International law affords definable rights to children, but implementat ion remains a chequered affair, writes Hoda Badran* The child's right to participate The concept of participation initially concerned the domains of the political system, narrowly defined to mean political input. Nowadays it is considered a way of life, representing a strategy and a concern for all community systems besides being a basic human right. The 1993 UNDP Human Development Report considered participation as the main issue of our world today. It stated that participation represents a special comprehensive strategy of development that provides people with alternative choices and increases their access to a wider range of life opportunities. In the human rights arena the International Convent on Civil and Political Rights has early embodied a number of articles to foster people's participation. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has also embodied a set of provisions to protect the child's right to participate. The CRC has further considered participation as a general principle that should pervade all its other articles. Two groups of articles in the CRC reflect the child's right to participate. The first group focuses on the forms of participation, the context of participation and the conditions of participation. The other group of articles focuses on the requirements of participation. The classification is not, however, exclusive where some paragraphs within one group of articles may overlap with the content of the other group Articles 12, 13, 14, 15, 31 and 40 belong to the first group. They give the child the right to participate in the form of expressing views and opinions either orally, in written form, or through any other media. Article 12 demands the child's opinion to be respected and given due to weight when decisions that affect his life are taken. This shows that the CRC takes the right of participation seriously and not as a ritual or a slogan. Article 15 in particular spells out the child's right to participate not only individually but also as a member of an organised group. Such a form of participation makes the child understand the power of organisation and teaches him or her the tactics and procedures of the democratic process. As a group, children are more able to deal with the adult world. They can, for example, influence the decision making process in the school system through students' associations more than they can individually. Two systems were referred to in the CRC as contexts for child's participation. Article 31 specifies participation in cultural and artistic activities, and two articles -- 12 and 40 -- are concerned with the child's participation in the juridical system, particularly when getting into conflict with the law. The two articles give the child the right to influence the decision of a court by providing him or her the opportunity to be heard either directly or through a representative or a body. Although the CRC has referred to these two contexts only for children's participation, other contexts including the family or the school are not less important. Actually the child can influence decisions that vary from what to eat and how to dress to where the family goes for vacation or which house to buy. The child whose parents are separated can also have a say in deciding custodial matters. It is important to note that while the CRC stipulates the child's right to express a voice in decisions affecting his or her life, it guards such rights by certain conditions that guarantee that the outcome represents the best interest of both the child and society. Article 12 puts as a condition consistency with the procedural rules of natural law. Article 13 also states that the child's right to freedom of expression should not infringe on other rights or contradict the national order. Despite stating such conditions, there is still some concern among certain groups that participatory rights will unnecessarily empower children or turn them against their families and societies. A number of articles in the CRC specify the requirements for effective implementation of the child's right to participate. These include articles 5, 12 and 18. Article 5 and 18 underline the responsibility of parents or their substitutes to raise the child in a way appropriate to his or her evolving capacities. They are also responsible for giving appropriate direction and guidance to enable the child to exercise all the rights recognised in the CRC, and particularly the right to participate. Article 18 underlines state party responsibility to assist parents in carrying out such a role. Here the CRC recognises that the right to participate raises controversial issues and is not easily practiced, particularly by children. It has therefore established the need for understanding, acceptance and guidance on the part of parents to enable the child to participate. Article 17 of the CRC highlights the importance of children's access to appropriate information as a prerequisite for formulating a rational and sound opinion. The article differentiates between the type of information that contributes to the development and maturity of the child and other types of information that can lead the child to influence decisions rationally, while a third kind of information can lead the child to decide and act against his or her best interest. The child is entitled to have access to appropriate information and to be protected from harmful information. The abovementioned articles represent the way the CRC makes operational the child's right to participate. As a general principle, however, it interacts with all other rights. On the one hand, violations of any of the rights embodied in the CRC deprive the child of the right to participation. A malnourished or an illiterate child, for example, cannot participate and influence decisions. On the other hand, violations of the child's right to participate deprive him or her from practicing other rights. A child who cannot participate is, for example, easily exploited, economically and otherwise. As the most innovative right provided in the CRC, participation also stands as the most controversial concept in certain circles. Controversy stems from many factors. Being new, it is sometimes misunderstood by state parties, educationalists and families to mean minimising their authority and their role in socialising the child. It sometimes represents a threat to cultures used to considering the child as the property of the family and as an object of actions. In many instances the right of the child to participate is translated negatively to mean encouraging him or her to act wild, to let loose, and end up in jail or an institution as a delinquent. Unfortunately, the participatory rights expressed in a number of articles of the CRC are not seen in their integrity. The balance between rights, conditions and requirements is not fully comprehended as stated in the articles. Misunderstanding that balance does not only create resistance among adults against the child's right to participate, but it can also lead to using that participation as a token amounting sometimes to manipulation. Finally, monitoring the right to participate is a problem to be addressed. Some efforts have been made to identify the degrees of participation, but there is not until now a set of indicators that can measure the implementation of the child's right to participate within different systems. Monitoring of the right is easier in certain systems than in others. Participation in the school system can be monitored through the number of children's associations and procedures followed by them. It can also be monitored and measured by the percentage of time allowed for student questions in the classroom. Monitoring the implementation of the child's right to participate in the family system is much more difficult to achieve. Efforts in this direction have to coalesce, and qualitative indicators have to be used along with quantitative ones. * The writer is president of the Alliance for Arab Women
