7 September 2023
With the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child or the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989, the United Nations (UNO) took an important step towards recognizing children’s rights in international law.
Today, the CRC represents an important international agreement dedicated to the complete protection of children and their rights, which are recognizable and visible in various areas of the child’s life (e.g., education, health) and are also involved in implementing these in various areas. It is not enough for the state to accept or even ratify the CRC for children’s rights to be meaningful – it must also implement it in practice (Rico & Janot, 2021, p. 280). Therefore, we cannot ignore the fact that many children worldwide suffer numerous violations of the rights supposedly guaranteed to them by the CRC.
The importance of play for children was recognized 30 years before the adoption of the CRC, as it is set out in paragraph 3 of the 1959 Declaration on the Rights of Children. Article 7 stipulates that the child must have all opportunities for play and entertainment aimed at the same objectives as education. In 1989, the CRC further strengthened this right of the child, which was explicitly recorded in Article 31, thereby contributing significantly to its rapid development, establishment and recognition.
The play and its main representatives (children) have been viewed with concern for many years. Playing is described and viewed as a waste of time, something you do when you’re not working as well as frivolous and marginal behavior. As a result (and, unfortunately, this is still the case in many places today), playing became less well-catered in schools, residential areas, and workplaces because it is seen as a waste of money, space, and staff (Hughes, 1990, p. 59).
Despite the previously mentioned negative views about play, we cannot ignore that play is now considered the probably most effective, comprehensive, and appropriate learning process that children can go through. Play cannot be equated with a time-wasting. Therefore, play is significant for all of us. However, it is especially important for children who have little or no access to a play environment due to poverty, overcrowding, pollution, or family or cultural constraints (Hughes, 1990, p. 59).
Fronczek wrote (2009, p. 28) that play is a key factor in children’s well-being. Therefore, we cannot and must not view play as a luxury or make it dependent on realizing other rights. In 1990 already, Hughes (1990, p. 58) warned that the children’s right to play was considered a ‘forgotten right’ of children. Children often lack the time, space and resources to play the way they want or need. Often, they are also ‘victims’ of their parents’ unachieved childhood goals and wishes, which they now aim to achieve through their children, at the expense of their children. The latter is particularly expressed in the disregard and waiver of the right to play to achieve the parents’ higher goal.
The right to play also has an economic, social and cultural character. Through play, children learn to be part of a community and furthermore learn to discover and accept the rules and value systems of the social community they live in (Mrnjaus, 2014, p. 218). The right to play should not be seen as a luxury but rather as a fundamental right of a child, which is already of great importance in childhood (Lott, 2022, p. 757), but also later, when the child becomes an adult. Children begin life as entirely dependent beings, dependent on adults, who must educate and guide them to become independent. However, children are not considered the property of their parents or the state but have an equal status as members of the human family (UNICEF, n.d.). The CRC does not create a hierarchy of rights. Therefore, all set-out rights must always be exercised in the interests of the child’s best interests and no right may be jeopardized by a negative interpretation of the child’s best interests (Committee on the Rights of the Children, 2013a, p. 3). The child’s right to play, as defined in Article 31 of the CRC, must, therefore, be understood and treated as an independent right. It is a right that is crucial for the child’s further development. Article 31 of the CRC recognizes the right of every child to play, rest, leisure, recreational activities, and free and full participation in cultural and artistic life.
Children’s play is also a primary form of participation. Children learn the rules of social life and social norms through play and become aware of their relation to adults in their community (Mrnjaus, 2014, p. 220). Children’s play has its own culture, different from that of adults, which adults may find difficult to access or understand (Cowan, 2022, p. 15). Play from one generation is usually different from another generation’s play. The previous generation often doesn’t understand the next generation’s play. It looks at it with its own eyes, perception and understanding and often has no understanding of the next generation’s play. Adults may even define many games as dangerous, inappropriate and even taboo (e.g. games related to toys in the shape of weapons, games related to death and dying). However, it should not be ignored that children’s games (children aged 4 to 6 years) are often associated with events (e.g. natural disasters, wars, COVID-19, death in the family) that are either directly or indirectly impacting their everyday lives (Cowan, 2022, p. 16). For example, after disasters such as the 2001 September 11th bombings in the United States and the earthquakes in New Zealand, the themes of the games children played reflected that they were related to their experiences of these events (Cowan, 2022, pp. 16 and 25). During play, children also experience or re-experience various emotions, including frustration, determination, achievement, disappointment and self-confidence, and can learn to control these emotions through play (The British Psychological Society, n.d., p. 2). Through play, children also acquire so-called emotional literacy (Lott, 2022, p. 770).
From Article 31 of the CRC, it follows that contracting states are obliged to recognize the child’s right to play. The states have to ensure that children have the opportunity to play and participate in various cultural, recreational and artistic activities. However, it does not specify how exactly the countries should do this. As such, the children’s right to play is not explicitly mentioned anywhere in the Slovenian Family Law (FL).
Despite the fact that every child has the right to play, there are groups in which there is a risk that children in these groups will not achieve or be unable to realize this right. These vulnerable groups include, for example, girls, children living in poverty, children with special needs and children from autochthonous or, indigenous or minority communities (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2013b, pp. 15-16).
Through Article 31, the CRC mandates contracting states to identify the relevant key services and agencies responsible for children’s play. These services are intended to develop plans that include play opportunities for children of all ages and abilities. The latter is significant to ensure the opportunity to play in difficult conditions that may otherwise limit children’s ability to play or their access to play (e.g., war, natural disasters) (Bernard von Leer Foundation, 2009, p. 26).
General Comment No. 17 defines play as child-initiated, controlled and structured behavior that is optional, driven by internal motivations and not a means to an end, and has the key characteristics of fun, uncertainty, challenge, flexibility and non-productivity (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2013b, pp. 5-6). According to Richard-Elsner, games and entertainment promote creativity, imagination, self-confidence, self-efficacy, and cognitive and emotional strength. Through play, children negotiate, resolve conflicts, make decisions, learn to shape their social position in the world and make friends (Richard-Elsner, 2013, p. 4).
A distinction must be made between the so-called ‘free play’, often used to distinguish it from organized leisure and learning activities, which have an equally important role in child development. The characteristics of free play are control, uncertainty, flexibility, novelty, and unproductivity, and thus, those that create a high level of enjoyment and at the same time an incentive to continue playing (Bernard von Leer Foundation, 2009, p. 25). Sluss (2005) defines free or unstructured play as any voluntary activity by a child that satisfies them and is carried out by the child independently of adult guidance. Free play is also characterized by the fact that the child does not focus on the outcome of the activity but on the activity itself.
Children’s leisure and play are increasingly associated with learning and no longer with the joy of the play itself. Children’s play is institutionalized and increasingly occurs in specialized centers (Mrnjaus, 2004, p. 227), which are otherwise specially equipped and offer enormous opportunities for children. However, this game often moves from nature to ‘closed (commercial) spaces’, where it is again subject to the rules set by adults (e.g. certain games are age restricted; no ‘acting out’, no loud talking…). This means that children’s play is no longer free, but is at least partially organized, directed and controlled by adults once again.
Digitalization has penetrated all areas of our private and business lives. It is, therefore not surprising that the play, gaming and toys sector has also come under the influence of digitalization. Games, or video games, played digitally on consoles, computers or mobile devices, including mobile phones, have become the new dominant cultural form of the 21st century (Sefton-Green, n.d.). Access to the digital environment and its use are important for realizing children’s rights and fundamental freedoms, their inclusion, education and cooperation, and the maintenance of family and social relationships. Today, the right to play also extends to the digital environment (Livingstone & Pothong, 2021a, p. 16). The term digital environment does not only mean the internet. The term digital environment does not just mean the Internet. The digital environment encompasses the interaction of the evolving spectrum of networked digital services (content, software and applications) from commercial, public and other providers. This includes all computer and digitally connected technologies and services, often referred to as ICT, the Internet, the World Wide Web, mobile devices and networks, the Web, applications, social media platforms, electronic databases, big data, the Internet of Things, information society services, the media environment, online games and all developments that enable access to the digital environment (Stiftung Digitale Chancen, 2023). It should not be ignored that the threshold for entering the ‘digital world’ has shifted to almost very early childhood. Children’s leisure time in the digital environment can be at risk through unclear or misleading advertising or very appealing or playful design features. Contracting states should ensure that companies do not target children by using these or other techniques designed to favor business interests over those of children by adopting or applying data protection, privacy and security approaches and other regulatory measures (General Comment No. 25, point 110). Children are familiarized with modern advertising and marketing techniques in the digital environment from an early age. Since children’s ability to make informed commercial decisions is lower than that of adults, they are more exposed to various marketing manipulations (e.g., hidden advertising in games or encouragement of children to play or buy products).
References:
*Bernard von Leer Foundation (2009). Realising the rights of young children: progress and challenges. Early Childhood Matter, 113 (The Hague: Bernard van Leer Foundation).
*Bibaleze.si (2022). Tako se otroci naučijo veščin, ki so bistvene za življenje, URL: https://www.bibaleze.si/malcek/vzgoja-in-vrtec/poznate-eno-temeljnih-otrokovih-pravic.html (27. Juli 2023).
*Committee on the Rights of the Children (2013a). General comment No. 14 (2013) on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration (art. 3, para. 1). CRC/C/GC/14, URL: https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/gc/crc_c_gc_14_eng.pdf (20. Juli 2023).
*Cowan, K. (2020). A Panorama of Play – A Literature Review. Digital Futures Commission (London: 5Rights Foundation).
*Družinski zakonik (Familiengesetz) (FG): Uradni list RS, Nr. 15/17, 21/18 – ZNOrg, 22/19, 67/19 – ZMatR-C, 200/20 – ZOOMTVI, 94/22 – Entsch. VerfG, 94/22 – Entsch. VerfG, 5/23.
*Hughes, B. (1990). Children’s play – a forgotten right. Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 2(2), 58–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/095624789000200207, URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/095624789000200207 (20. Juli 2023).
*Livingstone, S. & Pothong, K. (2021a). Playful by Design: A Vision of Free Play in a Digital World. Digital Futures Commission (London: 5Rights Foundation).
*Lott, N. (2022). Establishing the Right to Play as an Economic, a Social and a Cultural Right. The International Journal of Children’s Rights, Vol. 30, 755–784.
*Mrnjaus, K. (2014). The Child’s Right to Play?!. Croatian Journal of Education, Vol. 16, 217-233.
*Richard-Elsner, C. (2013). Recht auf Spiel. Unerzogen, 2/13, 6-9.
*Rico, P.A. & Janot, B.J. (2021). Children’s Right to Play and Its Implementation: A Comparative, International Perspective. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 10(2), 279-294. doi: 10.7821/naer.2021.7.665
*Sefton-Green, J. (o. D.). 6. Play and learning in the digital age, URL: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/79d4c173-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/79d4c173-en (3 August 2023).
*Sluss, D. J. (2005). Supporting play: birth through age eight (Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning).
*Stiftung Digitale Chancen (2023). Child Protection and Children’s Rights in the Digital World, URL: https://childrens-rights.digital/einstieg/index.cfm (3. August 2023).
*The British Psychological Society (n.d.). DECP Position Paper – Children’s right to play, URL: https://www.infocoponline.es/pdf/Childrens-right-to-play.pdf (18. Juli 2023).
*UNICEF (n.d.). Child rights and why they matter – Every right, for every child, URL: https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/child-rights-why-they-matter (19. Juli 2023).
