Between protection and participation: Rethinking children's rights to participate in protests on streets, online spaces, and schools

This article engages in a critical reflection on children's right to participation, focusing on their participation in three key spaces-streets, online spaces, and schools. These spaces are mentioned frequently in UN documents, yet the principle of protection tends to trump that of participation when it comes to children's activity in these spaces. Such treatment would not only underestimate the participatory dynamics of these spaces but also reinforce the dominant understanding of children as vulnerable, passive, and immature beings. By critically examining UNICEF's annual report, "The State of the World's Children," through a qualitative content analysis and drawing on recent counterexamples of children's activities in these spaces, this article reconceptualizes the participatory capacities of these spaces.