When decision-makers are going to decide something that concerns children, they must know what children think and include it in the decisions. Now young people from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway challenge you to take this seriously.
Why decide with children - from the perspective of local and national decision-makers
Tage Pettersen, parliament politician (NO)
Liv Gustavsen, parliament politician (NO)
Mona Nilsen, parliament politician (NO)
Mona Nilsen, parliament politician (NO)
Tage Pettersen, parliament politician (NO)
Maria Stagis, local decision-maker (DK)
- This magic will happen if you decision-makers take our views seriously:
- It's both serious and sad if you decision-makers don’t take our views seriously:
The convention on the rights of the child oblige decisionmakers
When the interests of a large number of children are at stake, Government institutions must find ways to hear the views of a representative sample of children and give due consideration to their opinions when planning measures or making legislative decisions which directly or indirectly concern the group, in order to ensure that all categories of children are covered.
UNCRC General comment 14, 91
Much of the opportunity for children’s participation takes place at the community level. The Committee welcomes the growing number of local youth parliaments, municipal children’s councils and ad hoc consultations where children can voice their views in decision-making processes. However, these structures for formal representative participation in local government should be just one of many approaches to the implementation of article 12 at the local level, as they only allow for a relatively small number of children to engage in their local communities. (..)
UNCRC General comment 12, 127
Children should be in decisions because even though we might look younger or even have a different childhood we’re still just as much of humans as any other person. We shouldn’t judge or give other people different worth because we’re “younger” than what this society prefers.
Leaders often talk about including everyone no matter the race, where you are from and how you look, but it often feels like then you forget the youth. Leaders talk about equality then why are youth not included as much as everyone else. Don’t forget about us!
– Youth participants from the project