Bolivia's Children's Parliament: Bringing Participation to the National Stage

Abstract

Children, Youth and Environments 15(2), 2005 Bolivia’s Children’s Parliament: Bringing Participation to the National Stage Jayashri Sarkar Blanca Mendoza1 Plan International Bolivia Citation: Sarkar, Jayashri and Blanca Mendoza. (2005). “Bolivia’s Children’s Parliament: Bringing Participation to the National Stage.” Children, Youth and Environments 15(2): 227-244. Comment on This Article Abstract The Bolivian Children’s Parliament experience is a concrete model of children’s participation that holds value for the child and adolescent participants themselves, and does so in a public way. Children hold their parliamentary sessions in the National Congress in the very seats of their adult congressional representatives, thus projecting a clear image of the participation of children and adolescents at a national level. Fueled by the signing of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, this model has joined children, adolescents, and governmental and nongovernmental institutions in realizing children’s right to participate in issues that affect their lives at a national level. As a relatively new experience, there is much to be learned in terms of processes for the Parliament and addressing the difficulty of local replication given the cultural diversity and scattered population of the country. Nonetheless, this is a promising practice in the solidification of democracy in Bolivia. Keywords: participation, governance, children's rights, Bolivia© 2005 Children, Youth and Environments Bolivia’s Children’s Parliament: Bringing Participation to the National Stage 228 The Convention Paves the Way The Convention on the Rights of the Child is heralded as the UN Convention that most quickly galvanized widespread international support, despite differences in cultural practices and beliefs. Bolivia signed on to the Convention in 1990, and subsequently took several legislative actions to solidify the rights of children throughout the country, including the Law for the Minor (1992) which translated rights outlined in the Convention into Bolivian law, and the creation of Child Protection Centers (1996), which provide a government institution in each municipality to oversee child protection issues. The Convention establishes four distinct areas of children’s rights: survival, development, protection, and participation. Among these rights, the first three areas are most often addressed by legislation and the establishment of Children’s Protection offices. The fourth area, participation, is often forgotten. The right of participation specifies that children should be heard and involved in decisions that affect their lives in accordance with their age and maturity (UNCRC 1989). The Children’s Parliament experience in Bolivia brings national attention to children’s right to participate. This is a concrete model of children’s participation that not only holds value for the child and adolescent participants themselves, but does so in a public way. Children hold their parliament sessions in the national congress in the very seats of their adult congressional representatives, thus projecting a clear image of the participation of children and adolescents at a national level. The participation of children and adolescents in the Children’s Parliament helps to create the conditions through which they can develop their own judgment and become better positioned to make valuable contributions to society over the long term. In a country in which the experience of democracy is quite new and—like in all countries—not perfect, participation in the Children’s Parliament gives the children and adolescents a chance to experience the democratic process first hand and draw their own lessons from this practice. This not only makes them better legislators in their own parliament, but also prepares them as citizens within a democratic society to contribute to the solidification of democratic practices. Democracies do not construct themselves, but depend upon each citizen’s ability to reason, question and act within the framework democracies define. In short, the habits of democracy must be formed and honored for a nation to move forward in the best interest of all its citizens. These habits require not only minimum levels of education and understanding, but also trust, compassion, solidarity, and peace; these convictions and attitudes can be built from concrete experiences in which shared values contribute to agreed upon outcomes. The Children’s Parliament is meant to be such an experience, helping in a small way to provide the opportunity for young people to...