According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the right to vote is ‘universal and equal’ for all citizens - a principle reiterated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as in other human rights instruments. And yet, most of those legally defined as children - a third of the world’s population - are currently denied this basic right.
This webinar brings together two speakers, Professor John Wall and Dr Christine Huebner, to discuss children’s right to vote.
John Wall will discuss his recent book, Give Children the Vote: Democratizing Democracy, which lays out the case for why all children should have the right to vote. This case is based on two central arguments: that children in general are sufficiently competent to vote, and that ageless suffrage would systemically benefit children, adults, and societies. The talk will place the children’s suffrage movement within its larger historical contexts, examine the range of objections that are usually raised against young people’s enfranchisement, and explore how children’s voting could be institutionalized in practice.
Christine Huebner will discuss the lowering of the voting age in some elections in Scotland and Wales. There are many arguments for and against the extension of the franchise to children and young people, but little is known about how that would work in practice. Several countries around the world reduced the voting age to below 18, making available empirical data about what really happens when young people attain the right to vote. Based on research from Scotland and Wales, where young people aged 16 and 17 have recently attained the right to vote in some elections, the talk will reflect on important aspects of implementing voting age reform in practice and the impact it can have on young people’s political participation and conceptions of citizenship.
The webinar is jointly hosted by the Centre for Research on Law, Equality and Diversity (LEAD) and the Childhood, Law, and Policy Network (CLPN).
10 ноя 2022
