- 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.
- 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.
– UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Overview of Article 12
Article 12 introduces a fundamentally new right into international human rights law. In recognition of children’s lack of legal autonomy in decision-making, it provides that every child capable of forming a view must be assured the right to express that view and have it given due weight in accordance with age and maturity, including in judicial and administrative proceedings [1]. In place of a traditional focus on children’s lack of competence, it establishes an obligation to consider how to enable them to engage [2]. In other words, it transforms the status of the child from one of passive recipient of adult care and protection to one of active participation and agency. Importantly, the qualification relating to age and maturity applies only to the weight afforded the views expressed, and not the actual expression of views. Furthermore, while imposing an obligation on States to consider a child’s view, it does not pose any corresponding obligation on children to express one. It has been commonly conceptualised as ‘participation’, and represents one of the fundamental values of the CRC, while posing one of its major challenges to prevailing attitudes towards children [3-4]. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has emphasised its significance as a means of political and civil engagement through which children can advocate for their rights and hold States accountable [5]. Opportunities for accountability and redress have been further strengthened through the adoption of the third protocol to the CRC on a complaints procedure [6].
The requirement that States must ‘assure to the child’ the right to express views is a strong formulation, placing a strong and unequivocal obligation to undertake the measures necessary to realise this right. This requires both that the views of the child are solicited and that they are given due weight [1]. The Committee has interpreted Article 12 as both a substantive and a procedural right, and as one of four general principles of the Convention. Its implementation is integral to the realisation of rights, as well as a free standing right of the child [7]. Thus in order to ensure implementation of the Convention, States must ensure that children are enabled to express their views and that these views inform the actions undertaken by the State to give effect to child rights.
Article 12, while closely aligned to Article 13, freedom of expression, is restricted to matters affecting the child, albeit this has been interpreted very widely by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. It needs to be understood alongside the other civil rights in the CRC including Article 15, the right to freedom of association and assembly and Article 17, the right to information. However, it goes further in imposing an obligation on States to introduce the legal framework and mechanisms necessary to facilitate opportunities to express views, both individually and collectively, and thereby support the active involvement of the child in all actions affecting them, and to give due weight to those views once expressed.
Core attributes of Article 12
The core attributes of Article 12 are:
- The right to be heard in all matters affecting the child
- Right to be heard in all judicial and administrative proceedings
- Access to redress and complaints procedures
- Education and administrative measures to implement A12
Each of these attributes can be measured in terms of structural or process implementation or in terms of outcomes achieved through implementation as outlined in the table below. Some indicators, for instance the structural ones, may be common to all attributes. Others are common to two or more attributes, while some indicators may be relevant to one attribute only. An attempt has been made to balance the use of objective and subjective data indicators as well as qualitative and quantitative ones.
What did children say?
These are some ideas that children from around the world shared with us during the Global Child Rights Dialogue (GCRD) project:
Relevant provisions within the SDGs
- Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
- Target 6.B Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management
- Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
- Target 10.2 By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status
- Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
- Target 13.b Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and small island developing States, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities
- Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
- Target 16.7 Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels
- Target 16.10 Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements
Potential sources of data for users of the indicators sets
- Academic/NGO research
- Child and family agencies, social work departments, probation
- Court decisions
- Government laws and regulations
- Local authority data
- Monitoring reports of IHRIC
- Policies and procedures, protocols of bodies responsible for children
- Qualitative research with children
- UNICEF MICS
References used for the overview
- United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. (2009). General Comment No.12, The Right of the Child to be Heard (CRC/C/GC/12), (para. 1 & 19). Retrieved from https://www.refworld.org/docid/4ae562c52.html
- Van Bueren, G. (1995). The International Law on the Rights of the Child (p.136). The Hague, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers & Save the Children.
- Pais, M.S. (1997). The Convention on the Rights of the Child. In Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Institute for Training and Research, International Labour Organization, and United Nations Staff College Project Turin Centre, Manual on Human Rights Reporting (pp. 426). Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations Publication.
- Tisdall, K. (2015). Children and young people’s participation. In W. Vanderhole, E. Desmet, D. Reynaert & S. Lembrechts (Eds.), Routledge International Handbook of Children’s Rights Studies (1st ed.,pp.185-200 at p.196). Abingdon, United Kingdom and New York, United States of America: Routledge.
- United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. (2016). General Comment No. 20, on the implementation of the rights of the child during adolescence (CRC/C/GC/20*), (para. 24). Retrieved from https://www.refworld.org/docid/589dad3d4.html
- United Nations Office of the High commissioner for Human Rights. (20011/2014). Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure (A/RES/66/138). Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/OPICCRC.aspx
- United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. (2006). Day of general discussion on the right of the child to be heard, (para. 2). Retrieved from the United Nations Office of the High Commission for Human Rights website: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/CRC/Discussions/Recommendations/Recommendations2006.doc
References used to create indicators
- Council of Europe. (2016). Child participation assessment tool. Indicators for measuring progress in promoting the right of children and young people under the age of 18 to participate in matters of concern to them. Retrieved from https://rm.coe.int/16806482d9
- Fundamental Rights Agency, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. (2010). Developing indicators for the protection, respect and promotion of the rights of the child in the European Union (Conference Edition). Retrieved from https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2012/developing-indicators-protection-respect-and-promotion-rights-child-european-union
- Lansdown, G. (2018). Conceptual framework for measuring outcomes of adolescent participation. UNICEF. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/media/59006/file
- Lansdown, G. & O’Kane, C. (2014). A toolkit for monitoring and evaluating children’s participation. London, United Kingdom: Save the Children, et al. Retrieved from https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/sites/default/files/documents/me_toolkit_booklet_1.pdf
- United Nations General Assembly. (2015). Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (2007). Implementation handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Fully rev. 3rd ed.). Geneva, Switzerland: UNICEF.
Glossary/key words
Participation
“UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, Article 12 – provides that children have a right to express their views and have them taken seriously in accordance with their age and maturity” (Lansdown, 2011).
Self efficacy
“Self-efficacy is the belief that you are capable of performing a task or managing a situation. It is about learning how to persevere when one does not succeed at first. When a child equates success to internal factors, they develop a sense of mastery, which reinforces stronger self-efficacy beliefs. A child with high self-efficacy works harder, is more optimistic and less anxious, and perseveres more” (SickKids, 2012).
© GlobalChild (2020)