Policy Assessment: National governance and infrastructures supporting child participation

This report identifies national governance structures, and infrastructural components and mechanisms associated with upholding, fulfilling and bolstering the participation rights of children and young people in public decision-making processes. In recent years, many countries around the world have made significant efforts to uphold children and young people’s human rights. However, children and young people’s opinions are not always heard and their inclusion in decision-making processes is often limited, with many political rights reserved exclusively for adults. There is a prevailing perception that children and young people lack the cognitive capacity to contribute meaningfully to complex policy discussions and they are frequently seen as passive agents. Legal frameworks often fail to recognise children and young people’s rights to participate and there is a lack of child-friendly infrastructures.