Human Rights-Based Approaches to Programming

The Right to Be Heard

Article 12 of the Convention on the Right of the Child (CRC) upholds children’s right to be heard and to express their views freely in all matters that affect them. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has issued a General Comment on Article 12 which elaborates on this right.

The right to be heard – or child participation - is supported by other rights such as children’s right to freedom of expression (article 13), freedom of assembly (article 15) and the right to access information (article 17). Children’s right to be heard depends on the fulfilment of these rights. Children should be well informed about their situations, options and their rights, they should be given the space to form and discuss opinions.

Adopting a rights-based approach to children’s participation in decisions that affect them means that states should introduce measures enabling children to contribute their views and experiences to the planning and programming of the implementation of all their rights. States, advocates and organisations working for children’s rights should ensure that children’s views are taken into consideration in all settings. Children should be given the opportunity and space they need to be heard in judicial and administrative proceedings.

Parents, teachers, nurses and other adults should be capable of listening, understanding and transmitting these views.

Children’s right to be heard is one of the four guiding principles of the CRC along with the right to non-discrimination, the right to survival and development and the best interest of the child.

This means that article 12 should guide the interpretation of the other articles and be of relevance to all aspects of the implementation of the Convention.

Read the speech of Thomas Hammarberg, the former Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe on children’s right to be heard.

Example: Iceland, the young people’s constitution project

Iceland has begun work on revising the country’s constitution. UNICEF Iceland teamed up with the Ombudsman for Children and the City of Reykjavik to launch a participation project based on the Icelandic constitution and the proposed constitutional amendment. The project, The Young People’s Constitution, aims to ensure the opinions of children and young people are heard and taken into account during the constitutional amendment process.

Read more about the Young People’s Constitution project.

Read CRIN’s interview with Kristinn Johannsson, a young person who participated in the project.

Learning to Work Together: a Handbookfor Managers on Facilitating Children’s Participation in Actions to Address Child Labour: 28.10.2004; This handbook combines lessons learned by working children and adults.
Links: Child Rights and Participation: 30.10.2004; An inexhaustive list of web resources related to child rights.
Introducing the Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child – and “The Checklists”: 12.3.2005; These guidelines published by UNICEF on the use of the Convention on the Rights of the Child are reproduced only in part. Separate links to each of the articles and the "checklists" from the Handbook.
Monitoring Children’s Rights – a Toolkit for Community-Based Organization: 12.3.2005; Designed for community leaders, local children’s rights advocates and those working with young people, this toolkit aims to help mobilise and coordinate resources in communities to develop effective monitoring practices for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Children and Participation: Research, Monitoring and Evaluation with Children and Young People: 12.3.2005; This briefing is about using participation in information gathering during research, monitoring and evaluation with children and young people.
So you Want to Involve Children in Research?: 12.3.2005; This toolkit is a handy guide and reference book for participants and others wanting to develop CRP tools and staff capacity for integrating CRP into their programmes both now and in the future.
An Introduction to Child Rights Programming – Concept and Application: 12.3.2005; These guidelines demonstrate some of the practical implications of adopting a rights– based approach to programming work with children.
Supporting Children's Meaningful and Ethical Participation: A Toolkit Produced for the UN Study on Violence Against Children: 12.3.2005; This toolkit is Save the Children’s first contribution to the UN Study on Violence Against Children. It is designed to encourage and inspire all those interested in children’s participation in the Study and its two components are intended to be of practical help to anyone involving children in research or consultations.
Promoting Rights-Based Approaches: Experiences and Ideas from Asia and the Pacific: 12.3.2005; Save the Children has promoted rights-based approaches through training workshops, programme reviews, discussions, documents and practical programme experimentation. All of this work is based on a firm commitment to human rights and the fundamental principles of universality, indivisibility, accountability and participation.
Access for All – Helping to Make Participatory Processes Accessible for Everyone: 14.3.2005; The handbook describes common obstacles to rights-based approaches, and how to overcome them with specific procedures and planning
Understanding and Evaluating Children's Participation: 16.8.2005; This review of contemporary literature examines current approaches to the evaluation of children's participation in development.
Relatório sobre a situaçao dos direitos da criança e do adolescente no Brasil: 30.8.2005; O objetivo do informe é apresentar à sociedade brasileira e, em especial, aos movimentos de defesa da criança e do adolescente os avanços e retrocessos da situaçao infanto-adolescente e juvenil do País, nesses últimos 10 anos.
Principles into Practice: Learning from Innovative Rights Based Programming: 12.10.2005; In 2004, CIUK invited CARE country offices around the world to submit examples of work which charted their attempts to incorporate a rights-based approach. This initiative specifically sought to gain insights into a number of aspects of what it means to apply “a rights lens” in practice.
Children and Young People Participating in PRSP Processes – Lessons from Save the Children’s Experience: 29.8.2006; This paper outlines Save the Children’s
experience in facilitating children and young
people’s participation in PRSP processes,
arguing that they can make a significant
contribution within this vehicle to developing
effective strategies to tackle poverty.
Reader on Children and Rights Based Programming No. 5: 5.6.2009; The reader contains selected resources about children and rights-based approaches to programming. This includes basic texts, legal instruments, best practice documents, policy and advocacy documents, monitoring and reporting tools, training material and websites. Further resources are available on the rights-based programming website www.therightsapproach.org.
Communications Procedure: Advocacy Toolkit: 3.12.2009; This Advocacy Toolkit has been prepared by the NGO Group for the CRC to support those who are interested in joining the campaign for a communications procedure under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It contains background information about the campaign, lists of campaigning and lobbying activities you could undertake at national level, questions and answers, a glossary and a feedback form.
Complaints Mechanism: Updated Advocacy Toolkit: 16.6.2010; This is an updated Advocacy Toolkit aimed to support those interested in joining the campaign for a communications procedure under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It contains background information about the campaign, lists of campaigning and lobbying activities you could undertake at national level, questions and answers, a glossary and a feedback form.
Complaints Mechanism: Updated Advocacy Toolkit: 18.11.2010; This is toolkit is for activities leading up to the UN meeting in December 2010 to discuss the draft Optional Protocol. This toolkit also contains a commentary on the draft and an explanation about collective complaints.
Bringing up Children in a Changing World: Who’s Right? Whose Rights?: 19.7.2011; This study of child rearing beliefs, goals and practices in Nepal uses children’s rights as a framework for analysing the realities of children's lives.
So You Want To Consult With Children – A Toolkit of Good Practice: 20.7.2011; This toolkit is a handy guide and reference book for participants and others wanting to develop CRP tools and staff capacity for integrating CRP into their programmes both now and in the future.
GLOBAL: A Framework for Monitoring and Evaluating Children's Participation: 16.8.2011; A preparatory draft for piloting by Save the Children, together with UNICEF, Plan and World Vision. This project is funded by the Oak Foundation.
GLOBAL: Monitoring and evaluating children's participation: 16.8.2011; A chance to take part in a pilot to test out new materials to measure children’s participation. The pilot will be launched by Save the Children, UNICEF, Plan International and World Vision, supported by funding from the Oak Foundation.
Programming for Justice: Access for All: 17.8.2011; A Practitioner's Guide to a Human Rights-Based Approach to Access to Justice.
The Right of Children to Be Heard: Children's Right to Have Their Views Taken Into Account and to Participate in Legal and Administrative Proceedings: 17.8.2011; This paper addresses the right of children to be heard in any judicial or administrative proceeding affecting them. It introduces the subject based on examples from the laws and practices of 52 countries around the world, shedding further light on a topic covered in the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre publication Law Reform and Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (2007).
Involving youth in development policy research: lessons learnt: 30.8.2011; This Project Briefing synthesises the findings of a DFID-funded study that examines the impacts of global shocks on youth - primarily in Ghana, Mozambique and Vietnam.
Minimum Standards on Consulting with Children: 2.12.2013; The Steering Committee for the regional consultations in relation to the UNVAC in the East Asia and Pacific Region has developed a series of Minimum Standards on Consulting with Children.
Evaluation Project to the Minimum Standards on Consulting with Children: 2.12.2013; Evaluation Project: evaluation of the Minimum Standards concluded that although use of the Standards significantly affected the participation of children at the Regional Consultation, Standards were not sufficiently monitored or enforced. Informed by the evaluation process, the Standards and the Protocol have been revised into the present form – where, in particular, mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation have been strengthened.
Protocol to the Minimum Standards on Consulting with Children: 2.12.2013; This is a package known as the ‘Protocol’ is annexed to the Standards that includes guidelines, forms and briefing papers that help to implement the Standards. The Protocol acts as procedure for the policy and is designed to be a practical tool for those facilitating the participation of children (particularly at the national level). Documents in the Protocol are specific in nature and are relevant to the regional context.

CRIN - Child Rights Information Network

Human Rights-Based Approaches to Programming

The Right to Be Heard

Rights Themes