Voice of Children and Young People in Europe

Goals and results

The main goal of Finland's national sub-project is to develop methods, gather good practices, produce training materials and provide training on child participation. Finland's project activities and goals are closely linked to the implementation of the National Democracy Programme and the National Strategy for Children.

More specifically, the aim is to:
- Raise public awareness of authorities on the rights, obligations and methods of equal participation of children and young people (including challenge campaigns and seminars).
- Promote multi-professional co-operation and the everyday participation of young people in schools and educational institutions, but also in e.g. social and health care, child protection and immigration-related services, especially from the point of view of young people in vulnerable situations.
- Test and develop existing and new methods of consulting children and young people in government-level strategy, development or legislative preparation projects, especially on issues important for the future of young people, taking into account the diverse backgrounds of children and young people.
- Develop and introduce new methods of consultation at all levels of government promoting the consultation of, in particular, young people, different linguistic and cultural groups and children with disabilities.
- Produce training material on consulting children and young people targeted to government officials.

Starting points

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, several other human rights treaties and the Constitution of Finland oblige the authorities to take action to strengthen and support the participation of children and young people. In their recommendations on Finland, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has emphasized the need to take into account the participation and consultation of children with special needs and children in vulnerable situations. The recommendations call for particular attention to be paid to ethnic minorities, children with a migrant background and the rights of children seeking asylum, as well as respect for children's opinions or issues related to institutional care for children.

In 2016, the Council of Europe published an assessment tool to enable member states to measure their progress in implementing Recommendation CM/Rec(2012)2 of the Committee of Ministers on the participation of children and young people under the age of 18. In 2019, the Ministry of Justice implemented a project to pilot the assessment tool in Finland, and in the spring of 2020, published an assessment report “We consult, but do not listen” - Children's participation rights in Finland.

According to the assessment report, development needs have been identified in, among other things, child impact assessment and ex-post monitoring, both in terms of legislative preparation and administrative decision-making. The main areas for development relate to the child-friendliness of the consultation methods and the consideration of the principle of the best interests of the child. More participation practices are needed, especially for young children, children who need different means of communication and children from different language groups. The general awareness of professional groups working with children about the rights of the child should be strengthened and education related to the rights of the child should be intensified in both basic and further education.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin's government program outlines the need to strengthen democracy education and the participation and consultation of young people. In accordance with the government program, the National Democracy Program has set the goal of raising the awareness of the authorities working with children and young people about the rights, obligations and methods related to the equal participation of children and young people.
According to the National Strategy for Children, children's opportunities to be involved, to be heard, to receive information and to be active and competent members of society must be comprehensively secured in age-appropriate manners. At present, children's involvement and consultation are fragmented and not implemented in all decision-making concerning children. Another problem is that some children are repeatedly ignored and unheard.

Furthermore, according to the National Youth Work and Policy Program (VANUPO) set for 2020-2023, tools for civic participation aimed at young people must be developed. The right of young people to participate and be heard in matters that concern them is not always realized in all decision-making or legislative preparation. In particular, there are challenges from the point of view of equality for the social participation and influence of young people with ethnic, linguistic and cultural minorities, young people with disabilities and young people not in education, employment or training (NEET).