AbstractChildren and young people are increasingly participating in events organised by international organisations. In spite of a growing body of research on children's participation in decision‐making, little is known about their experiences and the perceptions of adults who attend. This article compares the experiences of 16 children and 12 adults who participated in high‐level global events. Three themes were identified, Representation, Capacity and Impact. Findings suggest that while children and adults identified similar opportunities and challenges for meaningful participation, children's perceptions of their engagement differed from adults' in that they were more likely to be positive about the value of their contribution.
In: Lundy , L , Byrne , B , Lloyd , K , Templeton , M , Brando , N , Corr , M-L , Heard , E , Holland , L , MacDonald , M , Marshall , G , McAlister , S , McNamee , C , Orr , K , Schubotz , D , Symington , E , Walsh , C , Hope , K , Singh , P , Neill , G & Wright , L H V 2021 , ' Life Under Coronavirus: Children's Views on their Experiences of their Human Rights ' , International Journal of Children's Rights , vol. 29 , no. 2 , pp. 261-285 . https://doi.org/10.1163/15718182-29020015
Children have a right to have their views sought and given due weight on all matters affecting them, including at times of emergency and crisis. This article describes the process and findings of the ground-breaking CovidUnder19 survey ("Life Under Coronavirus") which was co-designed with children for children, capturing the experiences of over 26,000 children in 137 countries as to the realisation of their human rights during the first six months of the covid-19 pandemic. Key findings are discussed through the lens of the crc' s four general principles, read alongside children's rights, inter alia, to education, play and to be protected from harm. It argues that governments and public bodies should have sought children's views – not just because they were under an obligation to do so – but because such engagement, now and in crises to come, provides an early warning system that enables decision-makers to mitigate some of the adverse consequences of their responses for children and their rights.