Active participation of children, adolescents and young people (Participación activa de niñas, niños, adolescentes y jóvenes) This refers to children and adolescents having a significant participation in different spaces and dialogue processes to freely discuss the issues that affect and interest them. For example, plans, programmes, and public policies. For the participation to be considered active, this group must, in
Adolescence (Adolescencia) Adolescence is the period in life between childhood and adulthood. This is a stage in human development that takes place between the ages of 10 and 19. It is characterized by rapid changes towards physical, psychological, and social maturity. This stage entails changes, including the development of primary and secondary sexual characteristics; that is, the physical characteristics that
Advocacy (Incidencia política) This is the set of actions to influence the decisions and behaviors of decision makers. The goal is to position the causes and interests of a specific group of people or citizens. References: Collado, H. (2015). Incidencia política: concepto, importancia y herramientas. Photo credit: bearsky23 Have any questions? MODII can help! Send your query
Age (Edad) The number of years a person has lived. It is possible to understand a person’s stage of life based on their age. For example, the Convention on the Rights of the Child establishes that childhood goes from 0 to 18 years. The World Health Organization indicates that adolescence encompasses ages 10 to 19, and youth from 15 to 24. These conventions, however, sometimes go counter to
Best interests of the child (Interés superior de la niña y del niño) This principle is included in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This establishes that in all public and private actions, decisions or measures affecting children must be adopted considering the protection of their rights, ensuring their well-being, and their integral development first and foremost. This means
Biological sex (Sexo biológico) Biologically defined sex is determined by a person’s reproductive system and their physiognomy. In other words, based on their genetic, hormonal, anatomic, and physiological characteristics. As such, when a person is born they can be: – Woman: with XX chromosomes and a female reproductive system. – Man: with XY chromosomes and a male reproductive system. – Intersex: with a combination of masculine and
Bullying (Acoso escolar, intimidación) The term bullying encompasses all types of violent behaviour, such as threats, exclusion, aggressions, etc., of students towards their peers. This type of behaviour towards the harassed person occurs over time. Sometimes, this harassment and abuse takes place outside of the classroom. When bullying occurs in the workplace, it is known as mobbing. In the majority
Child labour (Trabajo infantil) These are the jobs done by children and adolescents. They affect their physical and psychological development, prevent them from achieving their full potential, and threaten their security. Child labour endangers the child performing it; it causes damages to their physical, mental, or moral well-being; and it truncates their access to education. The education-related consequence can occur
Child marriage (Matrimonio infantil) This refers to a formal or informal union where at least one party is under the age of 18. This is considered a type of forced marriage because at least one of the parties does not have the capacity to give full, free, and informed consent. This is a harmful practice that particularly affects girls, especially in contexts
Child pornography (Pornografía infantil) According to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography, child pornography is ’any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purposes’. In
Childhood (Niñez) Based on the text from the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), childhood is the stage in a person’s life until the age of 18, when they reach the age of majority. However, the Convention clarifies that an exception to this definition takes place when national legal stipulations establish a younger age of majority. In any case, on
Cisgender (Cisgénero) The word cisgender or cis refers to people who identify with the sex or gender they were assigned at birth. The word is used within trans activism in an inclusive way to refer to non-transgender people. Cisgender people do not usually identify themselves as cisgender; this consistency in gender identity is implicit in cis-heteronormativity or cis-homonormativity. The prefix cis etymologically
Commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents (Explotación sexual comercial de niñas, niños y adolescentes) This is a type of sexual abuse where adults use children and adolescents for their own sexual exploitation, or another person’s, in exchange for an economic or in kind payment given to the victim or to another person. The terms of the economic exchange and benefit are
Comprehensive sexuality education (Educación sexual integral) Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is an educational approach to sexuality. It is a rights-based approach and it includes a gender perspective. According to recommendations from international organizations, including the World Health Organization, CSE should be taught since elementary school and continue throughout all levels of formal and informal education. It should, therefore, include age-appropriate content
Confidentiality (Confidencialidad) In the context of health, confidentiality is associated to privacy, trust, and professional secrecy. People who access health services have a right for institutions or service providers to keep their information or data regarding their health a secret, or any other situation they share in the context of a medical consultation. Health services, especially sexual and reproductive health, should
Contraception (Anticoncepción) Contraception refers to the practice, methods, or devices used to prevent pregnancy when having sex. According to Planned Parenthood, ’family planning has always been widely practiced, even in societies dominated by social, political, or religious codes that require people to “be fruitful and multiply”’’ (Planned Parenthood, 2012). The World Health Organization (WHO) and other authorities on the subject use
Contraception methods (Métodos anticonceptivos ) Contraceptive methods are devices or procedures used to prevent sperm from fertilizing an egg to avoid pregnancy. There are various reasons for choosing one method over another. This includes physiological and personality traits, each person’s life conditions, the way the person lives their sexuality, and the possibilities of accessing these methods, etc. For the World
Convention on the Rights of the Child, CRC (Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño, CDN) This is an international agreement that gathers the rights of people under the age of 18, in other words, children. Itwas adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989 and entered into force in 1990. This is the most ratified convention in the world.
Cringe This is an event that produces vicarious embarrassment or that represents an embarrassing, shameful, uncomfortable, or unpleasant situation. For example, a person in an event or social meeting trips and falls. In this case, the person who witnesses the event says ‘cringe’ to refer to the feeling of embarrassment it caused. It is commonly used by adolescents and teenagers, and
Crush This refers to an ideal, idealized, and unattainable person, or a platonic love. This is a term used by adolescents and teenagers in conversations to refer to someone they like or they are attracted to, without the other person knowing about this attraction. They might not know each other. In other words, there is no stable relationship and the
