On November 13-14, 2025, the scientific conference [UN]WRITTEN CHILDREN’S RIGHTS took place in Warsaw. The conference focused on the legal agency of young people, exploring the status of the child as a legislator—an active, participatory, and agentic subject acting in their own affairs. The analysis included, among other things, rights that create linguistic sets of concepts, schemes, actions, and techniques which children themselves can use to support themselves and others; the adult-legalized contribution of children to the public order; and various forms of self-determination for youth (youth and children’s councils, school governments, participatory budgets, youth self-advocacy). The conference also examined the forms and content through which children are educated and brought up into a specific legal culture and particular ways of thinking about law, rule of law, the common good, and justice.
Active participation in the event was taken by members of the Center: Dr. Hab. Urszula Markowska-Manista delivered a lecture titled Between Agency and Survival: Strategies of Self-Determination, the Right to Voice, and the Subjectivity of Children in Conditions of War, Militarization, and Genocide. Dr. Maria Balkan-Małecka presented a paper titled The Youngest Citizen: A Comparative Analysis of Children’s Books on Democracy and Children’s Rights in Poland and Switzerland.
The event was organized by Korczakianum Scientific Workshop of the Museum of Warsaw, the Institute of Polish Culture at the University of Warsaw, and the Faculty of Education at the University of Warsaw.
