Wednesday 17 November 2010

New Guidelines For Child Friendly Justice

New guidelines on child-friendly justice, providing governments with guidance on improving children’s access to justice – civil, administrative or criminal - have been adopted today by the Council of Europe.

“The justice system cannot be blind to the fact that children have specific needs and rights,” said the organisation’s Deputy Secretary General Maud de Boer-Buquicchio.

“When children are involved in judicial proceedings, the scales of justice can only be balanced if the children’s best interest is preserved and if they are given a proper chance to understand what is at stake and participate in the decisions concerning them.

“Protecting and promoting children’s rights has been and will continue to be a priority for the Council of Europe. Our message is simple: children’s rights must be guaranteed, and this cannot be the case if justice is denied to children.

More than 3,700 children from 25 countries were involved in drawing up the guidelines. Their comments helped to shape provisions on the right to be heard and to receive information, to enjoy independent representation, as well as the right to access independent and effective complaints mechanisms.


More Information

Guidelines
Building A Europe For And With Children

2 comments:

  1. Great hope and that this is respected !

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  2. Le grand manque dans cette histoire ! c'est que le Comité des Droits de l'Enfant ne peut examiner les plaintes émanant des particuliers lorsque qu'il y a eu violation de la Convention Internationale des Droits de l'Enfant soit par un état ou ces représentants. Un protocole facultatif lié à cette convention ne serait pas du luxe et permettrais de garder un œil objectif sur les devoir de chacun.

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