El derecho a la participación infantil de niñas, niños y adolescentes en situación de riesgo: menores no acompañados, niños y niñas afectados por conflictos armados y trabajadores infantiles. [The Participation Rights of Children and Adolescents at Risk

Abstract

690 Children, Youth and Environments Vol. 17 No. 2 (2007) ISSN: 1546-2250 El derecho a la participación infantil de niñas, niños y adolescentes en situación de riesgo: menores no acompañados, niños y niñas afectados por conflictos armados y trabajadores infantiles. [The Participation Rights of Children and Adolescents at Risk] Save The Children España, (2006). 167 pages. $Free. The participation of children and youth challenges us and stimulates us to build new ways to relate and envision and build new realities. In recent years, especially within the framework of the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the reflection on child and youth participation processes has been deepened; the fact of regarding children as holders of rights—as citizens—has challenged adult-centric positions and spurred the development of actions for the promotion, defense and protection of the children’s rights. However, too often, children and youth—who represent 40 percent of the world’s population—are still excluded from decisionmaking processes and are still treated as passive actors, without any regard for their views or their interests. Thus, achievement of protagonistic participation remains a challenge in every sphere of life, an ambitious path to tread side by side with young people. This publication is an invitation to deepen the discussion on child and youth participation, with a special emphasis on young people at risk. It gathers a great number of voices and discussions held within the framework of a seminar entitled, “The Defense of Children’s Rights: The Right of Minors at Risk to Participate,” and the training workshop entitled, “The Participation of Boys and Girls in the Cycle of Cooperation and Social Inclusion Projects” carried out by Save The Children between May and June 2006. The text presents various political stances and theoretical and methodological frameworks related to the promotion of child participation; it also illuminates practices and testimonies that 691 explain the diversity of participative processes. It presents state and local experiences of non-governmental organizations, as well as experiences with national and international networks committed to child and youth participation. Equally, it offers a series of methodological propositions and legal mechanisms for including the voices of children and adolescents and facilitating the full exercise of their rights. This collection invites an analysis of the peculiarities of experiences in various contexts, such as Latin America, Africa, Europe, and India. This comparison invites us not only to look into the universes and views of each locality’s children but also to investigate different propositions for intervention in each region. Also emphasized in this collage of views are the testimonies of children and youth. These become windows into their perception of the world, their strategies, their formal and informal organizational ways, their abilities, and their possibilities. This is a text that makes propositions, asks questions, denounces myths and challenges us to commit to child participation. It is directed toward both professionals who work in the management and design of public policies and those who work directly with young people in schools, neighborhoods and communities. The diversity of windows it opens and the legal and methodological tools it proposes are an interesting contribution for professionals of various fields, such as anthropologists, sociologists, social workers, lawyers, psychologists, teachers, and health educators, among others. The uniqueness of this collection lies in the fact that some of the texts— particularly the testimonies and concrete experiences—can be shared in direct work with young people. The first part of this book presents the papers presented and the discussions held during the seminar, and the reflection and analysis are centered on the right of young people to participate in those matters that affect them. The authors expound various views of child participation from the legal framework of the CRC, and agree in regarding children as rights holders. The authors discuss adultcentricity and equitable relationships between children and adults, with various emphases. This section focuses especially on the 692 situations and processes of foreign unaccompanied minors and child workers, presenting portraits of the actors, testimonies, and strategies developed by the protagonists themselves, both individual and collective (i.e., child networks and movements). The second part...