Exploring why politics are not just for grown-ups

Date: 28th May 2020
Category: General principles, Civil Rights and Freedoms

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Country leaders from New Zealand, Argentina, Finland, and Norway have attempted to address the key concerns raised by their country’s youngest inhabitants in a child friendly way.  Following on from this, young people from Scotland have joined the conversation as to why politics is not just for adults and why their concerns should be listened to.

New Zealend’s Prime Minister announced that the Easter Bunny is a key worker, Argentina’s President assured a mother on Twitter that the country’s favourite mouse- Ratón Pérez is exempt from lockdown and both Finland and Norway’s Prime Ministers held a press conference for their countries children and young people.

Despite children and young people being unable to vote until the age of 18 in national elections politics should focus on their concerns and here are the arguments presented by children and young people across the globe as to why:

• Children and young people make up a large proportion of the entire world’s population. In fact, the World Bank estimated that in 2018, 25% of the world’s population were under the age of 14. Therefore, by taking children and young people’s perspectives seriously this is key to understand the world around us more clearly.
• Children have no inhibition, as this develops later on in life and as a result they ask questions and expose matters that adults often gloss over.
• Children and young people have proven to be influential activists that should not be ignored. For example, Greta Thunberg has gone on to lead global school strikes for climate justice at the age of 15, the teenage movement known as the ‘daughters’ revolution is pushing for the legislation of abortion and in Bolivia children are fighting for safer working conditions to safeguard them from exploitation.

Read the conversation here.