The Convention on the Rights of the Child introduces for the first time in an international human rights treaty, the concept of the 'evolving capacities' of the child. The Convention allows for the recognition that children in different environments and cultures, and faced with diverse life experiences, will acquire competencies at different ages. The resources in this Key list stress the importance of participation in understanding how child development impacts on children as subjects of rights. They explore how children's evolving capacities need to be understood in the context of a child's right to development, a respect for the competencies that they acquire and protection from experiences and decisions that they have not yet acquired the capacity to take responsibility for.
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