.org/email/crinmail_detail_popup.asp?crinmailID=4506

Inter-Agency Working Group on Children’s Participation, Minimum Standards for Consulting with Children, 2007http://images.savethechildren.it/f/download/Policies/st/standard-partecipazione.pdf

G Lansdown, A Framework for Monitoring and Evaluating Children’s Participation, 2011 http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/4733

Save the Children, Practice Standards in Children’s Participation, 2005http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/3017

Save the Children, Child Rights Governance Analysis Tool, 2012http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/6152

Save the Children, Programme Guidance in Child Rights Governance, 2013English:https://onenet.savethechildren.net/whatwedo/crg/SCDocuments/CRGI%20Publications/PG_final%20draft%2023-01-2013.pdf Spanish:https://onenet.savethechildren.net/whatwedo/crg/SCDocuments/CRGI%20Publications/CRG%20Programme%20Guidance%20Spanish%20Feb%202013.pdf

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5. Name and nationality (Article 7) and preservation of identity (Article 8)

article 71. The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from

birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and. as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.

2. States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless.§

Birth registration is the official record of a person’s existence and is essential for the realisation of their rights. Without registra-tion (at birth or as soon as possible thereafter), the child is likely not to be acknowledged as a person before the law, and in many countries this means no or very limited access to healthcare, education or social services. Birth registration is therefore not only a civil right of children in itself, but also the gateway to all other rights. Stateless children and their families may experience restricted freedom of movement, arbitrary deportations, social exclusion, and in some cases greater vulnerability to trafficking and exploita-tion. Without birth registration or identity documents, children and young people may face increased risks of child labour, early marriage, trafficking and/or recruitment into the armed forces. They may also be denied opportunities to open a bank account, secure credit, obtain a passport or register for some forms of employment.

Most countries have birth registration systems, but often these systems exclude sections of society, are not enforced or do not function effectively. There may be costs associated with obtaining a birth certificate which prevent some infants or children from being registered, or geographical constraints that make the system inaccessible for those from rural or isolated areas. Sometimes discriminatory practices are designed to reduce the official numbers of particular ethnic groups, and immigrants and children born to immigrants are particularly vulnerable to this.

In emergencies, where systems and structures may temporarily fail to function, securing birth registration is of key importance as children move, become IDPs or refugees in other countries, or are born in other countries. Birth registration and identity docu-ments are often lost or destroyed during natural disasters or armed conflict. Thus efforts to help children to secure birth registra-tion as part of the emergency response should also be supported.

Save the Children has worked on birth registration in child protection work and in health and nutrition sector work. CRGI does not want to ‘own’ all work on birth registration: it simply wants to flag it as an essential governance issue that is vital for the reali-sation of children’s rights. It is inherently non-sector, in that it is essential across all sectors. What is important is that the work on birth registration is done.

article 81. States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her

identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognised by law without unlawful interference.

2. Where a child is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her iden-tity, States Parties shall provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to re-establishing speedily his or her identity.

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Use the CRG sector analysis questions on birth registration to inform programming options to increase birth registration and the rights of stateless children (Save the Children, Child Rights Governance Analysis Tool, 2012).

Promoting birth registration and the rights of stateless childrenSave the Children can programme on birth registration and the rights of stateless children through research, lobbying,

technical assistance and awareness raising to help to:

• ensure birth registration is compulsory and free, including in emergencies (when birth certificates or identity cards may need to be replaced).

• ensure there are programmes/interventions in place to register older children who were not registered at birth by taking stock of local civil society’s expertise and supporting it to play a role in activities linked to registration.

• ensure there is an identifiable and dedicated budget for civil registration and birth registration adequate to guarantee all aspects of the national system to support it.

• ensure that comprehensive advocacy and information campaigns are being conducted through all possible media to reach even the most marginalised groups (eg, poor rural and remote communities, ethnic minorities, refugees and displaced people). Birth registration could also be promoted through special birth registration days, and linked with events such as immunisation days, school enrolment and/or adult literacy events.

• support stakeholders, including civil society organisations, children’s organisations, and individuals in the community (birth attendants, teachers, etc) who can provide an entry point into the birth registration system, to work in a coordinated fashion under government leadership to support birth registration for all children. This coordination should extend to inter-sectoral links that need to be established within line ministries (education, health) and other institutions, so that all possible entry points for birth registration can be employed.

• support participatory action research with and by stateless children to identify and address their rights violations.

Ensuring birth registration of IDPs in Yemen

In Yemen, Save the Children, in cooperation with the Civil Registration Authority and UNHCR, has been sup-porting refugee and internally displaced children to get birth certificates from health centres in Sana’a. This has helped refugee and displaced children to access education, since a birth certificate is a prerequisite for enrol-ment in school.

foto??? a Public march organiSed by Save the children Partner “nine iS mine”, a childe rightS advocacy camPaign that aimS to hold the government accountable to itS PromiSe made in 2004 to allocate 9% og gdP for edu-cation and health by 2009. Save the children india Partnered with the organiSation to PuSh the agenda of budgen increaSe Prior to the announcemente of the national budged. more than 3000 children ParticiPated demanding an end to needleSS child deathS.

Photo: Soumen Nath

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Save the Children, Child Rights Governance Analysis Tool, 2012http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/6152

UNICEF Innocenti Digest, Birth Registration: Right from the start, UNICEF, 2002 www.childinfo.org/files/birthregistration_Digestenglish.pdf

M Lynch and M Teff, ‘Childhood Statelessness’, Forced Migration Review, April 2009, pp 31–33 http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/6790

Plan, Mother to Child: How discrimination prevents women registering the birth of their child, 2012 http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/5800

Plan, Count Every Child: The right to birth registration, 2011 http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/4313

S Kohn, Stateless Children: Denied the right to have rights, 2009. http://www.crin.org/resources/info-Detail.asp?ID=20946&flag=report

Save the Children et al, NGO Position Paper for a UNHCR Conclusion on Birth Registration, 2011 http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/3465

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6. Children’s right to be heard (Article 12)

article 121. 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.

§A child’s right to be heard is both a principle of child rights and an important civil right which entitles children to express their views and to be part of decision-making in all matters affecting them. Children have the right to be heard as individuals in pro-ceedings affecting them, and to participate collectively as a group or constituency in public life, including in civil or political pro-cesses which affect them.

In all contexts due account should be taken of a child’s evolving capacity, and programming efforts should build upon children’s capacities, empowering girls and boys (especially the most marginalised) with the knowledge, skills and confidence to express their views and to be active citizens in their local communities, schools and in wider society. In view of the status of children’s voices in many societies in which we work, ongoing efforts to sensitise adults (government officials, parents/caregivers, teachers, religious and community elders, media) about the importance of children’s participation and active citizenship are required. Sensitisation and capacity building of adults (especially government officials) is necessary to ensure that children are taken seriously (irrespec-tive of age, gender, disability, ethnicity, religion, caste, family income).

Every Child’s Right to be Heard has been published by Save the Children and UNICEF (2011) as a resource guide on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment No. 12 to provide governments with more detailed practical guidance on how to implement the General Comment on children’s right to be heard. The resource guide emphasises engagement with children as citizens and the importance of creating a range of structures and mechanisms to ensure children’s right to be heard in civil and political spaces.

All the programming options outlined in Section 2 encompass an integral focus on Article 12 and a child’s right to be heard. Save the Children can lobby and work with the government, civil society, the media and other concerned actors to:

• promote and strengthen children’s participation in local and/or national governance, including participatory budgeting pro-cesses and/or children’s participation in social accountability measures

• strengthen child-led organisations and networks• support children as political actors or activists – advocating for lower ages of voting and supporting children’s political activism

through capacity building, access to information and social media, etc• increase children’s access to information and support children’s media initiatives• action research on the status of children’s civil rights.

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Save the Children should ‘walk the talk’ CRG staff should support internal advocacy for more funding, human resource allocation and capacity to take forward meaningful children’s participation and citizenship work. Save the Children’s needs to increase systematic capacity build-

ing of staff (managers and frontline staff) and partners on meaningful children’s participation and children’s civil rights and free-doms. We need to promote and apply internationally recognised basic requirements in children’s participation23 (which build upon Save the Children’s practice standards). We also need to model children’s participation within Save the Children governance (eg, through children’s advisory groups), with Save the Children demonstrating our willingness to share power and information and to take children’s views seriously – ensuring accountability and a feedback mechanism.

The CRG in-depth sector analysis and risk analysis can help inform the strategic programming options in each socio-cultural politi-cal context.

In country contexts where there are favourable strategic and practical opportunities for innovative programme work to advocate for lower ages of voting and/or to support children’s role as political activists or safe engagement with politi-cians or parliamentarians, we encourage such programming, although the basic requirements in children’s participation for safe, inclusive and meaningful engagement must also be systematically applied.

There is also a need for ongoing programming to pilot and scale up models of children’s participation in governance and to support children’s participation in monitoring and reporting on children’s rights, as well as increased efforts to support children’s participation as active citizens in social accountability measures (eg, citizen score cards).

Promoting and strengthening children’s participation in local and/or national governance

An analysis of laws, policies (including decentralisation policies), governance structures, budgets and civic engagement processes is required, in order to identify strategic opportunities to support meaningful children’s participation in governance and social ac-countability measures.

Lobbying to amend laws, policies, processes and budget allocations may be required in order to ensure that the government introduces the necessary mechanisms to provide children with the right to be heard, access to appropriate information, adequate support where necessary, feedback on the weight given to their views, and procedures for complaints, remedies and redress. Do-mestic law needs to incorporate provisions that uphold the right to participation in the informal arena of family life, in children’s school and community life, in healthcare, in institutions, and in childcare settings, as well as in all formal judicial and administrative proceedings.

Through sensitisation and advocacy with the local and national government ‘models’ of children’s participation in local/ national governance should be piloted, monitored, evaluated and scaled up to institutionalise children’s participation at all levels of relevant decision-making, including legislative reform, policy making, planning, data collection and resource allocation. Such mechanisms may include children’s parliaments, child/youth advisory committees, dialogue with children through electronic media, and/or links with networks of child organisations.

Children influence municipal planning in Nicaragua

Children in Nicaragua advocated that municipal investments be made according to their recommendations, because they found that municipal governments lacked a long-term vision on child rights. This request led to the creation of the Network of Municipal Governments Friends of Children, a legally established association of municipalities with the sole purpose of promoting the fulfilment of children’s rights at the municipal level. Within a three-year period the network expanded from 61 to 117 of the 153 municipalities in the country, or 76% of the municipalities, which gave it a national profile. Thanks to children’s efforts, municipal government awareness of child rights has been raised, while their capacity to act as duty bearers has been improved and the Network of Municipal Governments Friends of Children has been strengthened. Children’s voices in mu-nicipal administration are now integrated into policies, plans and projects, and budget investments in children have increased. Today 60 municipalities have child rights plans and 23 have a municipal policy for children. Fur-thermore, the annual average of municipal investment in children climbed from 8.5% in 2001–2004 to 14.5% in 2005–2008.

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Wherever it is feasible, collaborative programming with government authorities and other child-focused agencies (eg, Plan, World Vision, UNICEF, etc) should be pursued to enhance learning and scale up children’s participation in governance models. Ongo-ing efforts to reflect, document and learn from the piloting process, especially efforts to meaningfully reach and involve the most marginalised girls and boys (including children with disabilities, children from ethnic minorities, stateless children, children without parental care, children affected by HIV, etc) are needed.

Capacity building of children, young people and NGO partners (as well as government officials) can enhance efforts to promote meaningful and inclusive participation of children in local governance processes. Building upon children’s participation in local gov-ernance processes, systems and structures for children’s representation in national governance processes can also be supported.

Children’s parliament, Yemen

Save the Children has supported the establishment of a children’s parliament in Yemen. Marginalised children, street children, orphans, children with disabilities and refugee children are represented in the parliament. Ap-proximately 30,000 children participated in the election and voted for their candidates in the last election, which was conducted in April 2012. The main goal of the parliament is to promote children’s participation in monitoring the implementation of the UNCRC and to provide democratic education among children.

Children’s parliament(s) and children’s representation in governance, Montenegro

In Montenegro the model of children’s parliaments has been introduced through the educational system, and children’s parliaments are being piloted at the municipality level. Collaborations between children and adults have also supported children’s parliamentary sessions at the national level. For the past four years, on the oc-casion of UNCRC Day, the Parliament of Montenegro has enabled elected children’s group representatives to meet with government duty bearers and institutions24 so that they can raise their concerns and remind duty bearers of their obligations to fulfil children’s rights through timely and adequate responses. The Parliament of Montenegro has included the children’s parliament sessions in its work plan and offered cooperation. The government has committed itself to verify certain allegations raised by children, and has expressed its willing-ness to include children in the process of developing strategic documents (eg, drafting of a new National Plan of Action for Children in Montenegro).

“It’s good that this was broadcast on television, so everyone could hear what problems children, and especially chil-dren with disabilities, have had... It’s important that we’ve reminded the government that in all their affairs they need to think more about us – children.” (children’s representatives)

“I think that there’s no better place and better auditorium to promise that I’ll do my best to eradicate drugs in schoolyards.” (a government minister)

“The fourth session of the children’s parliament was very good. The introduction to the status of children in Montene-gro that the children did was fantastic, and the issues of children were ultra-colourful. They reminded the government of the promises made previously on which nothing has been done, and it seems to me that they managed to secure amendments to laws.” (Save the Children country director, Montenegro)

Girls’ and boys’ engagement as active citizens can be supported in a wide range of policy and practices. In particular, children and young people should have opportunities to inform the planning, design, implementation and evaluation of processes such as National Plans of Action and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, Disaster Risk Reduction, emergency preparedness, or reconstruc-tion and peace-building processes. Collaboration between CRG and education staff can also enhance advocacy and support for children’s meaningful participation in school governance, and it can help to get human rights education and civic/citizenship educa-tion integrated into the school curricula.

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Children and young people’s participation in peace building25

In Nepal, children have highlighted the importance of the peace agreement and the constitutional assembly process as a means to establish more inclusive forms of governance, to address poverty and discrimination, and to ensure fair distribution of resources. In addition, the concept and practice of Children as Zones of Peace (CZOP), and Schools as Zones of Peace (SZOP) have supported advocacy, awareness raising and ac-tion at a range of levels to support children’s participation in peace building.

In Uganda, children and young people advocated for space to be included in the formal peace talks taking place in Juba (South Sudan) in 2007 and contributed to consultations on Agenda Item 3 of the peace talks, on accountability and reconciliation. In particular, they have emphasised the importance of forgiveness and recon-ciliation and making use of traditional forms of justice.

In Guatemala, children have reflected on the presidential elections and efforts to ensure greater attention to monitoring of the peace accords and implementation of children’s rights, as well as advocating for the histori-cal memory of the internal armed conflict to be maintained. Children and young people have also explained their interest in addressing gang culture and youth delinquency.

Support for children’s participation in monitoring and reporting on child rights provides another important opportunity for children to influence decision-making and action on children’s rights. Children and young people can contribute to state and/or supplementary reporting processes to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in Universal Period Review reporting processes on human rights, and/or to regional child rights reporting processes.

Support for the establishment of children’s ombudsmen can also help to build children’s participation in governance, as the om-budsman will have increased power to advocate for and influence meaningful children’s participation in decision-making processes affecting children. The UN human rights system has developed principles and guidelines for national human rights institutions, known as the Paris Principles, which set out the functions which need to be included in their mandate.26 Beyond these core principles, additional specific aims have been developed for commissioners or ombudsmen for children which have implications for Article 12,27 including:

• to provide a channel for children’s views• to promote structures that will enable children to exercise rights for themselves• to review children’s access to, and the effectiveness of, all forms of advocacy and complaints systems.

Additionally, in its General Comment No. 2 on national human rights institutions, the Committee on the Rights of the Child high-lights the importance of involving children directly in the work of such institutions.28

Involving children in the work of the Commissioner29

The Scottish Commissioner for Children and Young People (SCCYP) has developed a strategy for involving children and young people. To ensure that their involvement is meaningful and practical, they are divided into the following age groups:

• Reference Group, 14–21 years, to support and advise SCCYP on matters of organisational development.• Consultation Groups, 5–13 years, to advise on policy, recruitment and communications, and on how to

involve younger children.• Early Years Events, 0–4 years, to gather the views of very young children through play, stories and consulta-

tions with play workers, nursery nurses and parents.

Children’s participation in social accountability measures can be piloted, monitored, evaluated and scaled up. This may require sensitisation and advocacy with the government and/or with adult-focused civil society organisations which may be promoting women’s or men’s participation in social accountability measures (eg, community score cards, social audits), but which still need convincing to engage children and young people as active citizens in the same processes.

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Social accountability is defined as an approach to building accountability that relies on civic engagement, ie,, in which it is ordinary citizens and/or civil society organisations that participate directly or indirectly in exacting ac-countability. In a public sector context, social accountability refers to a broad range of actions and mechanisms that citizens, communities, independent media and civil society organisations can use to hold public officials and public servants to account. These include, among others, participatory budgeting, public expenditure tracking, monitoring of public service delivery, investigative journalism, public commissions and citizen advisory boards. These citizen-driven accountability measures complement and reinforce conventional mechanisms of account-ability such as political checks and balances, accounting and auditing systems, administrative rules and legal procedures.

Social accountability: some examples from Plan International

• Citizen report cards: civil society provides credible feedback to service delivery agencies of the govern-ment; for example ‘community scorecards’.

• Participatory local development planning: developing plans and budgets for community development using government funds; involving communities, local government and other actors. NGOs often facilitate these processes.

Citizen participation in service delivery: citizen–government partnerships for the delivery of various services; for example, child protection services, and community policing to address crime and street violence through community police forums.

Note: Programme guidance to strengthen child-led organisations and networks is shared in the section below relating to Article 15. Programme guidance to increase children’s access to information and support for chil-dren’s media initiatives is shared in the section below on Articles 13 and 17.

Supporting children and young people as political actors or activists

In diverse socio-political contexts children and young people under the age of 18 years are already engaging in political processes that affect them in order to assert their rights. Save the Children can develop programmes to support girls’ and boys’ safe and meaningful engagement as political actors. However, it is recognised that there may be government resistance and backlash to such programming, and so systematic risk assessments and risk mitigation strategies are required to inform organisational decision-making and child protection.

Government resistance to young people’s participation in political protests, Russia

When large-scale anti-corruption protests took place in Russia in 2012, the authorities ordered surprise school exams on weekends, requiring compulsory attendance, to coincide with key protest days, to prevent young people from taking part in the marches.

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In Yemen, Save the Children supported research into adolescent girls’ participation in the pro-democracy movement, which will be published.

Programming to support children and young people as political actors may include:

• undertaking participatory research on existing experiences and learning concerning the roles, risks and outcomes of children’s and young people’s political activism in the country/region (Note: ensure gender and diversity analysis when analysing the op-portunities, roles, risks and outcomes)

• forming coalitions with like child-focused organisations (INGOs, NGOs, child groups/networks) and civil rights interest groups to develop and implement advocacy campaigns to lobby for reduced ages of rights to vote in national and/or local govern-ance

• supporting children’s and young people’s political activism through: - capacity building: access to social media in order to access information and to contribute to debates and campaigns - support for child-led research, action or advocacy initiatives - support for girls and boys to meet and dialogue with political parties/civil society groups/interest groups to raise ques tions and issues concerning themand/or to be part of political rallies or protests on issues affecting them.

• Lobbying, sensitisation and/or capacity-building measures to ensure protection from punishment, torture or arrest of children who engage in politics (see Section 9 below).

age of voting in public elections

While the minimum voting age is 18 years in the majority of countries, in some countries (including Austria, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua) young people can vote in all elections from the age of 16 years. In Scotland, young people from the age of 16 will go to the polls in 2014 for the first time to cast their vote on whether they think the country should become independent. Similarly the Welsh government sup-ports lowering the voting age to 16 for all elections and referendums in the country, noting that there are inconsistencies with the minimum age for marriage, joining the armed forces, earning the minimum wage and paying taxes, all currently set at 16 years.

Electoral voting rights and representation of young people in the local government unit, the Philippines32

In the Philippines children aged 15–17 years are allowed to vote and run for office in the Sangguniang Ka-bataan (SK, Youth Council) as part of the local government unit. The council receives 10% of the local govern-ment budget for programmes concerning children and youth. However, children can only vote for political candidates of their own age. Save the Children’s partner child-led organisations have therefore planned to put up an electoral agenda for the 2013 elections. Their campaign aims to educate voters to vote for “pro-children candidates”, and to inform political candidates about the criteria that voters will be using in selecting candidates and specific issues of children that they have to prioritise.

The Freechild Project (www.freechild.org) has found that around the world there is growing interest in young people participating in politics. Some political groups are changing to respond to the growing number of young people who want to affect the political system. Political ideologies that were once considered ‘fringe’ beliefs are becoming mainstream, and more young people are associating themselves with marginal political parties. Finally, more young people than ever before are actually becoming engaged in local community cam-paigns and other political activities.

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Action research on the status of children’s civil rightsQuantitative and qualitative participatory research (involving children and young people, social scientists and lawyers) can be undertaken to explore the status of children’s civil rights, including legal, social, political and other obstacles which prevent realisa-tion of children’s civil rights, in order to inform future strategic or programming work in these areas. Research should encompass a focus on how gender, ethnicity, religion, disability or other diversity factors impact upon children’s civil rights and freedoms.

Research and documentation of existing children’s civil rights initiatives, including movements and initiatives by organised working children, can also be supported to increase reflection, learning and programming interventions.

Freedom’s Children: Young civil rights activists tell their own stories

This is a collection of true stories from 30 African-Americans who were interviewed about their experiences of what it was like to be young in the 1950s and 1960s in the American South and in the front lines of the battle for their freedom. They sat in at restaurants, braved screaming mobs to integrate schools, and defied segregation laws in libraries and movie theatres, on buses and at water fountains.

Ongoing efforts to monitor, evaluate and document the process and outcomes of existing programmes to promote children’s civil rights should also be undertaken, and the findings used to inform more strategic and systematic approaches to increasing chil-dren’s civil rights.

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IIED, Young Citizens: Youth and participatory governance in Africa, Participatory Learning and Action 64, , 2011 http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/14607IIED.pdf

Inter-Agency Group on Children’s Participation, Children as Active Citizens: A policy and programme guide, 2008http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/2035

G Lansdown, Every Child’s Right to be Heard: A resource guide on the UN Committee on the Right of the Child General Comment No. 12, Save the Children and UNICEF, 2011http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/5259

E Levine, Freedom’s Children: Young civil rights activists tell their own stories, 1993

Plan, A Governance Learning Guide, 2012http://www.plan-uk.org/resources/documents/learning-guide-full/

K Ratna, ‘Children’s Impact on State Governance: Overarching Issues’ in E Ganguly Thukral, (ed) Every Right for Every Child: Governance and accountability, 2011

Save the Children, Child-Led Disaster Risk Reduction: A practical guide, 2007 http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/2660

Save the Children, Children and Young People Participating in PRSP Processes: Lessons from Save the Children’s experiences, 2004http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/1258

Save the Children, Speaking Out: Voices of child parliamentarians in Mozambique, 2007http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/docs/Speaking_out_1.pdf

Save the Children, One Step Beyond: Advocacy handbook for children and young people, 2008 http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/1787

Save the Children Sweden, ‘Participation is a virtue that must be cultivated’: An analysis of children’s participation working methods and materials within Save the Children Sweden, 2008 http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/2684

Save the Children, Children and Young People in Peace Processes and Peace Building, 2012 http://www.reddbarna.no/Media/topicn_temp/pub.pdf

Save the Children, Child Rights Governance: Children in politics: A collection of 11 inspiring, motivating and suggestive case studies on children’s engagement in governance, 2012 http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/6045

World Bank, Social Accountability: An introduction to the concept and emerging practice, Social Devel-opment Papers, Participation and Civic Engagement Paper No. 76, 2004 http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPCENG/214578-1116499844371/20524122/310420PAPER0So1ity0SDP0Civic0no1076.pdf

www.teenactivist.org

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7. Freedom of expression (Article 13) and access to appropriate information (Article 17)

article 131. The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include free-

dom 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, or of public health or morals.

article 17States Parties recognise the important function performed by the mass media and shall ensure that the child has access to information and material from a diversity of national and international sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual and moral well-being and physical and mental health.

To this end, States Parties shall:

(a) Encourage the mass media to disseminate information and material of social and cultural benefit to the child and in accordance with the spirit of article 29;(b) Encourage international co-operation in the production, exchange and dissemination of such information and material from a diversity of cultural, national and international sources;(c) Encourage the production and dissemination of children’s books;(d) Encourage the mass media to have particular regard to the linguistic needs of the child who belongs to a minority group or who is indigenous;(e) Encourage the development of appropriate guidelines for the protection of the child from information and material injurious to his or her well-being, bearing in mind the provisions of articles 13 and 18.

§

States have responsibilities to ensure children’s rights to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds. Access to information is a key requisite for meaningful participation and realisation of children’s civil rights and freedoms.

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Increasing children’s access to information and supporting children’s media initiatives

Programming activities to increase children’s access to information may include:

• advocacy with the government – Ministry of Information (or equivalent) – to increase plans and budgets to develop and dis-seminate child-friendly accessible information on policies, practices, governance systems and budgets affecting them

• advocacy to ensure information on the UNCRC is integrated into the education curricula• supporting child-led media initiatives (radio, print, TV, social media, etc) through capacity building, technical support, and sup-

porting partnerships with mainstream media organisations• sensitisation and capacity building of media organisations on children’s rights• sensitisation among parents, caregivers and community elders about the importance of girls and boys having access to infor-

mation• increasing girls’ and boys’ access to and promoting the safe use of the internet, social media and social networking tools• building children’s capacity to access, filter and critically analyse information.

Advocacy with the government, with the Ministry of Information (or equivalent), should be undertaken by Save the Children to increase plans and budgets for developing and disseminating child-friendly accessible information and materials to children on policies, practices, governance systems and budget allocations on issues affecting them. Save the Children can support access to child-friendly information at national level, and at local levels through cooperation with the relevant authorities. Child-friendly accessible information on decentralised governance systems and/or social accountability mechanisms can also enhance children’s engagement as active citizens.

In some contexts socio-cultural attitudes may contribute towards gender discrimination or other forms of discrimination (based on ethnicity, religion, caste, disability, income or other factors) that may make it more difficult for girls or children from marginalised backgrounds to access information via the internet, libraries, schools or other settings.

Efforts are needed to ensure that information is accessible and available for all girls and boys through print, radio, TV, social media, schools and/or libraries. Information should be free or low-cost, in a variety of formats, accessible to children with disabilities or low levels of literacy, available in all languages spoken by ethnic minority, migrant and refugee children, and available to children in juvenile detention centres. Information concerning younger children also needs to be tailored to suit the evolving capacities of this age group.

Making information accessible and available to children and young people gives them the means to understand and claim their rights and to access the services they are entitled to as citizens. Children are better equipped to protect themselves from harm and exploitation when they are able to make informed choices and know where to turn to for support and protection. They are able to avoid danger, prepare well for potential disasters or emergencies and protect their peers. They can better realise their right to survival when accessing crucial information about their own health, such as guidance about STIs, HIV and drug use.34

An ILO-IPEC study in Indonesia demonstrated that equipping working children with proper information and skills can substantially increase their ability to defend themselves in the factory environment. Using an alternative education approach, the project helped nearly 200 factory children, many of whom worked in hazardous conditions, to master the organisational and negotiating techniques they needed to present their complaints and ideas to national and local government leaders, NGO representatives and the media as part of an awareness-raising campaign on detrimental child work. At the end, 13 factories employing some 1,500 children removed them from hazardous tasks and extended to them wage, insurance and leave benefits previ-ously available only to adults.

Access to information enables negotiations by children doing hazardous work 35

Human rights, including children’s rights, can only be useful if people (including children) know about them. The UNCRC lays a specific obligation upon states to make its principles and provisions “widely known, by appropriate and effective means, to adults and children alike” (Article 42). Article 29, on the aims of education, requires education to be directed at, among other things, “the development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms”. Including child rights in the curriculum of schools is an important start. As a further part of this process, initial and in-service training should be organised for all those who work for and with children to promote awareness of, understanding and respect for child rights.

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Girls and boys need to be consulted on the most effective and appropriate means by which knowledge of their rights can be disseminated to them and to their parents and others. Partnerships with child groups, youth groups, civil society organisations and the media can enhance children’s expression and dissemination of child-friendly information.

Child-led media initiatives should be supported. Girls and boys are more able to express themselves, to access and share infor-mation on issues affecting them when they do so through child-led groups. Furthermore, child-led media initiatives can enhance information sharing and advocacy with and by children and young people. Motivational, technical and/or financial support can thus be given to children to strengthen their groups and media initiatives. For example, children and young people can be supported to produce their own magazines, wall newspapers, posters, radio programmes, short films or documentaries, etc. Media can be used as a tool to raise awareness on children’s rights among children and adults, to inspire their peers to get involved as active citizens, and to encourage adults to take action to increase their responsibilities as duty bearers.

Children’s participation in radio shows, Gulu district, Uganda

At the district level, members of children’s peace clubs and associations supported by Save the Children par-ticipated in various children’s radio programmes to sensitise people about child rights, as well as about what children are doing to resolve conflict and promote peace at the district level. Children’s radio productions gen-erated great interest among adults and young people listening to radio. Opportunities for ‘phone-in’ responses from listeners created increased dialogue on significant issues relating to children’s participation in peace processes. For example, one regular adult listener commented, “Whoever thought of making children discuss major issues concerning them on radio should be blessed by God. During the previous 21 years, children and their parents in this part of the country had lost hope and confidence. We thought the future was bleak. But if there is still a handful of children who can articulate issues eloquently like those ones, then the Acholi tribe still have something to be proud of. I’m proud we still have children who can do great things for their families in the future. I already see future Members of Parliament among them.”

children from a local child rightS radio in guatemala are learning how to carry out and film Peer-to-Peer interviewS on child rightS iSSueS

Photo: Lisbeth Dina Jensen

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Activities to increase girls’ and boys’ access to the internet, social media and social networking tools and to promote the safe use of these media can also be undertaken to increase opportunities for expression, accessing and sharing information, and engage-ment as active citizens. Innovative ways to use social media to seek children’s and young people’s views on policies or practices af-fecting the realisation of their rights could also be piloted. In view of the increasing scale of information that is available to children and young people through the internet and social media, capacity-building initiatives to strengthen children’s capacity to access, filter and critically analyse information may also be relevant.

Supporting social networking among children and youth in the Dominican Republic

Save the Children has been increasing children’s access to technology (mainly the internet) in rural or vulner-able communities, and is now creating a network of young people via the internet with two purposes. The first is to provide youth with a space where they can share ideas. The second is to consult with children and young people on their rights. Their views will inform a CRC shadow report and the UPR report. We found this could be a way to reach more children around the country. However, challenges faced include lack of access to the internet for some children, and difficulties in verifying who has submitted the information.

Children’s participation in South African and Zambian news media36

Save the Children is supporting South Africa’s Media Monitoring Africa and Zambia’s Media Network on Child’s Rights and Development to work with 570 children, 500 journalists and 25 media houses with a daily audience of more than 9 million to ensure that children’s rights are respected in the media and that a more representative and ethical journalism is practised in both countries.

The project builds on cooperation between children and the media and consists of the following elements:

• Editors’ forums and media houses endorse ethical guidelines on reporting on children in the media which have been developed with input from children.

• News produced by children’s news agencies is published in targeted national news media.• Children with increased media literacy interact with journalists and editors on children’s rights on the basis

of their own monitoring of how the media respect ethical guidelines on children’s rights.• Editors and journalists are trained on children’s rights, including through accredited university courses, to

improve their ethical coverage of children and their rights. • On the basis of their monitoring of the media, children lodge complaints on child rights violations in the

media with formal feedback mechanisms such as the Zambia Media Council and the South African Press Council.

Work with media organisations should also be undertaken to sensitise journalists on child rights, including children’s rights to expression and information. Bringing together children, young people and media journalists can help to overturn negative stereo-types and portrayals of children in the media. Media professionals and agencies can be encouraged to provide organisational and technical support (including training) to support children’s and young people’s active participation in shaping the programming and content of the media, eg, as young journalists, presenters, film-makers, bloggers, etc. Partnerships between media organisations and children/child-led groups to support child-led media initiatives can also be supported, for example, for children’s representatives to have regular space to produce their own radio programmes in a local radio station. As in other initiatives, special efforts should be made to reach and engage the most marginalised girls and boys in media initiatives (including children with disabilities, stateless children, out-of-school working children, ethnic minority children, etc).

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Promoting Active Citizen Engagement (PACE) using social media, Lebanon37

Management Systems International’s USAID-funded Promoting Active Citizen Engagement (PACE) project increases Lebanese civil society’s ability to act as a catalyst for change. PACE supports the non-partisan NGOs that act as the voice of citizens, especially youth, women, minorities and persons with disabilities, who are usu-ally left out of the public discourse. The project works to ensure that public policies become more responsive to citizens’ concerns. Lebanon’s political landscape is polarised: citizens are often disillusioned with a political elite that has become out of touch with their daily concerns. However, citizens still maintain a high level of trust in the effectiveness of civil society. The project focuses on the strategic use of traditional and online me-dia to publicise citizens’ concerns. It actively uses social media, including a Facebook page and a Twitter account, to reach out to civil society, highlight the accomplishments of its partners, disseminate good practices and encourage dialogue between NGOs. Civic actors are also trained and encouraged to utilise social media as a tool for citizen journalism, mobilisation and advocacy. Through nationwide consultations, two partners of PACE are developing policy briefs on corruption, youth unemployment, quality of public services, sectarian tensions, and public participation in decision-making. These reports will be circulated widely to civic actors to inform their advocacy and to facilitate joint actions through local or national platforms.

Inter-Agency Group on Children’s Participation, Children as Active Citizens: A policy and programme guide, 2008 UNICEF, Principles and Guidelines for Ethical Reporting: Children and young people under 18 years old http://www.unicef.org/eapro/Reporting_on_children_and_young_pp.pdf

International Federation of Journalists, Putting Children in the Right: Guidelines for journalists and media professionals, 2002 http://www.unicef.org/magic/resources/childrights_and_media_coverage.pdf

Save the Children Norway, Journalists Talk About Media Violence Against Children, 2005http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/6737

UNICEF, The Media and Children’s Rights: A resource for journalists by journalists, 2005 http://www.unicef.org/magic/media/documents/TheMediaAndChildrensRights2005.pdf

Save the Children UK, Interviewing Children: A guide for journalists and others, 2003 http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/resources/online-library/interviewing-children-guide-journalists-and-others

UNICEF, Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 2002 http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/Implementation_Handbook_for_the_Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child_Part_1_of_3.pdf

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8. Freedom of association and peaceful assembly (Article 15)

article 151. States Parties recognise the rights of the child to freedom of association and to free-

dom of peaceful assembly.2. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of these rights other than those im-

posed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order, the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

§Children have rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly. There is a growing number of child-led organisations and ini-tiatives, including working children’s unions, child groups, child clubs, children’s councils and other structures. Children’s associations are one important vehicle for empowering girls and boys as active citizens. Through children’s associations girls and boys have increased opportunities to meet together on a regular basis, to share their experiences, and to identify, analyse and plan action on issues affecting them. They also have greater power to defend and negotiate their rights through their collective strength, which is especially relevant to the most marginalised children, many of whose rights are violated on a daily basis.

Children’s associations also provide a structure through which girls and boys can elect their peers to represent them in local and national governance structures and to influence decision-making on issues affecting them. Governments should ensure that the legal framework is conducive to the establishment of child-led organisations and networks. Governments can allocate budgets to child-/youth-led organisations to support their action initiatives, and can support children’s representation in governance bodies. Equally importantly, children and young people should be encouraged to join any other (‘adult’) associations, as age should not be a barrier to participation.

Za’atari camP, Jordan. Save the children and unicef exhibition “tomorrow’S memorieS : life in Za’atari camP through the eyeS of the children” ShowcaS-ing artiStic ProJectS of children living in the SPrawling camP cloSe to Syria’S border.

Photo: Agnes Montanari

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Child-led group and children’s representation in local governance, Philippines39

The children’s group AKKAP, which means “Let us protect children’s rights”, was founded by children in Manila, capital of the Philippines. The group was founded because the children had experienced abuse and felt that their communities gave no priority to children. Now the children’s group has representatives in the barangay councils for the protection of children (BCPCs) and in the barangay participation committees, which are part of the local government structure. The children’s representatives are working to make the BCPCs more active. AKKAP invited the councillor for children in its barangay to visit its children’s groups, and sent representatives to the municipality hall when a meeting was held by an NGO network providing funds for BCPCs.

Strengthening child-led organisations and networks

Programming to strengthen child-led organisations and networks may include activities such as:

• mapping/research of existing child groups and movements in the country/region • reviewing laws and policies and lobbying for reforms to allow legal registration of child-led organisations and networks• supporting the formation, strengthening and expansion of inclusive child-led organisations, networks and movements (with a

focus on inclusion of the most marginalised children, including stateless children, children with disabilities, working children, etc)• capacity-building support for child-led organisations (to strengthen self-management, inclusion, partnerships and/or sustain-

ability) • providing funding and material support to child-led organisations and their networks for their own action, research and advo-

cacy initiatives• undertaking sensitisation and advocacy with the government and civil society to increase engagement with child-led organisa-

tions and their networks• supporting the engagement of child-led organisations in governance and/or political processes affecting them at local, sub-

national, national, regional and/or global levels (including reconstruction and peace-building processes).

While child groups and clubs exist in many countries, the extent to which they are child-managed is variable. Furthermore, in many countries across the world children and young people are not able to legally register their children’s organisations. Child groups may face various organisational challenges and capacity gaps that could be better addressed through more systematic capacity building and/or organisational support. Thus, a rapid mapping and/or more detailed participatory research to identify the number and types of children’s organisations and networks in the country, including analysis of the extent to which they are child-led/managed, their legal status, their activities and their capacity-building needs, would help inform strategic programming to strengthen child-led organisations and networks.

A review of laws and policies concerning legal registration of child-managed organisations can also inform lobbying to allow the establishment and legal registration of child-led organisations and networks.

Lobbying for legal registration of working children’s unions, Bolivia

In Bolivia an estimated 850,000 working children are members of the country’s largest union of child workers (UNATSBO). UNATSBO is lobbying for legal recognition of its union and child-led social movements.

Adults (government officials, parents/ caregivers, community elders) need to be sensitised to value, support and form genuine partnerships with children’s associations and networks, recognising children’s and young people’s important role as active citizens.

Save the Children and local partners can support the formation, strengthening and expansion of inclusive child-led organisations and networks (with a focus on inclusion of the most marginalised children). They can provide motivational, technical and capacity-building support to child-led organisations and networks. In particular, Save the Children can encourage reflection and increased focus on inclusion of the most marginalised children, democratic decision-making practices, and sustainability.

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“ “We were totally deprived. We never thought we could participate in this type of pro-cess. Once we started coming together and discussing, we learned there are many children like us. Now we are happy and proud. We have discovered that children have rights and if we all unite together we can get people to listen to what we have to say. We discuss things together and we will raise the problems we face and present some ideas for solving them to the government and organisations working for the develop-ment of children. We can influence their plans.”(A group of street children with disabilities, CSID, Bangladesh)40

Working children have also found it beneficial to form their own organisations. Unions, associations, networks and movements of working children exist across Africa and Latin America and in parts of Asia. Through these groups, they can address problems and challenge the discrimination they face as working children.

Supporting the African Movement of Working Children and Youth41

The African Movement of Working Children and Youth (AMWCY), a child-led movement founded in 1994, currently has 331 associations of working children and youth involving more than 170,000 members across 23 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Seventy-one p[er cent of the members are children under the age of 18 years, and 54% of the AMWCY members are girls. The association members include housemaids, apprentices and independent working girls and boys, some of whom are extremely marginalised.

AMWCY has elaborated 12 desired rights of children that guide the movement and help it fight child exploi-tation, harmful working conditions and child trafficking. One of these, the right to remain in the village (no ‘exodus’ to other places in search of work), was proposed by rural, migrant domestic workers. The movement has led several initiatives to discourage the exodus of children and young people from their communities and to limit the risks attached to exodus. It also works to prevent child trafficking, and supports education and literacy, healthcare, freedom of expression, safe working conditions and the right of children to develop safely in their own communities. Governments have offered support to AMWCY initiatives. For example, in Côte d’Ivoire the ministries of justice and social affairs support communication initiatives and AMWCY conferences in towns and villages to discuss early exodus and child trafficking. A bilateral agreement on child trafficking between Mali and Senegal has been improved by inclusion of amendments aimed at increasing respect for children’s rights. Regional lobbying and partnerships have brought the perspectives of children in exodus and exposed to trafficking to regional forums such as the Regional Working Group Against Trafficking, of which AMWCY is a full member.

The principle of non-discrimination is fundamental to citizenship work and rights-based programming. Rights-based programming involves reaching the most marginalised, using the UNCRC as a tool to understand and challenge issues of discrimination within the established system, promoting girls’ and boys’ participation in decision-making processes, focusing on values of inclusion. Many forms of discrimination are subtle and pervasive. Systematic efforts are therefore needed to reach out to the most marginalised and excluded girls and boys, empowering them to raise their voices and challenge discrimination. When children are being sup-ported to form their own children’s groups in communities or in schools, they may replicate existing power structures and power relations, whereby the better-off, older children have more control and influence, unless processes encourage boys and girls to re-flect on principles and practices of non-discrimination, inclusion and equity. At all levels, in community-based initiatives, in national, regional and global processes, more efforts are needed to genuinely reach and engage the most marginalised children.

In some situations, it has also proved useful to form distinct groups of children who share common experiences based on gender, disability, work, or ethnicity before encouraging them to join with other groups of children. This helps increase their understand-ing of their particular situation and the reasons for their oppression; it builds their confidence and positive identity. For example, in some parts of Bangladesh, India and Nepal, children and young people with disabilities have formed their own organisations, networks and media initiatives. While undertaking their own initiatives, they are also actively engaged in participatory initiatives with other children and young people.

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Working children’s associations and movements are protagonists for children’s rights and are engaging with other actors to influ-ence wider policy developments at district, state, national, regional and global levels to bring about positive changes for all children and adolescents, including efforts to promote children’s civil rights and freedoms.42

Open letter from children’s representatives to the Fifth World Congress for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, Argentina43

On 19 October 2012, members of the Latin American and Caribbean Movement of Working Children and Adolescents (MOLACNATS) wrote an open letter to organisers of the Fifth World Congress expressing their deep indignation at the way children and young people were excluded from the main proceedings violation of their right to active participation. MOLACNATS is a movement encompassing organised children and adoles-cents in nine countries in Latin America, with a history of more than 42 years of organisation, mobilisation and participation of all children and adolescents.

Members of the Argentinian children’s organisation La Veleta y La Antena in Mendoza had prepared a pres-entation entitled “Children and adolescents as revolutionary subjects” to present in the Fifth World Congress for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, which took place in San Juan, Argentina, from 15 to 19 October 2012. Their paper had been accepted, but the organisers were expecting an adult presenter rather than children and adolescents. A group of working children and adolescents had travelled to San Juan to make their presentation, but they were excluded from the formal inauguration of the event. They therefore mobilised and painted slogans on their t-shirts: “Never again without us,” “Children + adults = participation,” and “Our voice is worthy.” As a result of their work and advocacy, on the fourth day of the congress they were able to participate in just one event.

In their open letter, representatives of children and adolescents demanded “for the next congress an organis-ing team that includes organised and representative children and adolescents, on equal terms and with the same number of children as adults, with the aim of creating a horizontal method of operation”. The letter added: “We also address the governments of the world, the academic authorities, theorists and intellectuals and the entire society, so that we may move without any hesitation from the paradigm of comprehensive child protection to the paradigm of the role of children and adolescents as protagonists. Finally, we reaffirm our commitment to children in general, to continue marching towards a more just society, more participatory and protagonist of children and adolescents.”

Capacity-building support can be provided to child-led organisations in order to strengthen self-management, inclusion, partner-ships and/or sustainability. Capacity building on child rights, children’s participation, non-discrimination and inclusion, life skills, media and advocacy skills can enhance members’ knowledge, skills and attitudes to assert their rights as active citizens.

The Article 15 Resource Kit (http://www.crc15.org) has been developed to support children’s rights to association and self-management of their own groups. This resource kit includes tools that can help children’s groups to think about, plan, improve and monitor how their group is organised. The tools encourage reflection and action planning on transparent, fair and inclusive group structures and decision-making processes. The resource kit was developed through an inter-agency initiative involving the Children’s Environments Research Group, Save the Children, World Vision and UNICEF. The tools were developed and improved through visits to children in their own clubs, and in regional workshops with children representing their child groups from Colom-bia, Peru, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and India.

The Article 15 Resource Kit includes 20 tools in ten modules:

1. Introduction2. Our role as adult facilitators 3. Exploring what is a good group4. Planning improvements to our group5. Who we include as members

6. How we organise and manage ourselves 7. How we keep our group strong over time 8. How we protect through our groups 9. How we get and use resources 10. How adults work with our group.

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From Child Labour to Children in Charge: A handbook on child-led organisation and advocacy on child labour has been developed by Save the Children Sweden-Denmark (2009). It shares practical guidance and materials to support child-led organising and advo-cacy. http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/5595

Networking among children’s organisations should also be supported. Networks provide opportunities to share information and experiences, to plan collective action and advocacy initiatives, and to develop representational election processes for children’s and young people’s participation in national, regional or global policy or practice developments that affect them.

It may be necessary to undertake sensitisation and advocacy with government and civil society in order to increase their engage-ment and partnership with child-led organisations and their networks. Partnerships between the government and child-led or-ganisations can help institutionalise children’s and young people’s representation in governance processes and structures affecting them (in schools, communities, districts, at national level, etc). Sensitisation of mainstream development agencies (Oxfam, Action Aid, CARE, etc) can lead to an increase in agencies’ efforts to engage with children and young people as active citizens, alongside women and men (eg, in community score card citizenship initiatives). Existing civil society networks should also be encouraged to invite and to be inclusive of child- and youth-led organisations.

Child club networks and children’s representation on district child welfare boards, Nepal

In Nepal, village development committees (VDCs) and municipalities are the national political system’s local-level governing bodies. The VDCs are responsible for education, health and other basic services. Child clubs can register as organisations at the VDC level, and in some areas VDCs are providing financial support for the child clubs. In some districts, including Palpa District, representatives of child club networks are invited to par-ticipate in regular VDC meetings and in meetings of the District Child Welfare Board (DCWB), which includes representatives of relevant government bodies and other agencies. The DCWB is mandated to adopt district-level policy and programmes for the overall development of children and for promoting and protecting their rights. The inclusion of child club representatives in these meetings enables them to raise concerns about child rights violations and gaps in their communities and district and means they can regularly influence policy and programmes affecting them.

Ongoing monitoring and evaluation with and by children and young people of their own organisations and initiatives can also help strengthen children’s organisations.

The Spider Tool: A self-assessment and planning tool for child-led initiatives and organisations (http://resourcecentre.savethechil-dren.se/node/2693) has been developed by Save the Children (2005) for use with and by children’s organisations to assess and strengthen their child-led organisations or initiatives. The spider tool consists of three publications: (1) lessons learned from the spider tool, (2) the spider tool, and (3) the facilitator’s guide.

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Article 15: A global partnership to support children’s right and capacity to self-organize, http://www.crc15.org/

C O’Kane, Children and Young People as Citizens: Partners for social change, Save the Children South and Central Asia, 2003, http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/1248

Save the Children, Playing and Protecting: Learning from children’s clubs in Sierra Leone, 2009, http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/node/1271

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9. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 14) and protection of privacy (Article 16)

article 141. 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 161. No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her

privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation.

2. The child has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or at-tacks.

Children have civil rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. However, such rights are rarely discussed or promoted by child rights agencies and can be considered quite controversial in some social, cultural and religious contexts. For example, in some countries many children are born into families which practise a particular religion, and there is little expectation that a child may be able to negotiate or change their religious beliefs and practice. Such rights remain, however, and some children and young people are making choices not to practise the religion of their parents or to adhere to different religious beliefs.

In some contexts children and young people are exercising freedom of thought and conscience when making decisions about what they eat (eg, deciding to become vegetarian or vegan as a result of religious beliefs or values concerning animal rights), what they wear, the music they listen to, or other practices (eg, being a pacifist). Within families or institutions, differences in practice or faith can lead to significant disagreements. Respect and appreciation of different values, religions and perspectives should be en-couraged among children, young people and adults. While all people should be respected, however, viewpoints that are contrary to human rights values can be challenged.

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Freedom of thought, conscience and religion: challenging school uniform rules, UK44

In 2004, a 16-year-old girl in the UK complained to the courts about her school’s uniform rules. Her older brother helped her work with a lawyer to bring her case. The girl’s lawyer said that her human rights had been breached because the school would not let her wear a jilbab (a loose-fitting coat), which she considered nec-essary to wear because of her religion. The Court of Appeal agreed the girl’s rights had been breached, but then the case went to the House of Lords, which disagreed and said that her rights had not been breached. Even though the girl lost her final court case, there was a lot of discussion about school uniforms in the news-papers and on TV. The government wrote new rules for schools, emphasising that students and parents must be asked their views when uniform rules are being made.

Girls and boys also have rights to privacy and to protection from arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home and correspondence. In different socio-cultural contexts the concept of privacy may be differently perceived and practised.

Ensuring the right to respect for privacy and access to personal information45

A young man in the UK was very badly treated in care for many years. He wanted to read his social services files, which were kept by Liverpool City Council. The council refused to let him see all his files. The young man went through the courts in the UK to try to force the council to let him see his files, but the courts agreed with the council, so he took his complaint to the European Court of Human Rights. The European Court of Human Rights said the council had breached the young man’s rights. The court agreed that he needed to see his social services files in order to try to make sense of his childhood and his treatment in care. As a result of this young man’s complaint, which was decided by the European Court in 1989, it is now much easier for people in care or in contact with social services to see information that is written about them. Councils must now keep files concerning children in care for 75 years.

As part of civil rights programming, Save the Children can consider various programme activities that increase children’s rights to freedom of thought, conscience or religion and children’s rights to privacy, including:

• reviewing laws and the constitution regarding rights to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and privacy that can inform legal advocacy

• helping children to access information about complaints procedures and to make complaints, and also building the capacity of institutions to understand issues of confidentiality.

A review of laws and the constitution can help to determine whether such rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and to privacy are explicit in national legislation and can help to determine areas of relevant advocacy. Here are some examples of questions to ask:

• Do the country’s constitution, laws, policies and practices promote the child’s right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion in families, alternative care settings and schools? Where the state supports the provision of different religious educa-tions is this done without discrimination?

• Do children’s rights to privacy apply in the home, in all forms of alternative care, in schools, and in other institutions of all kinds, both state-run and other?

• Does the child (for example, if in care or custody) have the rights in relation to information kept about them in files or re-cords? In the event of possible violation of these rights, does the child have access to an appropriate complaints procedure?

• Does legislation guarantee the child’s right to privacy, in particular where information that may lead to the child’s identification is published in cases where the child is accused of being in conflict with the law, involved in child protection proceedings or a witness to a crime?

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Save the Children can help children to access information about complaints procedures and to make complaints, and can also build the capacity of institutions to understand issues of confidentiality. Save the Children may engage in awareness raising and/or advocacy to ensure appropriate measures are taken by the media, judges and law enforcement officials to ensure children’s rights to privacy.

Implementation checklist: the right to privacy46

In order to implement the UN’s Guidelines on Justice in Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime, and in particular the child’s right to privacy, a number of issues may be considered by relevant actors:

• judges: respecting the confidentiality of information on child victims and witnesses of crime; ordering the full exclusion of the public and in camera proceedings when necessary to safeguard the privacy of child victims or witnesses

• law enforcement officials: respecting the confidentiality of information on child victims and witnesses of crime; in particular, refraining from disclosing such information to anyone without prior authorisation

• lawyers: respecting the confidentiality of information on child victims and witnesses of crime; in particular, refraining from dis-closing such information to anyone without prior authorisation; requesting measures for the protection of the identity of the child victim or witness, in case these measures do not automatically apply

• legislators/policy-makers: making judicial authorities responsible for guaranteeing the confidentiality of information on the identity and whereabouts of child victims and witnesses; prohibiting the dissemination of such information in the media and making such dissemination a criminal offence; making closed sessions automatic for proceedings in relation to certain forms of crime, such as sexual offences or trafficking in persons

• media: adopting and respecting self-regulation measures to protect the privacy and personal data of a victim• non-governmental organisations in collaboration with all stakeholders: raising awareness about the role and responsibilities

of the media with regard to the rights of child victims and witnesses of crimes; encouraging the implementation of codes of conduct

• prosecutors: respecting the confidentiality of information on child victims and witnesses of crime; requesting measures for the protection of the identity of the child victim or witness, in case these measures do not automatically apply; prosecuting the media should the child’s right to privacy or confidentiality be violated.

Children’s Rights Centre, Including Children: Guidelines on ethical practice in fulfilling chil-dren’s rights to participation, 2009, http://books.google.fr/books/about/Including_Children.html?id=3B1jYgEACAAJ&redir_esc=y

UNODC and UNICEF, Handbook for Professionals and Policymakers on Justice in Matters Involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime, 2009 http://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/hb_justice_in_matters_professionals.pdf

UNICEF, Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 2007, http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_43110.html

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10. The right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Article 37a)

article 37States Parties shall ensure that:(a) No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treat-ment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibil-ity of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age.§

In programme work to support children’s civil rights and freedoms, we need to assess the risks and take measures to reduce the risks, and increase the protection of children and young people who choose to exercise their civil rights and freedoms. Depending on the socio-political context, such measures may include activities to ensure that children and young people do not face arrest or torture as a result of their political activism or their role as child rights defenders.

Girl tortured for expression on the rights of political prisoners, China

In one case in China a 17-year-old girl was arrested and tortured for throwing leaflets in the air and holding slogans calling for freedom in Tibet, for the return of the Dalai Lama, and for the release of political prisoners.

In December 1998 the UN adopted the Declaration of the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, commonly known as the declaration on human rights defenders. It marked a historic achievement in the struggle for better protection of those at risk for carrying out human rights activities and was the first UN instrument that recognised the importance and legitimacy of the work of human rights defenders, as well as their need for better protection. Under the declaration, a human rights defender is anyone working for the promotion and protection of human rights, including volunteers, journalists and lawyers. States have a responsibility to imple-ment and respect all the provisions of the declaration. In particular, states have the duty to protect human rights defenders against any violence, retaliation and intimidation as a consequence of their human rights work.

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Our programming may encompass activities such as:

• supporting children and young people to assess and mitigate risks and to make informed decisions that reduce the likelihood of their punishment, torture or cruel treatment

• promoting awareness of the declaration on human rights defenders• lobbying, sensitisation and/or capacity-building measures with parents/caregivers, community elders, government officials, po-

lice and/or judiciary to ensure prevention and protection of children and young people from punishment, torture or arrest • appointing legal advocates and/or providing help to strengthen legal services in support of child rights defenders.

Declaration on human rights defendershttp://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/SRHRDefenders/Pages/Declaration.aspx

Front Line, Front Line Handbook for Human Rights Defenders: What protection can EU and Norwe-gian diplomatic missions offer? 2007http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/files/en/Front%20Line%20Handbook%20for%20Human%20Rights%20Defenders%20What%20protection%20can%20EU%20Diplomatic%20missions%20of-fer_0.pdf

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Annex 1: Using the basic requirements in children’s participation as a checklist

Nine basic requirements for meaningful children’s participation are outlined in the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment on Article 12.47 The basic requirements are in large part based on the Save the Children practice standards which were published in 2005. 48They can be used for planning and preparing any child participatory processes including pro-grammes to promote children’s civil rights and freedoms.

requirement queStionS on key indicatorS

1. Participation is trans-parent and informative

• Do children have enough information about the programme to make an informed decision about whether and how they may participate?

• Is information shared with children in child-friendly formats and in languages that they understand?• Are the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved clearly explained and understood?

2. Participation is voluntary

• Is children’s participation voluntary?• Have children been given enough information and time to make a decision about whether they

want to participate or not?• Can children withdraw (stop participating) at any time they wish?

3. Participation is respectful

• Are children’s own time commitments (to study, work, play) respected and take into considera-tion?

• Do the ways of working with children consider and build upon local cultural practices?• Has support from key adults in children’s lives (eg, parents, carers, teachers) been gained to ensure

respect for children’s participation?

4. Participation is relevant

• Are the issues being discussed and addressed of real relevance to children’s own lives?• Do children feel any pressure from adults to participate in activities that are not relevant to them?

5. Participation is child-friendly

• Are child-friendly approaches and methods used?• Do the ways of working build self-confidence among girls and boys of different ages and abilities?• Are child-friendly meeting places used? Are such places accessible to children with disabilities?

6. Participation is inclusive

• Are girls and boys of different ages and backgrounds, including younger children, children with dis-abilities, children from different ethnic groups, etc, given opportunities to participate?

• Is the process inclusive and non-discriminatory?• Are children encouraged to address discrimination through their participation?

7. Participation is sup-ported by training for adults

• Are the staff from Save the Children and the NGO partners child-friendly?• Do the staff have confidence to facilitate children’s participation?• Are staff able to effectively support children’s participation in your community?

8. Participation is safe and sensitive to risk

• Do children feel safe when they participate?• Have risks and ways to keep children safe been identified?• Do children know where to go for help if they feel unsafe while participating in the project?

9. Participation is accountable

• Are children supported to participate in follow-up and evaluation processes?• Do adults take children’s views and suggestions seriously and act upon their suggestions?• Are children given feedback from Save the Children about any requested support needs and

follow-up?

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Endnotes1Save the Children, Programme Guidance on Child Rights Governance, Save the Children, 20132G Lansdown, Every Child’s Right to be Heard: A resource guide on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment No. 12, Save the Children and UNICEF, 20113Inter-Agency Working Group on Children’s Participation, Children as Active Citizens: A policy and programme guide. Commitments and obliga-tions for children’s civil rights and civic engagement in East Asia and the Pacific, Inter-Agency Working Group on Children’s Participation, 20084Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights, Article IV of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and Article 10 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms all extend the right to freedom of expression.5ARC foundation module (2000) International Legal Standards and Policies6Taken from Children as Active Citizens. See note 3.7Jaap Doek in foreword to A Invernizzi and J Williams (eds) Children and Citizenship, SAGE Publications, 2008, p xvi. 8ARC (2000) Foundations: International Legal Standards and Policies9A Petren and T Hammarberg, ‘The Political Influence of Children’ in Save the Children and UNICEF, Children’s Rights: Turning principles into practice, Save the Children and UNICEF, 200010See P Vega, Un nuevo significado de ciudadanía, 201111See note 2.12Child Rights International Network (CRIN), CRINMAIL 1306 (December 2012) ‘Children’s right to participate in public life’, CRIN, 201213R McGee and G Greenhalf, ‘Seeing like a young citizen: youth and participatory governance in Africa’, PLA, 64, 2011, p 2514See Save the Children and Early Years Network, Never Too Young: How young children can take responsibility and make decisions, Save the Children and Early Years Network, 1997. http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/54_2343.htm15See A Cussaniovich and A Marquez, Towards a Protagonist Participation of, Boys, Girls and Teenagers, Save the Children, 200216See C O’Kane, Children and Young People as Citizens: Partners for social change, Save the Children, 2003.17See note 3.18‘Why Africa needs to lower its voting age to 16’, The Guardian, 9 February 2011 http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-mat-ters/2011/feb/09/africa-youth-lower-voting-age-1619EACEA and Eurydice, Citizenship Education in Europe, EACEA and Eurydice, 2012 http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/thematic_reports/139EN.pdf 20See Children as Active Citizens (see note 3).21These opportunities may also be considered as programme components.22See G Lansdown, A Framework for Monitoring and Evaluating Children’s Participation Part 1, Mapping, 201123UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 12: The right of the child to be heard, CRC/C/GC/12, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 200924All four sessions of the Children’s Parliament were attended by representatives of the Montenegro government (ministers), presidents of parliamentary committees, parliamentary clubs, mayors, the Office of the Protector of Human rights and Freedoms, international organisations, the diplomatic corps, and members of the Council for the Rights of the Child, NGOs. Sessions are chaired by the President of the Parliament of Montenegro, vice-presidents, the Secretary General and representatives of children’s groups. 25Save the Children (2012) Children and young people in peace processes and peace building, https://onenet.savethechildren.net/whatwedo/crg/SCDocuments/Children%20and%20young%20people%20as%20actors%20in%20peace%20building.pdf 26See http://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/ParisPrinciples310107English.pdf 27European Network of Ombudspersons for Children, Information and Training Pack http://www.crin.org/enoc/training/index.asp28UNICEF, General Comments of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 2, CRC/GC/2002/2, UNICEF, 2002, p 9, paras 16 and 17 http://www.unicefirc.org/publications/pdf/crcgencommen.pdf29See note 2.30www.sccyp.org.uk31Plan, A Governance Learning Guide, Plan, 201232Shared by a Save the Children staff member working in Philippines during an e-discussion on children’s civil rights, 17 October 201233See guidance in Children as Active Citizens, p 30 (see note 3)34See note 3 35J Boyden et al., What Works for Working Children? Radda Barnen, 1998, p 231 36More information about the project can be found at www.childrensnewsagency.org and www.mediamonitoringafrica.org/index.php/pro-grammes/category/children/ 37http://www.coffey.com/Projects/BusinessProject.aspx?aProjId=46038Management Systems International is a subsidiary of Coffey International Ltd.39Save the Children, Child Rights Governance: Children in politics. A collection of inspiring, motivating and suggestive case studies on children’s engagement in governance, Save the Children, 201240See note 16. 41Adapted from information provided by the African Movement of Working Children and Youth and ENDA Jeunesse Action. 42See K Ratna, ‘Children’s Impact on State Governance: Overarching Issues’ in E Ganguly Thukral, (ed) Every Right for Every Child: Governance and accountability, Routledge, 2011, for an example in Karnataka State, India. 43MOLACNATS and La Veleta y La Antena, Open Letter to the V World Congress for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, 19 October 201244http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance/equal-rights-equal-respect/useful-information/human-rights-case-studies/45See note 44. 46UNODC and UNICEF, Handbook for Professionals and Policymakers on Justice in Matters Involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime, UNODC and UNICEF, 200947See note 23. 48Save the Children, Practice Standards in Children’s Participation, Save the Children, 2005

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Published bychild rights governance global initiativeSave the children

First published April 2013

Permission to use, copy and distribute this document partly or as a whole is hereby provided granted that due source of reference appears in all copies.

Cover photo: Lisbeth Dina JensenBoys in Nicaragua playing at the opening of a municipal project entirely chosen by children and youth in the municipality; a playground.

Back cover photo: Teri PengilleyChild participating in Save the Children’s London Ambassadors Summit 2011 at Islington Assembly Hall, London

Proof reader: Mike Hollow

Design: Gina Thorstensen

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If you want to read more about Child Rights Governance, please visit the Resource Centre: http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se where you can find and upload materials.