CHILDREN’S VIEWS ON CHILDREN’S RIGHTS. Some results of a comparative research in Catalonia (Spain) and Molise (Italy) – A qualitative analysis

The societal interest to fully recognize children’s participation in social life is high, but there are still too many discrepancies between the ideological and theoretical assumptions and the real-life attitudes. This article reports the findings of a research carried on in 2001-2002 to investigate the perception and the importance that the common child has of the rights ratified by the UN Convention. Data have been collected on about 1600 school-children aged 9 to 13 living in Molise (Italy) and in Catalonia (Spain). The questionnaire addressed to children is focused on 16 items exposing children to contrasting everyday life situations concerning their own rights in opposition to other children’s and adults’ rights; 5 more items are addressed to highlight their own conception of rights. We have analyzed which are the rights that children consider relevant and important in their everyday life and what meaning do they give to the expression “to have rights”. We tried to understand also if the social image that children have of themselves as “rights holders” coincides or collides with the one that adults have. We discovered that children’s valorial system seems to orientate their opinions and motivations, making them able to consider extensive or particular the exercise of a certain right. This research constitutes a first effort to evaluate the strength that the culture of childhood has in some specific areas and territories which have been totally unexplored until now.