Children and adolescents

from social aphonia to participation in the discussions on public policies

Abstract

Children and young people’s participation right is proclaimed at national and international norms, namely when they set the right to free thought manifestation and to have their opinion taken in account in matters that affect them. In the last two decades, many governmental and nongovernmental actions, projects and programs began to incorporate participation as one of their guidelines. In the present paper, I intend to approach some issues that the ongoing experiences brought up. To do so, I will take as reference the emblematic case of the Children’s and Adolescent’s Participatory Budgeting from Fortaleza, Ceará (Brasil), experience that I followed daily from 2005 to 2009, due the abundance of elements which it offers. Under the same “participatory process” designation it can be found very diverse experiences with different democratic potentials. All of them, however, raise ethical, political, methodological and operational questions which can not be neglected under the risk of becoming a simulacrum, that do not promote rights and do not build democratic spaces effectively.