The years since the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989 have borne witness to an extraordinary proliferation of activity all over the world as professionals, academics, local activists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), politicians, policy makers and children have sought to grapple with the implications of the principle embodied in its Article 12, which recognises children's right to express their views and be taken seriously in all matters affecting them. Understanding of what is meant by participation varies widely but, if it is to be meaningful, needs to be an ongoing process of children's expression and active involvement in decision making at different levels in matters that concern them. It requires information sharing and dialogue between children and adults, based on mutual respect and power sharing, and must give children the power to shape both the process and outcome. Furthermore, issues relating to their own evolving capacity, experience and interest should play a key role in determining the nature of their participation (O’Kane, 2003).

Within that definition, the expression of participation has taken many forms, with children engaged in advocacy, social and economic analysis, campaigning, research, peer education, community development, political dialogue, programme and project design and development, and democratic participation in schools. This wealth of experience provides an invaluable body of evidence from which to begin to draw together some of the critical lessons as to the determinants of effective participation, the barriers to its realisation and the challenges to be overcome.

Recognising and respecting children's evolving capacities

In order to understand Article 12, it is necessary to give closer scrutiny to the concept of evolving capacities of children, embodied within Article 5 of the UNCRC. This key, but, to date, much less familiar principle, asserts that the rights and responsibilities for children, with which parents are vested, must be directed to the exercise by the child of their rights ‘in a manner consistent with their evolving capacities’. In other words, as the child acquires capacities, there must be a gradual transfer of the exercise of rights from care givers to children themselves. Not only are children entitled to express their views and have them taken seriously, but they also have the right to take those decisions for themselves that they are competent to take. This entitlement raises significant questions as to how that competence is assessed, respected and promoted.