Evolving capacities is the concept in which education, child development and youth development programs led by adults take into account the capacities of the child or youth to exercise rights on their own behalf.
For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law.Evolving capacities recognizes that as children acquire enhanced competencies there is less need for protection and a greater possibility that they can take responsibility for decisions affecting their lives.
[4] 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.
This is the reason why the Committee on the Rights of the Child has sought information on minimum legal ages for legal and medical counseling or medical treatment without parental consent, creating and joining associations, and participating in administrative and judicial proceedings when it developed the guidelines relating to Article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
[7] As an interpretative principle, evolving capacities operates to ensure that other provisions in the Convention on the Rights of the Child are interpreted in a way that recognizes and fosters respect for the evolving capacities of the child.