2. The UNCRC and children’s right to participate The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) acknowledges children’s social and economic rights and the principle that childhood is a period of entitlement to special protection. Instead of regarding children simply as recipients of adult protection, the UNCRC also recognises that children are subjects of those rights and that having those rights means that children have a right to be heard. This recognition of children as subjects of the rights is expressed either explicitly or implicitly in a number of articles in the Convention: Article 5 gives children the right to direction and guidance according to their evolving capacities; Article 9 gives children the right to make their views known in any decision to separate them from their families; Article 12 gives children the right to express their views and that the views be taken seriously; Article 13 gives children the right to freedom of expression; Article 14 gives children the right to freedom of conscience, thought and religion1; Article 15 gives children the right to freedom of association; Article 16 gives children the right to privacy; Article 17 gives children the right to information; and Article 29 gives children the right to education that promotes respect for human rights and democracy. Article 12 forms the core of these rights, insisting as it does on the ‘visibility’ of children in their own right. ‘Implementing the right involves a profound and radical reconsideration of the status of children in most societies and the nature of adult/child relationships.’1 It radically challenges the traditional assumption that children should be seen and not heard, and requires adults to listen to children, to take their views seriously, and to recognise the value of children’s own experiences, views and concerns in the making of decisions that affect their lives. 1 Gerison Lansdown, “Promoting children’s participation in democratic decision-making”, Innocenti Research Centre (UNICEF 2001), 1 3