children and young people report to the UN on their rights - Nova

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6 Summary <strong>and</strong> conclusionsNorway ratified <strong>the</strong> <strong>UN</strong> Convention on <strong>the</strong> Rights of <strong>the</strong> Child on 8January 1991. All countries that have ratified <strong>the</strong> Convention undertake <strong>to</strong><strong>report</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>UN</strong> on <strong>the</strong>ir compliance every five years. Norway’s fourth<strong>report</strong> is <strong>to</strong> be delivered in spring 2008. As part of that <strong>report</strong> <strong>the</strong> Ministry ofChildren <strong>and</strong> Equality wished <strong>to</strong> communicate <strong>children</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>young</strong> <strong>people</strong>’sviews on growing up in Norway, seen in relation <strong>to</strong> some articles of <strong>the</strong> <strong>UN</strong>Convention. Eight municipalities were invited <strong>to</strong> obtain <strong>the</strong> views of<strong>children</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>young</strong> <strong>people</strong>. They were <strong>the</strong> Alna district of Oslo, Alta, Bjugn,Kau<strong>to</strong>keino, Lilles<strong>and</strong>, S<strong>and</strong>nes, Skedsmo <strong>and</strong> Trondheim. NOVA wasasked <strong>to</strong> provide guidance for <strong>the</strong> project <strong>and</strong> <strong>to</strong> present <strong>the</strong> results in anoverall <strong>report</strong>.Chapter 1, Background <strong>and</strong> framework for <strong>the</strong> projectThe chapter describes <strong>the</strong> project’s organisational set-up <strong>and</strong> implementation.Information was obtained from <strong>children</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>young</strong> <strong>people</strong> on core<strong>the</strong>mes such as awareness of <strong>the</strong> Convention, well-being <strong>and</strong> co-determinationat school, various forms of discrimination <strong>and</strong> unfair treatment,leisure activities <strong>and</strong> access <strong>to</strong> health services. Six municipalities carried outquestionnaire-based surveys; three of <strong>the</strong>m also employed qualitativeinterviews. Two municipalities confined <strong>the</strong>mselves <strong>to</strong> qualitative interviewswith various groups of informants. The survey contains information frompupils at all levels of <strong>the</strong> compulsory school system, <strong>and</strong>, in one municipality,also day care centre <strong>children</strong> – in all 1,274 <strong>children</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>young</strong> <strong>people</strong>. Thisfigure includes information from minority, refugee <strong>and</strong> asylum-seeking<strong>children</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>children</strong> who are clients of <strong>the</strong> child welfare service or o<strong>the</strong>rtargeted services – In all 32 <strong>children</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>young</strong> <strong>people</strong>. The samples are notdrawn in such a way as <strong>to</strong> ensure representativity, or in such a way that <strong>the</strong>results can be generalised, ei<strong>the</strong>r <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> particular municipality or <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong>country as a whole.Chapter 2, Awareness of <strong>the</strong> <strong>UN</strong> Convention on <strong>the</strong> Rights of <strong>the</strong> ChildThe survey showed that about half of <strong>the</strong> interviewed <strong>children</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>young</strong><strong>people</strong> were aware of <strong>the</strong> <strong>UN</strong> Convention. Awareness levels varied widely,however. In one municipality two out of three <strong>report</strong>ed that <strong>the</strong>y knew of<strong>the</strong> Convention. In one grade in ano<strong>the</strong>r municipality almost 86 per cent– Children <strong>and</strong> <strong>young</strong> <strong>people</strong> <strong>report</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>UN</strong> on <strong>the</strong>ir rights – 57
eported <strong>the</strong> same. Hence <strong>the</strong> results are somewhat better than in an earliernational survey in which about 38 per cent in <strong>the</strong> age range 15-24 answeredthat <strong>the</strong>y knew of <strong>the</strong> Convention (Norway’s third <strong>report</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>UN</strong>, 2003).The number of those who were aware of <strong>the</strong> Convention was exceeded bythose who knew that <strong>the</strong>y had rights at home, at school <strong>and</strong> in <strong>the</strong> widersociety. This is an underst<strong>and</strong>able result in as much as <strong>children</strong>’s rights areimpelled by several sources.Many knew little about <strong>the</strong> subject matter of <strong>the</strong> Convention, <strong>and</strong> whatknowledge <strong>the</strong>y possessed often came across as fragmentary. Several of <strong>the</strong>qualitative quotes <strong>and</strong> interviews none <strong>the</strong> less revealed a high degree ofreflective ability, both with regard <strong>to</strong> personal circumstances <strong>and</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong>problems faced by <strong>children</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>young</strong> <strong>people</strong> in many o<strong>the</strong>r countries.Children <strong>and</strong> <strong>young</strong> <strong>people</strong> were particularly concerned with equality <strong>and</strong>fairness <strong>and</strong> by <strong>the</strong> fact that <strong>the</strong>ir counterparts in o<strong>the</strong>r parts of <strong>the</strong> worldface a more difficult life situation than <strong>the</strong>y do <strong>the</strong>mselves. It is worrying that<strong>children</strong> from refugee services <strong>and</strong> asylum reception centres appeared <strong>to</strong> beless aware of <strong>the</strong> Convention than o<strong>the</strong>rs.The answers showed that <strong>children</strong>’s knowledge of <strong>the</strong> <strong>UN</strong> Conventionon <strong>the</strong> Rights of <strong>the</strong> Child varied from one municipality <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> next, indeedeven within <strong>the</strong> same school <strong>and</strong> grade. This can reasonably be interpreted inlight of differences in municipal organisation, differing priorities at schools<strong>and</strong> also among teachers. Despite <strong>the</strong> fact that awareness of <strong>the</strong> Convention<strong>and</strong> of <strong>the</strong>ir own rights had reached many <strong>children</strong>, <strong>the</strong>re are no institutionalsafeguards <strong>to</strong> ensure that all <strong>children</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>young</strong> <strong>people</strong> are made aware of<strong>the</strong> Convention <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir rights.Chapter 3, Children’s well-being <strong>and</strong> co-determination at schoolChildren’s <strong>and</strong> <strong>young</strong> <strong>people</strong>’s answers showed that a large majority werehappy at school, in <strong>the</strong>ir class/group <strong>and</strong> at break time, from about 60 <strong>to</strong>more than 90 per cent. This accords with findings in a series of o<strong>the</strong>r surveys(Bakken 2003, Kjærnsli et al. 2004). However, surveys also show that up <strong>to</strong>20 per cent are not happy <strong>and</strong>, in <strong>the</strong> case of about 5 per cent of <strong>the</strong> latter,life at school is onerous (Nordahl 2008). In <strong>the</strong> present survey <strong>to</strong>o a numberof pupils struggled with various aspects of school life due <strong>to</strong> relations withfellow pupils <strong>and</strong>/or teachers. A large majority had friends <strong>and</strong> someone <strong>to</strong>talk <strong>to</strong>. At <strong>the</strong> same time <strong>the</strong> number <strong>report</strong>ing that <strong>the</strong>y had friends <strong>to</strong>spend time with far exceeded <strong>the</strong> number who experienced school as acompletely safe <strong>and</strong> secure place <strong>to</strong> be. In one municipality more than 30 per58– NOVA Report 2b/08 –
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