Progressing children’s right to be heard in public decision-making: Perspectives on using social and digital media to facilitate children’s participation

Children’s right to be heard is expressed in Article 12 of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Mechanisms and methods to facilitate the inclusion of young people’s views have been developed by youth workers, advocates and policy-makers and include diverse consultation approaches, including surveys, polls, consultation meetings and formal structures such as youth parliaments. Even though social and digital media are now pervasive in the lives of children, the potential to use these as tools to facilitate youth consultation is still surprisingly at an early stage of development. This paper presents findings from a national mixed-method study on how digital technologies might be further harnessed for this purpose. One hundred and fifty-six children (6 to 17 years) and 22 professional stakeholders from government departments, public agencies, industry and civil society were consulted regarding their experiences and attitudes towards facilitating children’s participation through social and digital media. While children and young people generally expressed optimism about their potential, professional stakeholders held varying opinions regarding the pros and cons of utilizing digital tools. This paper highlights the contours of this sometimes contentious debate over the appropriate balance to be struck between protection and participation in using digital technologies and taking into consideration children’s best interests in realising their right to be heard. Drawing on the findings, we present a set of principles to guide the future deployment of social and digital media to facilitate children’s participation in public decision-making.