Children come into contact with the justice system in many different ways. They can be victims, witnesses, offenders or parties in non-judicial, judicial (civil and criminal) and administrative proceedings. Often, when faced with the justice system, they are thrown into an intimidating adult world which they cannot understand. Adapting justice to their needs – making it child-friendly – is therefore necessary.
Child-friendly justice should be accessible, age-appropriate, speedy, diligent, adapted to and focused on the needs of the child. It respects the rights of children to due process, to participate in and to understand the proceedings, as well as their rights to private and family life, and to integrity and dignity.
How is the Council of Europe promoting child justice?
The Council of Europe has played a leading role in promoting child-friendly justice through the adoption of the Guidelines on child-friendly justice, which set out the most extensive standards in this area. However, standards alone are not enough; the real challenge lies in implementation. To help translate the guidelines into concrete and workable mechanisms, a special tool was created under the joint European Union - Council of Europe child-friendly justice project. This tool supports member states in evaluating how well their justice systems are adapted to children.
The Child-friendly-justice assessment tool was launched in Brussels today at an event organised by the Children’s Rights division of the Council of Europe and the Directorate-General for justice and consumers of the European Commission.
Representatives of Belgium, Poland and Slovenia – the project pilot countries which conducted self-assessments and received recommendations on how to adapt their legal and policy frameworks – have shared their experiences in the roll-out of the tool. Together with representatives from Greece, Hungary and Portugal, international organisations and NGOs, they exchanged ideas on how Europe can become a champion in the field of child-friendly justice.
The tool is available in French, Dutch, Polish and Slovenian.
Learn more about the child-friendly-justice assessment tool
The Council of Europe’s extensive work for children: find out more
