Children and young people’s participation rights: looking backwards and moving forwards

McMellon, C. and Tisdall, E. K. M. (2020) Children and young people’s participation rights: looking backwards and moving forwards. International Journal of Children's Rights, 28(1), pp. 157-182. (doi: 10.1163/15718182-02801002)

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Abstract

Children and young people’s participation is an ever-growing demand. Thirty years on from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child’s adoption, however, fundamental challenges continue for participation that are widely recognised cross-nationally but remain stubbornly consistent. As a way in to considering the children and young people’s participation literature more generally, all articles referring to participation in their titles were identified from The International Journal of Children’s Rights. These 56 articles were analysed to identify trends, challenges and opportunities. The analysis found: a remarkably consistent narrative on participation over the 30 years; limitations on domains considered, geography and conceptual clarity; and far more written about challenges than solutions. Drawing on these findings and considering the participation literature more generally, the article recommends that the field expands its geographic and intellectual boundaries, uses powerful concepts like agency, competency and autonomy with greater precision, and explores fresh ideas like child protoganism, activism and children as human rights defenders.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:McMellon, Dr Christina
Authors: McMellon, C., and Tisdall, E. K. M.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > MRC/CSO SPHSU
Journal Name:International Journal of Children's Rights
Publisher:Brill
ISSN:0927-5568
ISSN (Online):1571-8182
Published Online:10 March 2020
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2020 Christina McMellon and E. Kay M. Tisdall
First Published:First published in International Journal of Children's Rights 28(1):157-182
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
303369Transdisciplinary Research for the Improvement of Youth Mental Public Health (TRIUMPH) NetworkJoanna InchleyEconomic and Social Research Council (ESRC)ES/S004351/1HW - MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit