Listening to children best promotes their human rights

Child participation in issues that concerned them still fell victim to tokenism in certain areas due to the lack of a child-friendly environment, the Commissioner for Children said.

"Listening to children and hearing what they have to say is at the root of developing effective human rights for them," Helen D'Amato said.

Child participation was, indeed, not only a fundamental human right as enshrined in the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child but also crucial to ombudspersons and commissioners for children if they wanted to fulfil their mandate effectively.

Ms D'Amato was addressing a seminar of the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children, composed of 37 national entities, at St Joseph Retreat House in Rabat. It tackled the specific role of ombudspersons for children in Europe to make children's voices heard and their rights enhanced.

"For many, the idea of having decisions taken for them, which would profoundly affect their lives and give limited consideration to their views, is unacceptable. And, yet, this is not given a second thought when it happens to children," she said.

But child and youth participation could result in an increase in their active social citizenship and a decrease in their exclusion as well as improved service development. "Anything less than meaningful child participation in decisions on their well-being is an abuse of the fundamental rights of the child and should be addressed urgently."

Ms D'Amato said the principle was as much in the interest of adults as it was for children, with the former standing to benefit from the contributions and views of the latter.

The biggest obstacle to child participation, in her view, was the predominant attitude that providing the necessary structures was unnecessary or a waste of time.

"Any change in the negative mentality towards child participation because they are 'too young to know' should start with us (the ombudspersons and commissioners) by mainstreaming their contribution in our decision-making processes... We must effectively communicate it as a shared responsibility among adults."

To successfully implement child participation, it was crucial that commissioners and ombudspersons for children embedded the principle in their work, Ms D'Amato said.

She acknowledged other obstacles they faced, including limited resources, the absence of supporting structures and legislative barriers that prevented the institutions from intervening where the child's voice was not adequately respected.