Cultural policy directed at children
Cultural policy directed at children is linked with children’s rights, based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This Convention is an international human rights treaty which obliges the signatory states to honour and respect children’s rights and to harmonise their national legislation to comply with the rights confirmed in the Convention. The Convention defines as a child anyone under the age of eighteen. In Finland, children’s rights are promoted, for instance, by the Ombudsman for Children in cooperation with various authorities.
The promotion of children’s culture is one of the main areas of interest of the Ministry of Education and Culture. Further, some municipalities and regions have cultural policy programmes for children. The steering group set by the Ministry of Education and Culture in August 2012 has drawn up a proposal for a cultural policy programme for children in 2014–2018. The programme proposal advances the government’s goal to support every child’s right to art and culture by strengthening the status and conditions of children’s culture.
