Children and young people are the only social group that is systematically excluded from political participation. In their book Children – a minority without protection Aladin El-Mafaalani, Sebastian Kurtenbach and Klaus-Peter Strohmeier impressively demonstrate how this fact affects the reality of young people's lives. On this evening in February at the HDKDW, El-Mafaalani outlines a future in which children's welfare is increasingly deteriorating, while their voices continue to go unheard. But what does that mean in concrete terms? What social and political developments are exacerbating this situation? And what solutions could help?

Political normalisation and the consequences for young people

The last few years have been particularly formative for children and young people: those born in 2007 are eligible to vote for the first time this year. When they were in primary school, over a million refugees came to Germany. They cannot remember a time when the AfD did not exist. When they became teenagers, the pandemic struck, and it is well known how much all the protective measures affected children and young people. The war in Ukraine began in 2022, and new refugees came to their schools and classes. And, of course, the climate crisis also has a decisive impact on their lives. Support for the AfD is growing among young people, which, according to El-Mafaalani, suggests that they are accepting a political reality that still seems alien to older generations. The discourse is increasingly dominated by right-wing currents, while adults who oppose them are losing credibility among many young people.

El-Mafaalani emphasises that this development has long-term implications. 

Those who are ten years old today will be eligible to vote in 2033 – with the certainty that cooperation with the AfD has long since become normalised for many parties. The political consciousness of this generation is shaped by a world in which crises and uncertainties are part of everyday life.

Children as an invisible group

However, children and young people are rarely taken into account in political decisions. While older generations are able to assert their interests, children lack institutional representation. Historically, children were particularly visible when they were numerically strong – for example, in the baby boomer generation. Today, however, there are fewer children than ever before (in 2024, there will be twice as many people aged 60 as those aged 6 in Germany), and they are also at the highest risk of poverty and discrimination. This leads to social imbalance: while more and more resources are being poured into pension systems, education and childcare infrastructure is falling by the wayside.

El-Mafaalani identifies a key problem in the fact that children are increasingly being placed in institutions such as daycare centres and schools, which are primarily optimised for the labour market rather than for the well-being of children. The planned expansion of all-day schooling is one example: it primarily serves to increase parents' employment, says El-Mafaalani. But what does it mean for children when they spend more time in institutions than with their families, especially when these facilities are not designed with children in mind?

Educational inequality and lack of participation

Education is one of the key factors in empowering children. Recent studies show that many children lack a mentor at school who takes an interest in them. Children who are already disadvantaged are particularly affected. Schools where children say they feel important show significantly better results – an indication that participation and well-being are key factors for educational success. However, if children spend even more time in the future in institutions that have been systematically ruined by cost-cutting, with overworked teachers and fundamentally too few educational staff, then it must be assumed that individual interest in each child will decline even further and that any compensation within the family cannot be expected in terms of time alone. 

Cooperation between teachers and social education workers is also often inadequate, as traditional structures prevent close collaboration. A cultural shift in education is needed to make schools a malleable living space for children.

Digital and analogue spaces for children

Children and young people have hardly any spaces of their own – neither in the analogue nor in the digital world. The use of public spaces is severely restricted, and digital platforms are often not a safe place of refuge. Violent and pornographic content is being consumed at an increasingly early age, mostly involuntarily. At the same time, there is a lack of analogue alternatives where children can move around safely and independently.

New concepts are needed here: community centres, intergenerational projects and stronger networking between educational and leisure facilities could help to enable children to participate more. El-Mafaalani devotes an entire chapter to these ideas in his book. One approach could be to involve senior citizens more closely in working with children – as mentors who can contribute their experience and time and build bridges between the generations. With the baby boomer generation, there could be enough fit senior citizens to get involved in the coming years. 

What needs to happen now

El-Mafaalani identifies three key levers for improving the situation of children:

1. More investment in education – A „special education fund“ to create better conditions for teaching staff and infrastructure.
2. A cultural shift in education – Greater cooperation between teachers and social education workers in order to make schools more child-friendly.
3. Networked thinking – Intergenerational approaches that involve senior citizens as resources for education and care tasks.

Current developments show that if we do not act, the situation for children will continue to deteriorate. It is high time to stop viewing children as a vulnerable minority and start seeing them as a key group that will help shape our future.

I only read the book after the event. It is a scientific non-fiction book that focuses on a thorough analysis of the current situation of children and young people, while the resulting political conclusions make up a smaller part of the book. Nevertheless, one thing remains clear: children need a lobby! And the book outlines possible courses of action to achieve this! 

• Publisher: Kiepenheuer&Witsch
• Publication date: 16 January 2025
• Price: €24.00 (hardcover)
• ISBN: 978-3-462-00752-7
• 288 pages

Authors: Aladin El-Mafaalani, Sebastian Kurtenbach, Klaus Peter Strohmeier