Participation
Participation refers to the
possibilities and opportunities for a child to exercise their skills,
capacities and competences, to feel part of a family and community, and to
gradually take on responsibility for their own actions and as a member of a
community. Participation refers to the possibility to influence decisions that
concern the child, in all aspects of the child’s life, including in social,
economic, political, civil and cultural dimensions. It requires that a child is
able to seek, receive and impart information in a language that the child
understands, to form an opinion and to express it freely, and to know that the
own opinion matters to others, that it is heard and taken into account.
Articles under the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child:
· Article 12: Respect
for the views of the child
· Article 13: Freedom
of expression
· Article 14: Freedom
of thought, conscience and religion
· Article 15: Freedom
of association
· Article 16: Right
to privacy
· Article 17: Access
to information (mass media)
The four dimensions
of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: A scheme for analysis and
action
The EU training programme for guardians of
unaccompanied children introduces the four dimensions of the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child as a tool for training, analysis and action. Developing confidence in using this systemic and
multi-disciplinary scheme for analysis empowers the guardians to form an
opinion that is guided by the rights and needs of the child. It supports them
in taking a stand on different situations, procedures and decisions
concerning the child.
- responding to the primary
needs of the child to ensure the child’s survival and enable the
child to live a healthy life;
- promoting the development of the child, their resources, potentials and evolving capacities, in
support of the child’s transition to adulthood and independent life;
- enabling and facilitating the participation of the child in all matters that concern the
child while safeguarding the right of the child to be heard and to have
their views taken into account;
- ensuring the protection of the child from all forms of neglect, violence and exploitation.
The
four dimensions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
See
also:
Level 1: Child rights principles
Reference:
EU training and learning platform for guardians of unaccompanied children
Chapter 1: Session 1.1. Session 1.1. The human rights of the child
Handout1: The rights of the child and the four dimensions of the UNCRC
Literature:
FRA
(European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights) (2015), Handbook on European law relating to the rights of the child, Luxembourg, Publications Office of the
European Union (Publications Office).
United
Nations (UN), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 20 November 1989.
Charter
of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, 2012/C 326/02, OJ C 326, 26 October 2012.
United
Nations (UN), Committee on the Rights of the Child (2005), General Comment No. 6 (2005), Treatment of
unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin,
CRC/GC/2005, 1 September 2005.
United
Nations (UN), Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 12
(2009) on the right of the child to be heard, CRC/C/GC/12, 20 July 2009.
United
Nations (UN), Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 13
(2011) on the right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence, CRC/C/GC/13, 18 April 2011.
United
Nations (UN), Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 14
(2003) on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a
primary consideration, CRC /C/GC/14, 29 May 2013.