Child's right to participate. A comparative study based on the third periodic reports of Finland and Norway submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2003

The object of this study is to compare children's right and possibilities to participate in decision making in matters that affect them in Finland and Norway. I have also compared the official attitudes regarding children’s capability or incapability to take part and be included in decision making in Finland and Norway. The study focuses on institutional level and as data I have used the third periodic reports of Finland and Norway, which were submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2003. The data are official, political documents that have been prepared by the countries’ governments and according to strict guidelines provided by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. As a method of analysis I have used content analysis. The results of my study suggest that according to the third periodic reports of Finland and Norway, the most visible difference in children’s right and possibilities to participate in these two countries has to do with differences in attitudes. Norway’s report claims that children’s right to participate is already a reality in Norway and possibilities to participate exist in Norwegian society. In the Finnish report children’s participation rights stay, for the most parts, at the level of discussion concerning its importance. In Norway, according to the periodic report, children are seen valuable to society already as children, therefore their participation in decision making is also seen as valuable. In Finland, according to the periodic report, the value in children’s participation seems to be in developing better adults-to-be and preventing social exclusion in later life. Within the concept of welfare state children's right to participate in different welfare institutions and systems raises an interesting question of the quality of services provided. Giving children a right to state their views in matters that affect them demands certain professionalism from welfare workers and authorities. A right to participate inevitably develops customers, who are more competent, whether they are children or adults. The more competent the customers are the more aware of their rights and the more capable to make demands they are. And this can cause a need to develop better services that take the views of the customer more into account. There fore research on children's participation rights can in its part help develop new ways to make sure that children's views are better taken into account than they are nowadays. Key words: children's rights, participation, UN Convention on the Rights of the Chil