Making (Deliberative) Waves: Reimagining democracy with and for children
Across the world, many are calling for change in how we ‘do’ democracy. There’s a need for ordinary citizens to be included in decision-making. In this article, we share key developments for children’s rights and deliberative democracy over the last year. We also include an invitation to join CRIN’s ‘Children and Democracy Network’, a global community of practice dedicated to shaping how we collectively advance children’s involvement in democratic processes.
Last year was immensely challenging for children’s rights, and for democracy. While the turn of a new year can bring feelings of fresh starts, better selves, and resolutions, 2026 has continued to feel uncertain, heavy, noisy, fast, slow, hyper-connected, and entirely disconnected all at once. We are continuing to see rising tensions and divisions, democratic backsliding, deepening inequalities, climate breakdown and multilateral institutions under strain. What this means for children is something we cannot ignore.
Easing into this turbulent year, we have been reflecting on our work on children’s rights and democracy. What does democracy mean in times where its very principles are increasingly subject to threats and appropriation?
Across the world, many are calling for change in how we ‘do’ democracy, and for the need for ordinary citizens to be included in decision-making. At CRIN, we've been exploring how initiatives based on deliberation, such as citizens’ assemblies, can help us reimagine what inclusive participation means across generations, including with children at the decision-making table.
In this article, we share our analysis of key developments for children’s rights and deliberative democracy over the last year. We also include an invitation to join CRIN’s ‘Children and Democracy Network’, a global community of practice dedicated to shaping how we collectively advance children’s involvement in democratic processes.
Children as active participants in democracy
Despite under-18s representing a third of the world’s population, most children continue to have no direct say in the rules and laws that govern their lives. There continue to be paternalistic attitudes about how children should be ‘protected’ from participating in decision-making, most readily illustrated by not being given the right to vote. This exclusion endures across democratic and authoritarian states alike, despite the recognition in international law that children are rights-holders, with the right to have a say on matters that affect them.
Many children feel this acutely, and are exercising their civil and political rights by leading protests, demonstrations, community mobilisation, and accessing justice through the courts. They are also turning out to participate in national, state, and municipal elections, as well as in referenda, in the few jurisdictions where 16- and 17-year-olds have been given the right to vote. Children are not passive consumers of our political systems, but active citizens involved in shaping the world around us, and our collective futures.
First-hand childhood experiences of democratic participation - together with civic education - matter greatly. While our forthcoming research explores why and how under-18s should be given the right to vote, there must also be other ways for children to meaningfully engage in democratic processes while they remain disenfranchised.
Promisingly, there is continued interest and momentum in how children and young people can be involved in deliberative democracy, particularly in relation to citizens’ assemblies.
Citizens’ assemblies bring together a group of citizens, broadly representing the demographic makeup of a given population, who are randomly selected through a process of democratic lottery also known as ‘sortition’. Assembly members are supported to learn, deliberate and create recommendations in response to a specific issue or question.
Most citizens’ assemblies are designed to engage adults. However, there is a growing recognition of the need for children’s representation in citizens’ assemblies – connected to the fact many assemblies set out to address questions about the climate crisis, an issue of direct concern to, and impact on, children.
Professor Graham Smith, of the University of Westminster and Chair of the Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies, explained what is broadly meant by the term “citizens” in our 2024 webinar on children and youth participation in climate citizens’ assemblies:
“The use of the term “citizens” is more rhetorical and inclusive: anyone living in the area of an assembly has the right to be involved, including those without citizen status, and children, who are often not classified as citizens. Children and young people are citizens now, as well as future citizens who will be impacted by the decisions made today.”
With an emphasis on facilitated learning and dialogue, future visioning and collective decision-making, citizens’ assemblies can provide valuable avenues for children to experience their participation rights within their schools, communities and different levels of governance.
“All of us involved in the Assembly agree that our experience has taught us something powerful: that when young people come together, we do not just bring opinions — we also bring hope, creativity, and determination. We are ready to help design solutions, but we need leaders to open the doors for us to do so. But if these doors are opened, these visions do not need to remain hypothetical. They can become a possibility that we can all create, children and adults together. But it starts with us being given the opportunity to have our say.– Oisín, aged 16, in a statement to the United Nations about his experience as a citizens’ assembly member in Ireland’s Children and Young People’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss.
A global snapshot
In 2025, many more citizens’ assemblies expanded to involve under-18s. As the handful of examples below illustrate, children’s participation has varied considerably in terms of level and type of involvement, age of participants and the topic of deliberation. We are also seeing more and more deliberations that centre discussions about children, rights and intergenerational fairness more broadly. While the majority of assemblies have largely focused on climate and environmental issues, children have also been engaged in deliberations on other key children’s rights issues: digital safety, play and leisure, and participation in local governance.
Examples of recent assemblies include:
The Nationaal Burgerberaad Klimaat, the Netherlands’ first National Climate Assembly, brought together 175 citizens aged 17–87, as well as 60 children and young people aged 9–18 through a parallel Children’s Climate Summit, organised by UNICEF and De Kleine Ambassade, a child and youth participation organisation. The two processes came together, with participating children and young people presenting their findings to the Assembly during its fifth session, and with the reports from both processes launched in December 2025.
Poland held its first national youth citizens’ assembly on digital safety between March and May 2025, led by Fundacja Pole Dialogu in cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Affairs and UNICEF Poland. There were 31 young people aged 15–18 selected by democratic lottery to deliberate on how to make the internet a safer place for children and young people, ensuring that the protection of children and young people on the internet does not come at the expense of their rights to freedom, privacy and information.
At the national level, France's third national citizens’ assembly took place on the topic of ‘Les temps de l'enfant’, or Children’s Time. As well as being the subject of the deliberation, 20 children and young people between 12–17 were invited to share their experiences with the 133 adult assembly members.
At the regional level, We Do Democracy in Denmark held a regional citizens’ assembly, ‘Young Influence’, in partnership with five municipalities. There were 55 young people aged 15–24 who had been randomly selected by democratic lottery to deliberate and form recommendations on how young people can be better involved in local democracy. The final report includes the assembly’s recommendations for establishing councils for young people between the ages of 15–25 in all municipalities, as well as bringing democracy practices into primary schools, so children experience real influence over issues in the classroom.
The regional Porirua Assembly in New Zealand became the country’s first citizens’ assembly to involve children and young people. It brought together 50 adults reflecting the broader population of Porirua to deliberate how the local community can respond to the climate crisis. As shown in this short film, children and young people were engaged through local schools. A follow-on initiative, Future Unity, was created by some of the young people involved to continue to amplify the voices of children and young people after the assembly concluded.
In Germany, the city of Lüneberg held a citizens’ jury on ‘consumption-free places for children’ from September to November 2025, in response to concerns about the lack of public, free places available to children, young people and families in the city. Local children and young people were invited to share their views with the 30 adult participants (aged 18–86) through a survey developed by the local Youth Forum (a committee of 12- to 22-year-olds). The survey findings were also presented directly to local politicians and the city administration. Reflections from children and young people are included in the citizens’ jury final report.
And although it’s just two months into the new year, the momentum continues. This February, the City of Milan, Italy begins its Power Up! Youth Climate Assembly, bringing together 90 children and young people aged 14–18 from high schools across the city. Assembly members will discuss four key issues for the city's future with technical experts and facilitators, and develop policy recommendations for the city and other urban contexts, both in Italy and Europe more broadly.
Next month, citizens’ assemblies will take place across two children’s sports clubs in Germany. Randomly-selected children and young people aged 10–18 will share their experiences of being a member of the club, and create a shared vision of the clubs’ future.
In April, a children and young people’s climate assembly will begin in the state of Jalisco in Mexico, led by Pro Sociedad in partnership with the Secretariat of the Environment and Territorial Development, the Secretariat of Planning and Citizen Participation, and the Integral System for the Protection of Children and Adolescents. Plans are also underway to convene a city-wide climate assembly in Nairobi, Kenya later this year.
There has also been a surge in citizens’ assemblies focused on the youth demographic, such as the Youth Climate Assembly in Canada which brought together 33 young people aged 18–25, and the ongoing European Commission's transnational Youth Citizens’ Assembly on Pollinators, which has convened 100 young citizens aged 18–29 from across the 27 Members States. Similarly, citizens’ assemblies are being used within university and college settings with young adults as a way of shifting power in educational establishments. Whilst these processes have not included under-18s, they contribute to the recognition that a rethinking of democracy is needed to engage younger generations who feel disillusioned and excluded from traditional forms of democratic participation. There is also a genuine interest to expand processes to under-18s in the future.
More citizens’ assemblies with the adult population have also set the lower age of eligibility to 16, even in contexts where the legal voting age is 18. This is significant, as it has promising potential to contribute towards a bigger societal conversation about the enfranchisement of children. There are important, unanswered questions about the experiences of those who are 16- and 17-years-olds in these processes which we will be exploring further.
An invitation
The ‘deliberative wave’ has undoubtedly caught the attention and imagination of those working to ensure that children can have a say in the important decisions affecting current and future generations.
Looking ahead, we know that this is a critical moment for reimagining our democracies. CRIN’s work and collaborations in this space have shown the need for a space to connect, across sectors and geographies. If we are to advance children's rights in the reimagining of democracy, then we must not work in siloes - we need to build bridges between those working in children's rights, democracy, civic education and intergenerational fairness. This is why we are launching the Children and Democracy Network: a global community of practice with bi-monthly online gatherings to learn from one another, amplify others' experiences and increase the momentum to advance children's rights in democracy.
Our first gathering will take place on Tuesday, 17 March 2026, from 15:00–16:00 GMT.
During this session, we will set the scene for the community of practice, reflect on how it has evolved, and explore some of the emerging challenges for children’s rights in relation to democracy. We will also discuss the wider deliberative democratic landscape and consider how children and young people might be meaningfully included within it.
We will hear from:
Yves Dejaeghere, Executive Director - Federation for Innovation in Democracy – Europe (FIDE)
Katie Reid, Advisor (Child Rights, Democracy and Climate) - Child Rights International Network (CRIN)
Children and young people who were members of citizens’ assemblies in Scotland, Ireland and Austria
You’re invited to join us! To learn more and express interest in being part of this community, click here.
Alongside this, CRIN is continuing our work advising, training and supporting democracy practitioners, civil servants and community organisers from across the world on children’s involvement in citizens’ assemblies, as well as on deliberative democratic processes more broadly. We will also soon launch our research report on children’s right to vote.
To learn more about our work, visit our Children’s Rights and Democracy page.