Children Deprived of Liberty: 2 years after the presentation of the Global Study to the UNGA

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  • September 29, 2021
Alex Kamarotos

Alex Kamarotos

Executive Director DCI International Secretariat

Depriving children of their liberty is depriving them of their childhood…One of the important messages that came out of the 2019 publication of the Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty (GSCDL). Children deprived of liberty are largely an invisible group of children, and the Study faced significant challenges since the launch of the campaign for a Global Study in 2014, from the collection of data by member states, up to its publication in 2019. This is the 3rd global study of this kind, following the 1996 report of Graça Machel on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, and the 2006 United Nations Study on Violence against Children, led by Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro. Many experts and NGOs have identified this gap in child detention and deprivation of liberty more general. In 1986, DCI published “Children in Adult Prisons.” This publication included information from 28 countries that were collected through questionnaires that DCI had conceived and circulated. The main focus was on children detained together with adults, however, 3 years before the adoption of the Convention, this study puts on the international agenda already some key-questions, such as the minimum age of criminal responsibility, and the incoherence of the national legislations; it also points out the fact that in all cases examined we can never be satisfied when a child is in prison while other non-custodial measures could be found in the ‘child’s best interests’. 

The adoption of the Convention in 1989 was a big step forward that was not only linked to the specific Article 37 providing for the deprivation of liberty “shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time,” but also linked to the other general principles that introduce the holistic rights-based approach. In 2006, Sergio Pinheiro in his World Report on Violence against children touches upon the subject within the chapter “Children in custody and detention” and starts framing the dimensions of the problem worldwide with concrete examples from all continents. However, concrete data was still missing in order to prove to member states that this is a priority both in terms of gravity as well as of number of children concerned.  In 2007, UNICEF estimated that more than 1 million children were detained through justice systems worldwide at any one time, although they added that this is likely to be a significant underestimate given the difficulties in obtaining data about the many unreported children in custody. In 2014, when Defence for Children International (DCI), together with Human Rights Watch and some 40 other NGOs launched a campaign for a Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty, very few organisations and experts believed that the this was something feasible. Despite the difficulties, forty-five (45) major NGOs joined together with DCI to send a letter to the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, asking for the Global Study. The Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Méndez, the UNCRC, and other individual personalities and experts joined their voices to support for the idea of a Global Study. Finally, in December 2014 the General Assembly adopted resolution 69/157 asking the Secretary-General to “commission a Global Study.” In October 2019, the report of the Global Study was presented to the UN General Assembly in New York, and in November of the same year the full Global Study, with more than 750 pages, was presented in Geneva during the celebrations for the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 40th of DCI. 

Summarised in a few lines, all this seems natural and easy, for all those who have accompanied the lead author and independent expert, Prof. Manfred Nowak, in this complex exercise, we know that this has not been a “quiet river,” but rather a steep and twisting road full of obstacles. What was important then was to finalise the Study to give all the data, both  quantitative and qualitative, to explain why   priority needs to be given to this invisible group: Over 7 million children de facto or de jure deprived of liberty every year, also acknowledging the dimension and range of every type of deprivation of liberty of children from the administration of justice,  children living in prison with their caregivers, children in institutions but also in the context of migration, armed conflicts, or detainment on the grounds of national security. 

Two years after the finalisation of the Study, the Covid-19 pandemic has given some additional elements, exacerbating violations of human rights of children including those deprived of liberty.  This has also offered concrete examples proving that the roadmap to finish with deprivation of liberty exists, and related State policies are a win-win process and a virtual circle for everybody, firstly the best interests of the child, societies and member states themselves. We therefor come back this autumn of 2021 and ask that the UN General Assembly confirms in its bi-annual resolution on child rights a clear mandate to the SRSG on violence against children, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid to coordinate joint efforts of UN agencies and civil society, joining hands for the implementation of the recommendations of the Global Study. We also support the presentation of report at the UN General Assembly 2022, three years after the publication of the Study, to evaluate where we are and how to speed up the process of implementation, so that every child has the right to a childhood and no child is left behind bars. 

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Children Deprived of Liberty: Betting on education

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  • September 21, 2021
Benoit Van Keirsbilck

Benoit Van Keirsbilck

Director of DCI-Belgium and member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

The UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty was presented to the United Nations two years ago already and it is clear that so far there has not been a real enthusiasm on the part of States to ensure the follow-up while the pandemic period has exacerbated the problems and violations of the fundamental rights of detained children in general and in particular of those who are deprived of their liberty in the context of the administration of justice. The Global Study painted a dramatic picture, but one that obviously did not surprise the majority of informed observers. Deprivation of liberty being most often a measure of first resort, decided almost automatically, for an inordinately long period, often for minor offenses or facts which should never lead to a public intervention of a criminal nature, but rather to the increased involvement of child protection services. The children concerned mainly belong to ethnic minorities or to the most disadvantaged groups in society. They are affected far more than average by mental, physical or psychological health problems and have not benefited from an environment conducive to their development and the exercise of their fundamental rights. 

 

The conditions of detention are generally extremely negative (overcrowding, violence including sexual violence, ill-treatment or even torture, isolation, deprivation, mixing with adults, mixing of girls and boys, lack of contact with the family, lack of education, access to health, basic needs, etc.) to the point that most young people leave more damaged than when they entered. In short, the vast majority should not be behind bars and States should realise that it is in everyone’s best interests to change the paradigm completely. The fact is that those who are trying to give impetus for change face a pharaonic task that may discourage even the bravest. The question remains; where to start when everything is a priority: improving protection systems, strengthening living standards, guaranteeing better access to quality education, supporting parents in their education task, promoting a less unequal society, fighting corruption. And if we look more specifically at the justice system, it is necessary that priority be given to diversion, and non-custodial educational measures. This must be accompanied by training of professionals at all levels, starting with the police, prosecutors, judges and social and educational workers. 

 

The system must also guarantee the effective enjoyment of rights at all stages, during the procedure and in the framework of the implementation of measures. Undoubtedly, quality legal and social support must be provided by lawyers and social actors who are also specialised. The system must ensure an individual assessment and a programme adapted to the situation and needs of each child. Finally, specialised and independent remedies, complaint mechanisms and monitoring systems must be in place. These changes will not take place without political will, without the determination of all the actors concerned and without a fundamental change in mentalities. As long as the child who broke the law is considered an outcast who deserves the worst of treatment, little will change as the practices described above continue to be justified. Rest assured, however difficult the task may seem, it is not impossible. Many States have effectively engaged in a process of change, based on a well-thought-out action plan including objectives and indicators, with the technical support of United Nations agencies, the involvement of the academic world for monitoring and evaluation, and with the support of civil society. These examples exist, have been documented and can be used as examples to develop a roadmap. Many experts and practical guides can also be mobilised. 

 

Without forgetting an actor who should play a major role in initiating and guiding changes: the children and in particular the children who have had experience of child justice and detention. They are in the best position, provided the conditions of their participation are respectful, to speak about their experience. If we take the time to listen to them, they will probably start by telling us about the grievances they experienced, the times when they were humiliated, discredited; they will tell us about their experiences of injustice, of the anguish of being in a jail or in an overcrowded and unsanitary cell. They will explain to us to what extent they have been crushed by the police, judicial and prison machinery. Some will admit that they mourned the separation from their family and those around them. Many will point out the incomprehension of the vocabulary, the procedures and the role of the actors. But they will also tell us about the people who listened to them, who took them seriously and gave them a chance; of those who have been able to give them perspectives and consider them as a unique human being who can bring something to society. They will remember the times when they felt grown up, respected, wanted to progress and felt it was possible. 

 

We must be able to mobilise these words for the benefit of future generations, so that they do not endure what those before them have suffered. Ultimately, what the Global Study calls for is to bet on education rather than repression. You don’t educate a child behind bars. Let everyone fully be convinced of this. 

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Children living with their parents in prison

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  • September 29, 2021
© Prisoners Advice Service (Wikimedia Commons)

Laurel Townhead

Representative (Human Rights and Refugees) at Quaker United Nations Office

In almost all countries there are children living in prison with a parent, but the rules about when this happens (for example limiting this to only those children born in prison), what ages these children can stay with their parent until, and the conditions in which they live, vary greatly. All children are rights holders, but not all children are automatically seen as such in the decisions that impact upon them. Children who live in prison with a parent, and children separated from a parent by incarceration, need to be seen and specific actions need to be taken to uphold their rights.  

 

The inclusion in the Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty of a specific chapter on children living in prison with a parent is important for the visibility it provides and the recommendations it makes. There has been increased attention to how existing international standards should be applied to uphold the rights of these children since the 2011 Committee on the Rights of the Child Day of General Discussion¹. Though this the Committee sought to learn more about the impacts on children of parental imprisonment and strategies for upholding their rights.  More recent developments, notably the Global Study, draw from this Day of General Discussion and provided new momentum for change to limit and mitigate rights violations faced by these children.  

 

Discussions and developments have covered both the treatment of children whilst deprived of liberty with their parent and steps that should be taken to prevent children being put in this situation. An apparently straightforward solution would be to prohibit children from residing with a parent in prison. However, there are significant short- and long-term impacts for children resulting from separation from a parent due to parental incarceration, and these impacts are not limited to those separated as babies or in their earliest years².  

 

A clear recommendation from the Committee was:

 

In sentencing parent(s) and primary caregivers, noncustodial sentences should, wherever possible, be issued in lieu of custodial sentences, including in the pre-trial and trial phase. Alternatives to detention should be made available and applied on a case-by-case basis, with full consideration of the likely impacts of different sentences on the best interests of the affected child(ren)³. 

 

The Global Study builds on this:  

 

Governments are encouraged to recognise both the detrimental impact of family separation due to parental incarceration and the detrimental impact of deprivation of liberty with a parent. All possible measures should be taken to reduce the number of children deprived of liberty with a parent in the criminal justice system without increasing the separation of children from a parent due to the parent’s incarceration. A presumption against a custodial measure or sentence for primary caregivers should apply⁴.

 

Both recommendations contain within them the need for a State, through its sentencing authorities, to take into account the impacts on children of sentencing their parents. Core to this is the primacy of upholding the inherent dignity and best interests of the child in their specific circumstances. The Day of General Discussion contemplated a recommendation for a maximum age for children residing in prison with a parent. This was considered given the range of ages (from around 6 months to around 6 years or older) and a recognition of the potential risks and impacts on wellbeing and development for children living in prison. However, on reflection, and having heard from participants including children with a parent in prison, the Committee decided against a uniform recommendation on age. Instead, they emphasised the need for individualised assessments.  

 

This emphasis on including individualised assessments of the best interests of the child in the sentencing decision is also contained in the first General Comment from the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child⁵. Which sets out a five-point checklist for sentencing authorities to consider.  

Despite these recommendations, we are a long way from the use of best interests determinations whenever a parent is sentenced and children continue to be deprived of liberty with their parents in prison. Key concerns for upholding the rights of these children include:  

 

  • Safety  
  • Health  
  • Education and development  
  • Contact with family members outside the prison  
  • Preparation for release  

Recommendations from the Global Study and from the Committee have sought to address these issues too⁶. 

It is 10 years this September since the Day of General Discussion. In this decade, progress has been made in increasing knowledge, growing and establishing networks, and developing standards. The Global Study has contributed to each of these aspects. However, there remains a need for further guidance to mitigate impacts of deprivation of liberty with a parent but also to prevent it whilst maintaining the best interests of the child. 

 

The inclusion of best interests of the child assessments in sentencing decisions is not a small ask, it requires knowledge and skills that sentencers may not yet have. Ensuring adequate nutrition, developmental support and paediatric health care in adult prisons is not a small ask either, it requires the input of relevant specialists. Preparing children for release, especially if their parent is not released at the same time, is not a small ask, it requires coordination between different authorities including child welfare authorities as well as those responsible for prison management and release planning. 

The Global Study has been important in providing further profile information and recommendations on the situation of children deprived of their liberty with a parent in prison and we expect mechanisms for follow–up to continue to include this particular group of children. We also believe there is a need for detailed guidance and technical assistance for governments to support them in upholding the rights of these children. We are pleased to see interest in this from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and encourage States to support their project to develop a Global Toolkit on children with parents in prison.  

 

Throughout our work on this topic, the role of partnership and participation have been clear and we trust that next steps with the Global Study will provide a stepping stone for States, the UN, NGOs, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence Against Children to come together with children with a parent in prison to ensure their rights are upheld. 

[1] https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/Discussion2011.aspx  
[2] See for example: Jones, Adele, Gallagher, Bernard, Manby, Martin, Robertson, Oliver, Schützwohl, Matthias, Berman, Anne H., Hirschfield, Alexander, Ayre, Liz, Urban, Mirjam, Sharratt, Kathryn and Christmann, Kris (2013) Children of Prisoners: Interventions and mitigations to strengthen mental health. University of Huddersfield 
[3] https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/Discussion2011.aspx 
[4] Manfred Nowak, The United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty, Chapter 10, Section 5, para. 6. 
[5] African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, General Comment No.1 on Article 30 of 
the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child: Children of incarcerated and imprisoned parents and primary care givers (2013) 
[6] See Lucy Halton and Laurel Townhead (2020), Children of Incarcerated Parents: International Standards and Guidelines (Quaker United Nations Office, Geneva) 

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Is detention the best the world can give me?

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@DCI Greece
Nantina Tsekeri

Nantina Tsekeri

Founder and CEO of DCI-Greece

Children make up more than half of the refugee population around the globe. In 2020, more than 20,000 children had to flee their home countries, either alone or with their caregivers, in search of a safe place to be seen and treated as children.  

 

A child who becomes a refugee is forced to leave his/her country, due to fear of persecution on the premise of multiple reasons such as armed conflict, natural disasters, forced marriage, membership of a particular social group, religion, ethnicity between other reasons. A child who becomes a refugee holds the expectation that the international community has heard his/her suffering, his/her need for imminent protection and once they succeed in fleeing their country the world will become again fair to them. 

 

This expectation finds valid ground. Amongst other international legal texts, Article 22 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, stipulates that states must ensure that children seeking international protection shall receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance, in equal terms to the rest of the child population within their territory. 

 

However, in the recent years, transit or host countries to the refugee population have become creative in depriving children on the move of their liberty and present it as a matter of urgency or a measure taken for their protection. Sometimes, detention is presented as protection or other times as a last resort unavoidable measure. This trend has found thousands of children on the move detained and left without a childhood to claim. 

 

DETENTION UNDER PROTECTIVE CUSTODY 

 

‘I left my country because I did not want to become a child soldier and kill other people. The journey to Europe was long and dangerous. Once I arrived in Greece I asked for asylum. I thought my nightmare was over. But I was wrong. I was placed in detention in a police cell without knowing why. I did not commit any crime’, said Amir 16-year-old, who was told that detention takes place as a means to ‘protect’ him. 

 

Since 2016, more than 34,000 unaccompanied children have been registered in Greece after crossing the Aegean Sea or entering the country by land from Turkey. Under Greece’s regime of protective custody, which began in 2001, many of the children have ended up being held in police stations for weeks, even months, instead of being transferred to a safe place compatible with their needs. The cells were unsanitary, overcrowded, and often shared with unrelated adults, further exposing them to higher risks of abuse and sexual assault.  

 

Greece was sued and condemned for this practice multiple times before the European Court of Human Rights, and in 2021 Greece announced the abolishment of its longstanding practice of holding unaccompanied migrant children in police custody. However, according to the official data collected from the Greek National Center for Social Solidarity, 36 children are recorded to be in protective custody at the end of July 2021. 

 

DETAINED IN OPEN AIR PRISONS CALLED HOTSPOTS 

 

‘I am trapped in the hotspot of Lesvos. In the night I am afraid to go to the toilet. The other day an 8-year-old girl was raped. I am afraid. In the day there are policemen everywhere and I cannot go out with my mum whenever I want. I want to get out of this hell and go to school’, said Fatima 14 years old who has a geographical restriction on her merits. 

 

In Greece hotspots on the islands essentially became reception centers after the EU-Turkey Statement in March 2016, transposed into Greek Law 4375/2016. Gradually, in the light of a massive increase in arrivals in Greece after 2016, the hotspots on the Greek islands acquired more characteristics of detention and areas where human rights have been systematically infringed. It has been used as a model of deterrence which is based on the practice of geographical limitation on people’s free movement. This geographical restriction, which in reality, has effectively transformed hotspots into massive open-air prisons has kept thousands of refugee children away from that place of safety in search of which they initially embarked on and which are entitled to under International Human Rights Law. 

 

In the outbreak of Covid-19, the children residing in the hotspots were forced into further restrictions of their liberty and discriminatory practices. As a response to the pandemic the Greek Government applied a strict quarantine lockdown within the Hotspots on the name of public health, which lasted far more than the general public lockdown. 

 

Following the passage of LAW 4636/2019 matters have been compounded by the Greek State’s plans to turn the Hotspots and the surrounding areas into well-guarded ‘concentration camps’ with locked gates, multiple barren courtyards, and limited access to free movement.  

 

Detention translates to deprivation of rights, visibility and love. Depriving children of liberty is depriving them of their right to be children. When this deprivation of liberty happens in the context of migration, where children are running away from persecution or away from conditions threatening their life, detention not only digs deeper into their existing wounds, but goes further in urgency, since it creates mistrust in humanity. And this trauma might be irreversible.  

 

Since deprivation of liberty constitutes a form of structural violence against children, this very trauma shall be healed into the context of restorative justice, where institutions, justice and society come together to restore the child’s faith to humanity by treating them with dignity and respect. This constitutes one of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals that all states have committed to place at the heart of their policy actions. 

 

The UN Global Study on children deprived of Liberty reminds states that detention of children for migration-related reasons cannot be enforced as a measure of last resort and is never in line with the best interests of the child codified in Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Study goes further urging States to prohibit and end all forms of migration-related detention of children and their families and call upon them to place children alone or with their families in non-custodial, community-based contexts.  The data collected for the purposes of this Study indicates that there are at least 330,000 children detained for migration-related purposes per year around the world. The Study showed that all these children are exposed to the risk of sexual abuse and exploitation while at the same time they develop anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and post-traumatic stress disorder. 

 

It goes without doubt that there is no valid justification based on moral and legal ethics to detain children. Detention in the name of emergency, public or state sovereignty interests cannot be excused. It is in times of emergency, such as a war condition that gives birth to millions of refugees or a pandemic, when humanity is tested hard. It is then when states are expected not to compromise the absolute values forming their identity as a civilized state. Undoubtedly, not depriving children of their liberty is one of them. 

 

However, it becomes all the more evident that detention in the context of migration has exceeded the typical norms. Locking children behind bars for the sake of their protection or placing them in overcrowded open-air prisons are some of the ways EU states deliberately have chosen to ‘welcome’ children on the move in recent years. It is non-negotiable that transit or host countries have the obligation to follow another direction driven by the values enshrined in the text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and not to enforce children into harsher restrictions of their liberty. Other EU states as well need to encourage these states following that path and support them proportionately. Otherwise, it will remain unconscionable that the international community has not adequately stood up for the fundamental rights of refugee children. 

The world needs to give Amir and Fatima an answer, when they asked that ‘WHY’. And this answer needs to take the form of action where healing will meet justice and from that, as lesson learnt, to inspire states to exercise their creativity when managing migration in ways that will not create harm. It is our responsibility that next time a child comes to EU soil and asks for a refugee in order to place their soul and integrity, detention will not be the best we can offer to them. 

The Children’s Rights Helpdesk of Defence for Children International (DCI) – Greece, has received more than 400 cases of refugee children deprived of their liberty in the last four years. Some of them remained detained for more than a year. DCI–Greece supported legally these children and released them from detention. Advocacy on this issue has led to the abolishment of the Protective Custody Regime in the country. However, DCI- Greece is still monitoring its implementation and operates as a watchdog of the rights of children on the move. This paper reflects the data and information gathered from the work with these children. Names have been changed for protection purposes. 
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The UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty: Progress achieved and the challenges ahead

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From the NGO Panel on Children Deprived of Liberty Co-chairs, Alex Kamarotos, (DCI) and Jo Becker (HRW)

The UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty (GSCDL) aims to shed light on the scale and conditions of children deprived of liberty, identify good practices and make recommendations for effective measures to prevent human rights violations against children in detention and reduce the number of children deprived of liberty. It depicts the reality of child deprivation of liberty in different settings, ranging from migration-related contexts to children deprived of liberty in institutions, and includes cross-cutting themes such as disability and the gender dimension of this phenomena.

A group of nongovernmental organisations launched a campaign for the Study in March 2014.  They envisioned a Study to bridge the data gap on the unknown number of children deprived of liberty worldwide, raise awareness of children deprived of liberty, and contribute to positive changes in policies and practice in the way that two previous global studies—on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children (1996) and Violence Against Children (2006)—did. These civil society organisations formed the NGO Panel on Children Deprived of Liberty, co-chaired by Defence for Children International and Human Rights Watch, to call on governments and United Nations agencies to back the study. The NGO Panel’s advocacy resulted in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 69/175 inviting the Secretary-General to commission “an in-depth global study on children deprived of liberty”. In October 2016, Prof. Manfred Nowak (Austria) was appointed as Independent Expert to lead the Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty.

Children deprived of liberty are a largely invisible group of children, and the Study faced significant challenges in accurately depicting the nature and scope of the issue, due to gaps in data collection and dissemination. Nevertheless, the data and research collected by the Study, as well as its conclusions and recommendations, such as the promotion and effective implementation of alternatives to detention, have positioned it as a benchmark in the field.

Throughout the last two years, dissemination efforts of the Study’s findings and recommendations have mainly taken place through awareness raising initiatives and regional and national launches with the involvement of the NGO Panel. Examples of such efforts include the regional launches of the Global Study throughout 2020 in Ecuador, the Netherlands, Ethiopia, the Republic of Korea, Bangkok and to the European Parliament. In April 2021, the Study was launched in Cambodia in an event that provided an opportunity to hear about the thoughts of Cambodian children deprived of liberty, the experiences of local organisations working in this field, and the renewed commitment of the Cambodian government. These elements are necessary in order to initiate a national process of implementation based on the recommendations of the study. In July 2020, the NGO panel organised an online expert roundtable situating the implementation of the study’s recommendations in the context of the Covid 19 pandemic. The event was moderated by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) on Violence Against Children, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid, and featured the participation of the UN inter-agency Task Force for the GSCDL and of the NGO Panel.

These national and regional launches of the GSCDL provide an opportunity to discuss the main challenges in each context, what efforts are required to effectively implement the recommendations of the Study, and also provide a platform for dialogue, to share best practices and identify emerging trends. The launches help to raise awareness on the importance of the matters addressed by the Study and on the urgency of implementing its recommendations. 

In July 2021, almost two years after the presentation of the GSCDL at the United Nations General Assembly, the NGO Panel on Children Deprived of Liberty, along with Defence for Children International and Human Rights Watch, co-organised a webinar on “Solutions to Deprivation of Liberty, Integral Protection and Access to Justice for All Children”. The participants had the opportunity to hear from a varied roster of panellists, including practitioners, experts, state representatives, NGOs and youth representatives, and UN officials, including Dr. Maalla M’jid. 

Despite the progress achieved thus far, the efforts initiated with the publication of the Global Study are not over. The presentation of the Global Study to the UN General Assembly in October 2019 paved the way for concrete steps that need to be taken now by all stakeholders but most of all by member states to continue the path towards the long-term reduction of the number of children deprived of liberty. A UN General Assembly resolution reaffirming the leadership of the SRSG on Violence against Children in addressing children deprived of liberty will help maintain momentum around the study, and encourage implementation of its recommendations. The NGO Panel is supporting a resolution that will also request a follow-up report of the Study to be presented at the UNGA in October 2022, three years after the presentation of the Study itself. Such a report will highlight progress made, continuing challenges, and spur additional action to end children’s deprivation of liberty.

 

For more information, please follow the NGO Panel on Children Deprived of Liberty:
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Panel Discussion on Promoting Alternative Solutions to Deprivation of Liberty as a follow-up to the Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty & Immediate Priorities

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During the 2021 World Congress on Justice With Children, Defence for Children International (DCI) organised a panel discussion entitled: Promoting Alternative Solutions to Deprivation of Liberty as a follow-up to the Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty & Immediate Priorities, held on November 15th, 2021.

The Panel aimed to provide guidance on new developments in the field, disseminate recommendations of the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty (GSCDL); exchange promising practices, such as investment in non-custodial measures to ensure children’s safe reintegration into families and communities; advocate for the follow up of data collection on children deprived of liberty; highlight good and innovative practices that enable children’s and youth effective and meaningful participation in these objectives; elaborate the roles of relevant stakeholders in assisting Member States in the implementation of their international legal obligations and political commitments.

Virginia Gamba, UN Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) for Children and Armed Conflict

In the opening remarks, Virginia Gamba, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Children and Armed Conflict underlined that deprivation of liberty has a destructive impact on children’s physical and mental development and often compounds conflict-related trauma and urged to invest in child protection resources for data collection to provide high-quality programmatic responses to children deprived of liberty. Ms Gamba stressed the particular concern on children deprived of liberty on national security charges where children are equally processed as adults. In some situations, children are associated with armed groups without due process and disregarded their special rights and status as children.  

“Detention of children should only be used as a measure of last resort and for the shortest period, and prioritised together with age, and gender-sensitive, long term reintegration programming”

She further called on States to adopt and implement standard operating procedures to ensure the handover of children released or separated from armed groups to civilian child protection actors that can then provide them with tailored support services, and to increase investment in reintegration programmes for children to prevent the recruitment and use of children in conflict, and to support States to enhance the national legal frameworks to prevent children’s deprivation of liberty and prioritise concrete alternatives to detention.

In a video message, Najat Maalla M’jid, UN SRSG on Violence Against Children underlined that deprivation of liberty is one of the most harmful violations of children rights and it is a form of violence against children and detailed the UN Taskforce commitment to continue to support member States to scale up positive policies on the alternatives to detention and non-custodial measures in line with the 2030 agenda and urged to invest in prevention and in child rights-based alternatives to children’s deprivation of liberty.

Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid - UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children

General Comment No.24 on children rights in the child justice system is authoritative guidance for State parties and a very important tool for advocacy for children and stakeholders.

Mikiko Otani, Chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child

Mikiko Otani, Chair of Committee on the Rights of the Child reiterated the importance of the national implementation of recommendations included in the GSCDL. She furthermore noted the relevance of strengthening data collection and expressed that the Committee can consider including asking the States to continue collecting data on what they have done in response to the Global Study questionnaire. 

Vassiliy Yuzhanin, head of the International Migration Law Unit at IOM and Member of the UN Task Force on children deprived of liberty expressed that children should never be deprived of their liberty due to migration-related reasons and underlined that national migration policies should be aligned with international law standards and guidelines and keep at the centre the best interest of the child. Reiterated the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach for alternative solutions to deprivation liberty and encouraged to develop innovative tools for data collection.

Vassiliy Yuzhanin, head of the International Migration Law Unit at IOM and Member of the UN Task Force on children deprived of liberty

Jo Becker, Advocacy Director, of Human Rights Watch, and co-chair of the NGO Panel on Children Deprived of Liberty highlighted that the handover protocols on the Global Study of Children Deprived of Liberty as a concrete tool for promoting the reintegration of children formerly associated with armed forces and armed groups. 

Jo Becker, Advocacy Director, of Human Rights Watch, and co-chair of the NGO Panel on Children Deprived of Liberty

“Civil society is critical for the follow-up, implementation and monitoring of the Global Study” 

Ms. Becker further remarked that in 2019, Mexico detained over 50,000 child migrants, mostly from Honduras and Guatemala, but after years of advocacy by the International Detention Coalition and others, a new law took effect in Mexico banning the detention of migrant children. She commented that in California, there was many as 10,000 children held in prisons across the State where they experienced violence and education was inadequate, but now the State is closing these prisons down and investing 200 million USD to local rehabilitation programmes, putting money into counselling, education, and recreation underlying that alternative to deprivation of liberty does exist.

“Education is the best tool to prevent children’s contact with the law”

Mohamed, a youth advocate from Sierra Leone and part of DCI’s Youth Ambassadors for Change

Mohamed, a youth advocate from Sierra Leone and part of DCI’s Youth Ambassadors for Change shared during the panel that education is the best tool to prevent children’s contact with the law and call on States to continue supporting organisations that work with children deprived of liberty. Mohamed expressed that the focus should be on prevention and in this regard, education is a key component to preventing children from getting in contact with the justice systems.

For more information, please follow the NGO Panel on Children Deprived of Liberty

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About the participants:

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba de Potgieter

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba de Potgieter

Ms. Gamba is currently Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism established by Security Council resolution 2235 (2015) on the use of chemicals as weapons in Syria.

Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid

Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid

She was a member of the Moroccan National Council on Human Rights and founder of the non-governmental organisation Bayti. From 2008 to 2014, she served as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. Dr. M’jid has vast experience in the development of national policies on the protection of the child, and has worked with several governments, non-governmental and inter-governmental organisations.

Chair of the UN Committe on the Rights of the Child

Chair of the UN Committe on the Rights of the Child

Mikiko Otani is an international human rights lawyer based in Tokyo where practicing family law with focus on women’s and children’s rights. She is Member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, Council Member of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute and former Chair of the Committee on International Human Rights of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.

Vassiliy Yuzhanin

Vassiliy Yuzhanin

Head of the International Migration Law Unit (IOM)
Member of the UN Task Force on Children Deprived of Liberty

Jo Becker

Jo Becker

Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch,
Co-chair of the NGO Panel on Children Deprived of Liberty

Mohamed Bangura

Mohamed Bangura

Mohamed is a youth activist working in Sierra Leone

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DCI Webinar: Solutions to Deprivation of Liberty, Integral Protection and Access to Justice for All Children

by with No Comment News

On July 12th 2021, almost 2 years after the presentation of the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty at the United Nations General Assembly, while the High-Level Political Forum was ongoing in New York, and in a context where the pandemic had disrupted child protection and justice systems, hindered access to justice for children in detention and exacerbated health risks for children deprived of liberty, Defence for Children International, Human Rights Watch as co-chairs of the NGO Panel on Children Deprived of Liberty, organised a webinar on Promoting Alternatives to Deprivation of Liberty, Integral Protection and Access to Justice for All Children. The participants had the opportunity to hear about a varied roster of panellists, which involved practitioners, experts, state representatives, UN officials, NGOs and youth representatives, a panel moderated by Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on violence against children.

H.E. Ambassador Lansana Gberie reiterated Sierra Leone’s commitment towards promoting child justice and reducing the rate of detention and prosecution of children in conflict with the law, and shared good practices and initiatives already being implemented in the country on combatting child detention and child trafficking. H.E. also emphasized the need to strengthen alternatives to detention and alternatives to the justice system in general, especially in the context of the pandemic, as well as the need for multi-stakeholder partnerships to achieve the targets of the 2030 Agenda. Likewise, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children, stressed the need to rethink the role of justice for and with children to ensure it has a preventive role and it protects the rights of all children, so as to avoid the contact of children with the justice system in the first place. Of particular importance was the ample inclusion of the voices and perspectives of youth through panellist Mohamed Bangura, a youth representative from Sierra Leone who stated the efforts to prevent children from coming in contact with the law begin with emphasising the legal instruments at our disposal, investing in resources and training to support children in their access to justice, and ensuring information to access justice is child-friendly and accessible for children and their parents.

Moreover, Alexandra Souza Martins, Representative from UNODC on behalf of the UN Inter-agency task force for the UN GSCDL, shared good practices in assisting states to carry out the safe release of children from detention in a smart and sustainable way for their successful reintegration, and also to widen the use and application of alternative measures to detention, and stressed the need for coordinated efforts to implement the recommendations of the UN GSCDL. The event also included interventions from Benoit Van Keirsbilck, GSCDL Advisory Board and Member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, who encouraged states to assess their own legislation and practice and develop tailor-made action plans to end child detention, stressed the need of funding to support programmes implementing effective alternatives to detention, and fostered cooperation to ensure a follow-up mechanism is formalised in the form of a UN General Assembly Resolution that ensures the recommendations of the GSCDL are mainstreamed. The webinar also counted with the intervention of Manaff Kemokai, President of DCI and Director of DCI-Sierra Leone, who acknowledged progress in Sierra Leone in the field of child rights, and called for a multidisciplinary, case-by-case approach based on the needs and peculiarities of children, and the development of comprehensive laws with clear procedures and strong implementation institutions that ensure the distinction between children in conflict with the law and children in contact with the law. 

"COVID-19 has underlined the need to strengthen alternatives to detention and alternatives to the justice system in general".

H.E. Ambassador Lansana Gberie - Permanent Mission of Sierra Leone to the UN in Geneva

H.E. Ambassador Lansana Gberie stated that the COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to justice challenges faced by children and created additional obstacles for realising the vison of justice for and with children. It has revealed and exacerbated social inequalities and injustices around the globe and has underlined the need to strengthen alternatives to detention and alternatives to the justice system in general. 

The findings and recommendations of the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty have shed light on the phenomenon by providing reliable data on the scale of this problem and its harmful effects on children. Thanks to the Global Study, “governments are in better conditions to address COVID-19 in child detention facilities, with the recommendations and good practices that are enumerated”, he stated.

 

In line with the UN Secretary-General’s remarks to “build back better” after the pandemic, and guided by the principle of universality enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals, H.E. Ambassador Lansana Gberie stated the need to fulfil the central promise of the 2030 Agenda to “leave no one behind”. To do so, SDG16+ can be the foundation for reset and recovery efforts that are guided by multi-stakeholder partnerships in the face of lagging progress towards achieving Agenda 2030, and for building more resilient societies and institutions going forward. 

Reiterating Sierra Leone’s commitment to towards promoting child justice and reducing the rate of detention and prosecution of children in conflict with the law, H.E. Ambassador Gberie shared good practices in the country, including the implementation of “Justice App5”, an innovative digital case management application which ensures that women and children, victims of sexual and gender-based violence, in remote areas, can access justice. Yet, further progress must be achieved by introducing community-based prevention and rehabilitation programs for children and carryout crimes awareness raising in schools and communities, by developing and implementing new Child Justice Strategy that sets a roadmap for child justice reforms, and by legislating good practices of diversion and alternatives to detention by including them in the Child Rights Act and Criminal Procedure Act.

“The pandemic provides an opportunity to rethink the role of justice for and with children”

Citing strong political commitment and strengthening justice systems as vital elements to successfully end deprivation of liberty, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid, underpinned that “building peaceful, just and inclusive societies as well as sustainable and resilient development cannot be fulfilled unless we can ensure all children are duly protected, have equal access to justice without discrimination and justice in its broadest sense, meets the needs and rights of children”. COVID-19 has increased violence against children and gender-based violence, and has given rise to justice challenges faced by children, mainly for those in the most vulnerable situations. Yet, the pandemic also presented opportunities such as the release of children, wide scale application of alternatives to detention and innovative use of technology for justice service delivery. Indeed, the pandemic provides an opportunity to “rethink the role of justice for and with children, the starting point must be the preventive role that justice can play in ensuring that children’s rights are protected and their development supported”.

Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid also stated that “the majority of children’s challenging behavior can be resolved and addressed without the need of punitive intervention. Around the world there are children in contact with the justice system for offences that should not be regarded as crimes. The primary goal must be to avoid the contact of children with the justice system in the first place.” To that end, all forms of justice should be informed by children’s views and experiences and systematically include the meaningful participation. Echoing Mr. Van Keirsbilck ‘s remarks, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid highlighted the need to formalise a UN resolution on the GSCDL to establish a follow-up mechanism of the Study, as such initiative will ensure that the results and recommendations of the GSCDL are mainstreamed, both at a national and international level.

Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid - UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children

Preventing children from coming into contact with the law: Youth perspective

As a young person who came in contact with the justice system in Sierra Leone, Mohamed Bangura identified elements necessary for the successful prevention of children coming into contact with the law. The first element is ensuring justice systems emphasise the legal instruments that protect children and youth which are already at our disposal, including local, national, regional and international laws, practices and treaties.

Mohamed Bangura - Youth Representative from Sierra Leone

The second element is the need to foster wider government investment in resources for child protection organisations to ensure children are able to receive appropriate support. Mohamed detailed the case of child victims of trafficking in Ethiopia who, due to a lack of resources and information to trace their families and send them back to their homes, the children were detained instead. Fostering data collection and protection through larger investment in local organisations that promote child protection is vital to ensure that when a child gets into the justice system, we ensure the identification of the child and trace back where he or she can get enough support. Finally, Mohamed stressed that due to the pandemic, most families are staying at home, so parents should be aware and have readily at their disposal all the resources and information of the crimes that could be committed against their children. Especially in the context of COVID-19 and the response to it, “let us feed the parents and guardians of children with more information and awareness of violence against children”. 

"Releasing children is not enough: it needs to be done is a smart, planned and sustainable way, for the successful reintegration of these children".

Panellist Alexandra Souza Martins expressed the breakthrough which the UN GSCDL represented, as it addressed child deprivation of liberty in a comprehensive manner beyond the usual terrain of children in the administration of justice. Yet, she acknowledged the Study “was only the first step”, as further action is needed from states, CSOs and communities to end child deprivation of liberty. The UN Inter-agency taskforce for the UN GSCDL works to ensure coordinated action at the national and global level for the implementation of the recommendations of the Study, bringing together a broad range of UN entities which bring specialised expertise and knowledge in different areas related to children deprived of liberty. 

Alexandra Souza Martins - UNODC on behalf of UN Inter-agency task force for the UN GSCDL

Coordinated, efficient and cost-effective action is particularly important during the Covid-19 pandemic, as “the challenges during this exceptional crisis have been exacerbated in particular for children deprived of liberty”. States are facing a double crisis, a financial one and a public health crisis. “Releasing children from detention can be a key solution to overcome these two challenges. Releasing children is not enough: it needs to be done is a smart, planned and sustainable way, for the successful reintegration of these children”.

Solutions to Deprivation of Liberty, Integral Protection and Access to Justice for All Children

Watch the full event with all the interventions, including among others the experience of youth representative Mohamed, the statement by H.E. Ambassador Lansana Gberie, and the intervention of Member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Benoit Van Keirsbilck.

“We call for a UN resolution that will ensure a follow-up mechanism is clearly set up for the future”

Benoit Van Keirsbilck emphasized the importance of the GSCDL findings and recommendations and the need for countries to implement it first at a national level to generate widespread political will and mainstream the Study’s recommendations. ensuring it is implemented. Such process begins with an assessment of each State of their own legislation and practice at the national level, and the subsequent adoption of a national plan of action that is tailor-made to the situation of the country, taking into account the six areas of the study where children are deprived of liberty. This plan of action should look at how to reduce the number of children deprived of liberty, while ensuring that it is done properly, and is based on the voices and views of children.

To continue the path towards the long-term reduction of the number of children deprived of liberty, the role of donors remains of the utmost importance to ensure there are real and effective alternatives on the ground, to continue research efforts and knowledge improvement, and to continue implementing prevention initiatives that ensure less children are sent to places where they will be deprived of liberty. Part of the capacity-building efforts can be reinforced with knowledge-sharing with other countries and regions, as “we can learn a lot from one country to another to try to implement positive change, and be of mutual support through sharing good practices”. He called for “global cooperation and coordination” to ensure the follow-up mechanism to the GSCDL is formalised in the form of a UN resolution that will “continue the momentum of the study”.

Benoit Van Keirsbilck - GSCDL Advisory Board and Member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child

“We need professionals that can distinguish between children in conflict with the law and children in contact with the law, especially victims”

There has been a striking upsurge in cases of child trafficking due to the circumstances generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Manaff Kemokai underlined that justice for children is guided by international instruments upholding the rights of the child, as well as principles like the best interest of the child, or the principle of non-discrimination. Yet, every case of children accessing justice has its own peculiarities. General standards are necessary to establish a clear roadmap for justice systems, yet the details and circumstances of each case, the specific needs of children and how we can address them, vary on a case-by-case basis. The panellist detailed cases in West Africa, an area with high child labour incidence, in which children are subjected to child labor and arrested with fishermen in the sea, yet they are not only not considered victims of child labor and trafficking, they are often criminalised under the law.

Since the problems are multidimensional, they will require a multidisciplinary approach: law enforcement, social welfare services, and community involvement are key in the fight against trafficking. “We need comprehensive laws with clear procedures and strong implementation institutions, and law enforcement officials and other professionals that can distinguish between children in conflict with the law and children in contact with the law, especially victims”. Even in situations where children are arrested together with other criminals, children should be seen as victims and should be exempted of prosecution and given the support that they need to be reintegrated and reunified with their families. And for that, systems were services are provided to children in their access to justice need to be “responsive, coordinated, well connected, monitoring and supervising”, he concluded.

Manaff Kemokai - President of DCI and Director of DCI-Sierra Leone

Q&A SECTION

During the Q&A, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid raised numerous points on deprivation of liberty and fostered efforts of knowledge-sharing regarding good practices, and the way to tackle the impact of the pandemic on child deprivation of liberty and access to justice.

When asked about the obstacles to children being able to access to justice, and the most important child protection services and reintegration services, youth representative Mohamed expressed concern about untrained officials handling child-related issues, like military groups handling children who are migrating to another country. Governments and agencies should ensure that the authorities that handle child-related issues are properly trained, and always uphold the bests interest of the child. He also expressed the need to promote family and community-based solutions instead of government services provision, which tend to follow a one-size-fits all approach instead of implementing a case-by-case procedure.

Answering a question on identifying lessons learned in terms of child detention on national security grounds, Alexandra Souza Martins, representing UNODC as the Head of the UNODC Global Programme to End Violence against Children, shared the support provided by UNODC to children associated with armed groups, including those designated as terrorist groups, have included the development of guidance including the UNODC Roadmap on the Treatment of Children Associated with Terrorist and Violent Extremist Groups, to adequately respond to the needs of Member States in protecting children from terrorism. Such initiatives have a strong focus on minimising the use of detention on the base of national security ground, and have raised awareness on the extent of the problem faced by children deprived of liberty for national security reasons, as also highlighted by the GSCDL. As Ms. Souza Martins stated “There is no need to choose between our security interests and child rights, these are two complementary objectives that should be pursued to achieve long-lasting peace”.

Ms. Souza Martins also stressed the need to protect children from the use of exceptional detention regimes, especially when national legislation allows for administrative detention on security grounds, by applying diversion measures and ensuring the reintegration of children into society. Children associated with armed groups are first and foremost victims of grave abuses and violations of human rights, and should be treated and considered as such. Their recovery and reintegration should be the priority for all, and those who recruit children need to be held accountable. Where the child protection system fails, the risk of children failing prey to these groups increases dramatically, this is not only a crime problem, this is first and foremost a developmental issue. This is why many states have shown how to use handover protocols and investment in strong child protection system can work.

Panellists of the webinar

In regard to how the UN CRC can contribute to the realisation of SDG16 from a child rights perspective, Benoit Van Keirsbilck detailed numerous ways in which the Committee on the Rights of the Child addresses access to justice and deprivation of liberty, which include inquiries into countries where there are grave violations of human rights, General Comments, the reporting process of the CRC, the Day of General Discussion, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure (OPIC). The latter instrument allows the possibility for children to bring their case to the Committee, yet numerous pre-conditions need to be fulfilled in advance, such as the exhaustion of domestic remedies, a condition that requires a national justice system that is child-friendly, effective and accessible for all children, especially the most vulnerable. 

Addressing the topic of creating a holistic approach to protection and access to justice, in particular for girl survivors of sexual violence, Manaff Kemokai explained that in Sierra Leone, legislative developments resulted in removing the protection of children under the Child Rights Act by lowering the age of criminal responsibility below 14. This has resulted in young children being charged with sexual offences, thus increasing the incarceration rates of young children. To ensure access to justice and protection of survivors, it is important to have a system that guarantees effective case management and is guided by effective safeguarding. That way, countries will be able to mobilise professionals and service providers with clear procedures, to identify and respond to the needs of children survivors of sexual violence, including legal needs, protection needs or medical and psychosocial support. These procedures should not be ad hoc, they need to be coordinated, high-quality, provided by professionals and institutions who understand what safeguarding is and uphold the no harm principle.

For more information, please follow the NGO Panel on Children Deprived of Liberty

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About the participants:

H.E. Ambassador Lansana Gberie

H.E. Ambassador Lansana Gberie

Dr. Lansana Gberie was appointed Sierra Leone's Ambassador to Switzerland and the Permanent Representative to the UN and other International Organisations in Geneva in July 2018. H.E. Ambassador Lansana Gberie has over 20 years of experience as an international relations specialist, including six years as a United Nations official. After a stint at the Security Council Report in New York, he was appointed Finance Expert and Coordinator of the UN Panel of Experts on Liberia in January 2013 by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

Mohamed Bangura

Mohamed Bangura

Mohamed is a youth activist working in Sierra Leone

Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid

Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid

She was a member of the Moroccan National Council on Human Rights and founder of the non-governmental organisation Bayti. From 2008 to 2014, she served as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. Dr. M’jid has vast experience in the development of national policies on the protection of the child, and has worked with several governments, non-governmental and inter-governmental organisations.

Dr. Alexandra Martins

Dr. Alexandra Martins

She is the Head of the UNODC Global Programme to End Violence against Children at the UNODC Headquarters in Vienna, Austria. Her work includes the development of international laws and policies and the provision of technical assistance to countries worldwide regarding prevention and responses to violence against children, including the treatment of children in contact with the justice system. Since 2015, she has been working on providing guidance to countries on how to protect children from the threats associated with terrorism and violent extremism.

Benoit Van Keirsbilck

Benoit Van Keirsbilck

Founder and director of Defence for Children International – Belgium, Benoit Van Keirsbilck has worked on issues relating to child justice as well as deprivation of liberty leading him to actively work towards the realisation of the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty becoming part of its Advisory Board. In 2021, he was appointed as member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Abdul Manaff Kemokai

Abdul Manaff Kemokai

Executive Director of Defence for Children International – Sierra Leone, Abdul Manaff Kemokai received the International Child 10 Award for his work and dedication to improve the situation of children in Sierra Leone. Abdul Manaff Kemokai was also elected as current President of Defence for Children International Movement.

Screenshot 2021-04-28 110122_auto_x2

Cambodian National Launch of the UN Global Study: A Major Step in Cambodia’s Journey to Ending Deprivation of Liberty

by with No Comment News

On April 22, the online National Launch of the UN Global Study in Cambodia took place. Organized by the joint efforts of nine NGOs, including the Child Rights Coalition of Cambodia and Terre des Hommes (both members of the NGO Panel on Children Deprived of Liberty) and the Global Campus of Human Rights, the more than 200 participants around the world had the opportunity to hear about the main findings of the UN Global Study from Prof. Manfred Nowak, who underscored the relevance of the Study and the need to promptly implement its recommendations. Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children, emphasized the need to reduce the number of imprisoned children, given deprivation of liberty is one of the most harmful violations of children’s fundamental rights.

Of particular importance was the ample inclusion of the voices of children deprived of liberty, through Child and Youth-Led Networks, which presented a Joint Statement to the Cambodian government requesting meaningful changes in the field of child liberty deprivation. Moreover, several civil society organizations participated, including This Life Cambodia, Friends-International, Save the Children and UNICEF, which shared their experiences working in this field and presented the testimonies of children deprived of liberty. The event also included interventions from the current Secretary of State to the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans, and Youth Rehabilitation H.E. Thou Sun, who responded to the joint statements of youth organizations and NGOs by making a renewing the commitment of the Cambodian government to implement the recommendations presented and continue fighting to uphold children’s rights.

“We should release children in order to give them their childhood back”.

“Childhood is a formative time in everyone’s life. Putting children behind bars and depriving them of their right to personal liberty impacts both their lives and society in general”, says Prof. Nowak. Similarly, Foroogh Foyouzat (UNICEF Representative in Cambodia) focused on the indelible effect liberty deprivation has on children by stating “Children around the globe suffer their rights violations when they are deprived of liberty: rights to development, participation, protection and survival”. In the same line, the Joint Statement on Children Deprived of Liberty by the Child and Youth-Led Networks pointed out the devastating impact deprivation of liberty has on children, including “long-term damage to the social, cognitive, and behavioral development of the child and mental health complications”. These testimonies only serve to highlight the vast extent of the problem currently suffered by at least 5,4 million children who are currently deprived of liberty in inherently harmful institutions. 

Long-Term Impact

As the UN Global Study mentions, “Deprivation of liberty is an inherently distressing, potentially traumatic experience”. During the event, this feeling was echoed by the remarks of Dr. Maalla M’jid, who highlighted that child deprivation of liberty “impacts their well-being and continues into adulthood; its negative consequences result in higher costs for society and states in the long term”. Indeed, one of the main problems which children formerly subjected to liberty deprivation have to face is the social rejection that ensues after their release. As Foroogh Foyouzat explained, “the adverse effects on the child do not take place just during their deprivation of liberty, but the lasting impact on their lives beyond that period, and the subsequent stigmatization which is hard to deal with”. 

This Life Cambodia provided the testimony of Sok, who narrates his past experience of being in prison as a child, and described “The long-term impact of being in prison was that I lost my opportunity to study. I had no skills, no job and no future. I lost my self-esteem and experienced depression.”. Se Chhin, from This Life Cambodia, also echoed similar feelings, stating “Prison can destroy a child’s future, cause them shame amongst friends and community and they will lose their change of receiving a proper education.” The Joint Statement on Children Deprived of Liberty by the Child and Youth-Led Networks also voiced the generalized concern amongst its members on the lasting impact of deprivation of liberty, “The stigma in schools and communities can lead to isolation and fear of interacting with others, which intensifies the child’s inability to easily and effectively reintegrate into society. Children convey that they face emotional instability, and that the lost opportunities for education and employment have a personal consequence and a negative impact on both their own and their family’s financial situations.”

Children living in prisons with their primary caregivers.

In Cambodia, the factors influencing whether a convicted mother decides to bring their children intro prison include, according to Se Chhin, “access to legal advice, social norms (and subsequent discrimination they and their children might experience), access to a trusted support network, and the belief that a child may have more opportunities if they do not stay in prison (e.g., education)”. As Prof. Nowak recalled “when mothers are imprisoned, there is often no other person that can take care of the child, these children end up growing up in prisons with their primary caregivers. Judges should take this into account and think whether there are other alternatives to prevent this. If there is no alternative, then we need well-established child-parent units in prisons.”. On this matter, This Life Cambodia recommended to “provide timely and accurate childcare information to mothers sentenced to prison, implement further specialized training for law enforcement staff to understand the specific needs of children accompanying their mothers to prison, establish a comprehensive case management at the sentencing stage, and increase NGO support to children imprisoned with their primary caregivers and their families.

National Launch of the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty in Cambodia

Watch the full event with all the interventions, the various experiences of NGOs, the statements made by Dr. Maalla M’jid and H.E. Thou Sun, and the intervention of Independent Expert for the UN Global Study Prof. Manfred Nowak.

Situation in Cambodia

According to Leang Lo from Save the Children, some of the factors leading to placing children in institutions remain poverty or lack of money, family illness or death, child abandonment and migration. However, it is a reality in Cambodia that “The majority of child convictions are for non-violent offences, mostly drug use, drug trafficking and theft. In 64% of cases, children said their drug use had led them to commit crimes.”, said Se Chhin, from This Life Cambodia. In line with Prof. Nowak’s remarks on the need to “decriminalise behaviour of children and shorten the length of detention by applying non-custodial solutions, family-type environments”, Chhin recalls that such measures are largely supported by the Cambodian community, as their studies showed that “58% of community members thought that prison was bad for children and only 13% thought that children who commit non-violent crimes should be sent to prison. The majority thought that education or vocational training would be the best alternative to prison for children. They need education and rehabilitation, not deprivation of liberty.”. 

Juvenile Justice Reform (2017)

In 2017, Cambodia adopted the Juvenile Justice Law, which Foroogh Foyouzat described as “a significant step forward in reducing the unnecessary placement of children in institutions and overall trying to improve the justice system for children”. The Juvenile Justice Law is a comprehensive piece of legislation which is characterized by the provision of various diversion measures. It is considered as the foundation to reduce the number of minors in conflict with the law by considering detention (both before and/or after conviction) only as a last resort option for children. 

The problem, however, lies in the lack of full implementation of the law, “particularly with the provisions that do away from custodial measures and apply diversion whenever possible in the criminal procedure”, as Foyouzat mentioned. Indeed, H.E. Thou Sun admitted “relevant ministries in Cambodia have been struggling to address and deal with the issue of children deprived of liberty, especially regarding children in conflict with the law”. The reality in the country is that there is “an increasing number of children imprisoned, almost threefold since the law was created, mainly due to the use of alcohol and drugs by minors in Cambodia. (…) During the same years, the government of Cambodia started an anti-narcotic campaign, which has increased the number of people in prison.”, H.E. Thou Sun continued.

COVID-19 

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Maalla M’jid mentioned the decision by numerous countries to “release children who are deprived of Liberty during the pandemic for public health reasons.”. She argued that “if states were willing to release children deprived Liberty under these circumstances, why were they deprived of Liberty to begin with”. Similarly, Foroogh Foyouzat advocated for non-custodial options, release on bail or pardons, as alternatives to protect children deprived of liberty in a context of surging COVID-19 cases in Cambodia. “Inside prisons and instititutions”, she said, “particularly when they are crowded as they often are, social distancing becomes very difficult (…). Being in such crowded places children at a high risk.”. Such poor health conditions that children deprived of liberty are exposed to on a daily basis was confirmed by This Life Cambodia’s testament of Sok, who recalled that “there were about 20 prisoners in the cell”.

Promising Practices and Recommendations

Acknowledging there is still need of additional work, the various panelists applauded Cambodia’s efforts to uphold child rights. Foroogh Foyouzat highlighted that “notable progress is being made by the Cambodian government”, and Child and Youth-Led Networks praised the elements that helped children deprived of liberty endure their difficult times, including “vocational traning programs, regular interactions with positive role models outside of the facilities, and routine contact with family and community members”. During the event, H.E. Thou Sou renewed the commitment of the Cambodian government to reduce the number of children deprived of liberty by accepting the joint statement and recommendations made by Child and Youth-Led Networks, and a draft proposal presented by several NGOs and led by UNICEF and the Global Campus of Human Rights. In particular, he announced the Cambodian National Council for Children has been tasked to liaise with the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior to study the future implementation of both statements.

Dr. Maalla M’jid commended Cambodia for becoming a path-finding country within the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, and for including children participation in decision-making processes (pre-session consultations, sharing of personal stories and their participation in the National Launch event). However, she also acknowledged the important work that still needs to be done, mainly in the field of “drastically reducing the number of children deprived of liberty, ensuring that detention is only used as a matter of last resort, and promoting alternatives to deprivation of liberty”.

Prof. Nowak explained the urgent need to implement “a very comprehensive policy of deinstitutionalization, as non-custodial solutions are always available and much better for children”. The need to establish effective child justice system was also echoed by Sok, who stated “The government should use other methods besides sending children to prison. Then they would still have a chance to go to school and feel the warmth and support of their families. In prison, children have no chance to get education and their mental health can be strongly affected.”

Se Chinn also promoted the use of non-custodial sentencing options whenever possible, given it has “direct positive results in the short and long term by reducing the number of imprisoned children and improving the climate within institutions, which serves in the best interests of children”. In the same line, Prof. Nowak, proposed to increase the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years (120 States still establish minimum age below 14 years, the minimum established by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child), shortening the length of child detention, and to implement especialized training of judges, police officers and prosecutors to get children “out of the child out of criminal justice system and into the child welfare system”.

The Joint Statement on Children Deprived of Liberty also advocated for the use of “diversion and alternative measures to detention for children in conflict with the law”, the promotion of child participation, and the improvement of living conditions and opportunities available for children deprived of liberty, with an emphasis on fostering family reunification and children with their families.

A step towards the end of invisibility

Despite the commendable steps taken by Cambodia in its journey towards ending child deprivation of liberty, there is still much work that needs to be done. In that way, the key recommendations of the Global Study present a very clear pathway in order to make further progress in protecting and promoting children’s rights. However, a meaningful implementation of the Global Study recommendations requires a collective effort from civil society, governments, UN agencies and other relevant stakeholders, as well as the ample participation and commitment of children and young people themselves. For that reason, events like the Cambodian National Launch of the UN Global Study are incredibly vital to “end the invisibility of child deprivation of liberty and help children overcome their stigmatization and social exclusion”, concluded Dr. Maalla M’jid.

Click here to access the Outcome Report of the UN Global Study National Launch in Cambodia.

For more information please follow the NGO Panel on Children Deprived of Liberty

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MENA Regional Workshop on Children Deprived of Liberty: first steps to implement the recommendations of the Global Study in the region

by with No Comment News

By Defence for Children – Palestine

DCI Middle East and North Africa Regional Office (DCI-MENA) held a workshop  on December 28th to discuss the recommendations regarding the Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty. Around 40 stakeholders joined the MENA regional workshop; representing a large number of DCI MENA Sections, the child justice sector in Arab countries, civil society institutions and international organisations, in addition to the participation of Benoit Van Keirsbilck, incoming member of the CRC Committee.

The workshop’s pragmatic approach set the stage for a discussion which not only focused on exchanging views on the Global Study recommendations but also putting forward mechanisms to include these recommendations in national plans and policies as well as to consider the reality of children in conflict with the law in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, three case studies from Tunisia, Palestine and Jordan were presented to highlight the work that has been done during the pandemic for children in conflict with the law.

The participants approved a number of recommendations at the regional level, following a review of some of the Arab experiences in protecting the rights of children in conflict with the law amidst the pandemic.

Workshop recommendations on how to include the Global Study recommendations in national plans and policies

〉 Conduct a comprehensive and specialised review of the work of centres and institutions for children with disabilities in light of international standards of alternative care and the rights of children with disabilities.

〉  Develop the work of protection and alternative care centres for children, including institutions for unaccompanied children, in terms of services provided, complaints mechanisms, monitoring systems, and periodic review of the placement conditions. 

〉  Governmental and non-governmental institutions to enhance parenting care and prevent family separation in order to promote alternatives to placement.

〉 Promote the preventive aspect of protection from violence.

〉 Develop and improve the reintegration of children into their communities and families.

〉 Promote child participation and respect children’s views, based on their maturity and age, when making the decision to place them in protection centres or institutions in accordance with informed practical guidelines.

〉 Find alternatives to protection institutions and institutions for children with disabilities by providing the necessary support to families, both psychologically and socially, or economically empowering them to take care of their children.

〉  Civil society institutions to train children and those working with children on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on individual complaints and communications procedures.

〉  Form committees from the child justice parties and civil society institutions, develop a plan to incorporate the recommendations of the Study in the national plans, and hold a meeting after three months to discuss the plans and priorities adopted at the national level.

Recommendations to protect children in conflict with the law amidst the Covid-19 pandemic

〉  Adopt alternatives to detention and reduce the number of children in places of detention.

〉  Seek social alternatives such as mediation so that minors will not spend long periods of time in the justice system.

〉  Approve procedures that reduce the period of litigation in juvenile cases by setting a time period for adjudicating cases.

〉  Hold sessions remotely while ensuring the juvenile’s right to obtain legal advice and assistance, and provide the legislative environment for that after obtaining official approval and ensuring the due process of fair trial guarantees.

〉  Provide facilities to hold sessions in juvenile care homes to spare minors the trouble of moving; mostly in countries where there are no specialised juvenile courts or means of transportation to separate them from adults during the trial.

〉  Adopt protection measures for detained children by avoiding overcrowding in places of detention.

〉  Maintain family contact, remotely, during the pandemic via social media, as well as in-person communication in cases requiring long periods of detention, such as murder cases.

〉  Establish a health protocol for places of detention to maintain communication between children and their families.

〉  Establish a mechanism for children to obtain fair trial guarantees, without prejudice to their rights to expeditious determination, contact lawyer during detention, and communicate with civil society institutions authorised to conduct supervisory visits within clear safety measures.

〉 Secure children’s right to obtain health information about disease prevention, just as children outside places of detention, and provide materials that allow them to protect themselves and prevent disease.

〉 Provide quarantine places for newly admitted children until the results come out.

〉 Ensure the right of children to receive vaccines once they are made available.

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“UN Study on children deprived of their liberty makes us feel uncomfortable. As it should do.”

by with No Comment News

By Defence for Children – The Netherlands

On December 18th, before an audience of 85 representatives of children’s rights organizations, academics, local and national governments, judiciary and international organizations, MPs Lisa Westerveld (GroenLinks), Martin Wörsdörfer (VVD), Niels van den Berge (GroenLinks) and Marijke van Beukering – Huijbregts (D66) discussed online the recommendations of the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty (GSCDL). During the launch UN Representatives and expert by experience Bodine gave their contributions. UN expert professor Manfred Nowak, stressed that 7 million children are deprived of their liberty every year worldwide. In the Netherlands, too, children are detained in police cells, in detention centers for children in conflict with the law, immigration detention or are deprived of their liberty in secured residential youth care. The MPs responded to the recommendations from the UN Study for the Netherlands. They have committed themselves to prevent the deprivation of liberty of children now and in the next cabinet term. Westerveld went a step further and no longer wants closed institutions for children in five years’ time.

Deprived of childhood

“During your childhood you develop your personality, your social emotional relationships and your talents. For this reason, children should grow up in a family setting surrounded by love, safety and security,” says Nowak. “Placing children in a closed setting is counterproductive, is costly, not good for their health and development and it deprives them of the right to personal freedom. It leaves a deep wound in the lives of these children and in society.” The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that children should only be deprived of their liberty as a measure of last resort, only when necessary, for the shortest possible time and in child-friendly conditions. Nevertheless, 7 million children worldwide are deprived of their liberty every year. This is a traumatic experience for children, as Bodine explains from her own experience, and this is also evident from the contributions of 274 children from 22 countries who participated in the UN Study. 

Experience with living in secured care

“These are children, not clients or numbers, approach them as if they were your own children,” says Bodine, now 29, who as a pregnant 16-year-old spent a total of 18 months in secured youth care. After the birth of her daughter she went to another institution, more open, although the doors were often locked. She did not receive any support during her time in secured youth care. She was even told she was not allowed to keep her child. “Being deprived of my liberty, prevented me from having access to good education. This has had a major impact on my life and I still carry this with me today.” Bodine continues, “not having a purpose nor perspective felt like my life came to an end.” In handing over the UN Study to MP Lisa Westerveld (GroenLinks), she calls on her and the government to stop locking up children and to provide children with education, support and guidance for the problems that children and their families face. 

“No more closed institutions in five year’s time”

Westerveld regretfully recognizes Bodine’s story of conversations with children who are now in closed institutions. “I prefer to see that in five years’ time there will be no more closed institutions for children,” says Westerveld. “When they are still there, it should feel like a second home. Investments must be made in guidance and education. And it’s important to support families. In the event of domestic violence, for example, investments should be made in keeping the family together.” Nowak adds: “it is up to society and not up to the children, but it is often felt that way.” Westerveld continues: “children are not difficult, but they live in difficult circumstances.” Bodine, who now works as an experience expert in closed institutions, confirms: “I recently saw a 12-year-old girl who imitated the older girls with make-up, but eventually she went to sleep with a stuffed animal. It shouldn’t be like that. What if this girl would be your own child? That’s why I say: stop locking up children.” 

 Presentation UN Global Study

 Got inspired? Watch the video with all the   presentations, the story of expert Bodine and the   conversations about the implementation of the   recommendations of the UN Study with UN Expert   Prof. Manfred Nowak and members of parliament

Follow-up UN Study

The Global Campus of Human Rights plays an important role in the implementation of the UN Study and supporting national action plans, says program manager Manu Krishan. “Austria is now exploring alternatives to secured placements, for example. In South Africa, a pilot has been launched providing opportunities for young people in secured care. And in East Europa and Central Asia we are working on the de-institutionalisation of children with disabilities.” “The Netherlands has to prioritize reducing the amount of children in secured care and has to take concrete steps towards this goal” says Ton Liefaard, endowed professor of children’s rights at Leiden University. “The UN Study makes us feel uncomfortable. Like it should do. The UN Study is relevant for the Kingdom of the Netherlands and not only for foreign countries. Not being able to leave an open or closed institution freely, has an impact on children. Reintegration of young people who have been deprived of their liberty is ‘costly’ for society, therefore investments must be made in prevention, supporting families for example. Locking up children is still used as a solution. This is very worrisome.” Liefaard calls for the whole system to be reconsidered and to come up with creative solutions: “placing children in closed institutions is not the same as taking care of children.”

Situation in the Netherlands

Eva Huls, in-house lawyer at Defence for Children continues: “Each year in the Netherlands thousands of children are deprived of their liberty. In 2019, for example, there were 1.680 placements in secured youth care. In addition, children are affected by the long waiting lists and the financial consequences of the decentralization. In 2019, in nearly 20.000 cases of children in conflict with the law, the child suspects were detained in a police cell. The vast majority of these children have not committed  a serious  crime  and/or have been arrested for the first time. Furthermore, in 2019 a total of 30 unaccompanied children and 170 children in families were placed in immigration detention. On average unaccompanied children have to stay there longer than children in families and often in poor conditions, although there are alternatives as we can see in other countries. Defence for Children urges the government to reduce the number of children in secured care or detention and address the root causes to prevent deprivation of liberty. Register more and better and prohibit the detention of children for purely migration related reasons. If deprivation of liberty cannot be prevented, then apply child-friendly conditions. But above all: create alternatives and invest in families.”

Small-scale care facilities

The figures presented by Huls makes Wörsdörfer (VVD) feel uncomfortable. “Investments must be made in creating alternatives, such as ‘family type settings’. The UN Study can certainly help us with this. And I support the call to register more and better.”  Van den Berge(GroenLinks): “Secured youth care and detention of children in conflict with the law should be small-scale and placement should be avoided as much as possible. We do agree on that in parliament. I am particularly concerned about children in immigration detention: there is no consensus on this in parliament.”  Nowak finds this very worrisome, Ireland has for example abolished immigration detention: “they do not run away, because they depend on the care that is being offered to them.” Van Beukering – Huijbregts (D66):  “the large numbers are also caused by the fact that the ‘flow’ of children coming in and children leaving care facilities is not in order. More small-scale facilities have to be built. Multiple domains have to be involved. Not only representatives of youth policy, but representatives of e.g. housing and education policy as well.”

Concrete directions to post-election coalition formation

“The deprivation of liberty of children is one of the most overlooked violations of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,” nowak says. Liefaard adds that the youth mental health care system needs to be included in this discussion as well, because children are often confronted with these different systems. Wörsdörfer agrees: “the current pilots in the youth mental health care system should be applied throughout the Netherlands, and the adult mental health care system should be included as well.” Van den Berge: “we need concrete directions, including in the context of coalition-building after the elections.”  Van Beukering – Huijbregts: “due to the decentralization municipalities are responsible for facilitating youth care. However, address at a national level the need for different type of treatment close to home and the need for prevention and reintegration.” Nowak offers to support the MPs after the elections, this is wholeheartedly accepted. “The situation in the Netherlands must improve, based on Bodine’s experience, the recommendations and the observations of the UN study and contributions today. Let’s focus on what Westerveld said earlier and make sure that in five years’ time we have abolished closed institutions,” stresses Carrie van de Kroon, host of the Global Study event.

 

Defence for Children International and Human Rights Watch chair the NGO panel, which is affiliated with 170 organisations, and they are now committed to implementing the recommendations of the UN Study. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to send us an e-mail: info@defenceforchildren.nl

Learn more 

POWER POINT PRESENTATION UN GLOBAL STUDY ON CHILDREN DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY (ENG)
HANDOUT WITH NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL FIGURES ON CHILDREN DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY (ENG)
DOWNLOAD THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY & THE COMPLETE UN STUDY (ENG)

For more information please follow the NGO Panel on Children Deprived of Liberty

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