The right to free time in childhood and adolescence

The right to leisure is explicitly cited in article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and is the focus of this edition of the CHALLENGES newsletter. Leisure is understood as a time of personal growth, creation, recreation and participation in society. The main article in this newsletter addresses the issue as a dimension of well-being for the region’s adolescents, explores the activities they carry out, highlighting some gender differences, and raises some challenges. Among them, it discusses the priority given to time spent on freely chosen activities, inclusive and equal access to cultural, recreational and leisure activities, the urgent need to prevent and eliminate child labour, the importance of digital media in adolescents’ recreation and the need for information sources that can provide a fuller picture of their experiences.