Publications
A vital part of IAWGCP activities is advocacy for meaningful children’s participation in all areas of public and private life. Publications are key tools for explaining why and how children should be included in this way. IAWGCP publications are available in hard copy and as electronic downloads in pdf format.
Minimum standards for consulting with children
International organizations are under increasing pressure to include children in meetings at which their welfare and rights are discussed. The minimum standards for children’s participation in events and meetings away from their home base are the result of inter-agency experiences and evaluations since 2000. The standards are accompanied by a detailed operations manual containing practical guidance about how to achieve them, from the first invitations to follow-up activities after children return home.
"A major contribution to global efforts to increase the quality and effectiveness of children's participation" Jaap E. Doek, Former Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
Copies can be downloaded in pdf format:
Download Minimum Standards for consulting with children
Download Operations manual on children’s participation in consultations
Children's participation in decision making: Why do it, when to do it, how to do it
An important tool for parliamentarians, national leaders and other decision makers as they put into practice greater involvement of children in decision making, this booklet clearly explains:
- Why children's participation is increasing accepted and promoted;
- How children's participation should become part of the normal operation of governments, institutions and communities;
- How children's participation is practiced throughout the world.
This booklet is essential reading for anyone in public leadership and service. A copy can be downloaded in pdf format.
Download Children's participation in decision making
Children as active citizens: A policy and programme guide – Commitments and obligations for children's civil rights and civic engagement in East Asia and the Pacific
This guide presents a broad agenda for the civil rights of children, bringing together a wide range of approaches, providing a strong rationale for the promotion of children's civic participation and citizenship as an essential contribution to realizing children's rights as a whole. Guidance is provided on the practical application of the civil rights of children to a name, freedom of expression, access to information, complaints procedures, justice and economic equality. A set of basic actions for government, civil society and media are identified and proposals made for monitoring advances.
This publication guide is the result of a year of intensive collaborative work involving IAWGCP organizations and other partners in the East Asia and Pacific region. A separate introductory booklet provides an overview of the basic principles, ideas and experiences elaborated in the guide itself.
"… will serve as a reference tool for involving younger children and marginalized children …" Professor Yanghee Lee, Chairperson, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
Downloads ready by 31 January 2008
Download introductory booklet
Download Children as active citizens