Documents

Why Seen & Heard?

The name of this Institute - Seen & Heard was borne from the well-known expression - Children should be seen but not heard...

We beg to differ. Our philosophy is that of a rights-based approach; we believe that children should be seen, but most importantly they should be heard and listened to!

Each state should have an effective mechanism to listen to children, to take their opinions into account, specifically when the issues being discussed have a direct impact on children themselves.

We believe in active and effective participation, and for this reason we advocate moving away from tokenistic participation and towards stable mechanisms that are both adequate and effective, whereby children may be engaged in decision-making processes, based on their evolving capacities.

VISION

Seen & Heard envisions a society where children in Malta and all over the world, are respected and their best interests given primary consideration, whereby their rights as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols are upheld, and where vulnerable children are given adequate protection so as to allow for a level playing field, for development to their full potential.

MISSION

Seen & Heard strives to achieve a society whereby children are informed about, and may freely exercise, their rights, as well as their adult counterparts be equipped in ensuring a structure conducive to their overall wellbeing. Seen & Heard shall promote Children’s Rights through activities of lobbying, resource building and information dissemination, on issues of children’s rights relevant to Malta and abroad.