The weight of the child's view (Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child)

The right of the child to be heard is an article of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which most clearly expresses the concept of the child underlying the entire Convention. In the legal history of the Convention the substance of this article evolved in close connection with the article on the child's best interests. Based on article 12 manifold practices have been developed, now often are summarized under the heading of participation - a term not used in the Convention. These practices operationalize the article to an extent that questions are raised, in which way the broadly applied procedures can be understood as covered by the article. It is crucial that children are only heard, but their views are given weight.