Under the slogan “In the city, the right to equality”, 628 schoolchildren in their third, fourth, fifth or sixth year of primary education from 21 Barcelona schools and special education centres have been tasked by the Mayor, Jaume Collboni, to write the Children’s Proclamation. This year’s process reflects on the right to equality, resulting from concerns raised by children participating in last year’s process.
Children in this new edition will be reflecting on the right to equality and how it is violated, through activities organised into four main areas: sexual and gender orientation; religion and origin; abilities, and social equity.
A new aspect introduced this year saw children conduct prior research in the form of a gymkhana in their neighbourhood or district, the goal being to identify who works on this right, how they do it and which situations or actions help them or not. This process led to reports with suggested improvements, which they have already submitted to their corresponding districts.
The speech will be read out by children representing the different schools on 14 February, in front of the Mayor, coinciding with the festivities for Santa Eulàlia.
Children’s right to participation
The Children’s Proclamation is an education programme to promote the dissemination of children’s rights and their recognition as full citizens, as set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The programme helps highlight the importance of values such as coexistence and participation in the city, getting children more involved in improving their surroundings and building the city. It is also a way of helping children to engage more closely with Barcelona’s institutions.