Multi-dimensional lens to article 12 of the UNCRC: a model to enhance children’s participation

ABSTRACT

Children’s participation has significantly increased in the last three decades; however, participation rights, as outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, are often undermined by a range of dominant identities and traditional social constructions. As children’s participation processes are immersed in complex environments and multifaceted social identities, this article examines the experiences of marginalised children in Brazil and explores how identities enable or restrict their opportunities to realise their participation rights. By discussing the intersection between identities and inequalities, the paper revisits a model for child participation proposed by Laura Lundy and offers an expanded typology that includes three dimensions: ‘intersecting identities’, ‘enabling environments’ and ‘dimension factors’. In doing so, the revised model seeks to address complex forms of exclusion and marginalisation which result from a range of intersecting social categories.

KEYWORDS:

• Children and young people's participation
• children's rights
• social identities
• inequality
• inclusion

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the generous contributions of children and young people and adults professionals from Brazil involved in the project. Many thanks to the anonymous reviewers for discussions related to ideas within this article and the broader childhood studies discourse.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This article uses the definition set forth by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) of a ‘child’ which they have broadly defined as ‘a person below the age of 18’.

2 Candomblé is a contemporary Afro-Brazilian syncretic religion, especially practiced in the state of Bahia. Practitioners believe that every person can controls his or her destiny and acts as a protector.