The project “Ensuring child-friendly justice through the effective operation of the Barnahus-units in Finland” is currently in its inception phase. Following a series of bi-lateral consultations with key Finnish stakeholders, a general working consultation meeting held on 29 October brought together representatives of the Council of Europe and the five Barnahus-units operating in the country: Helsinki, Kuopio, Oulu, Tampere and Turku.

The meeting served to identify areas in which the functioning of the Barnahus model in Finland and in the different Barnahus-units could be improved, and to discuss in detail country needs regarding child sexual abuse cases, and more concretely legal and policy gaps of child-friendly justice, interagency collaboration, information sharing, capacity building, and child participation practices.

The information gathered during both the bi-lateral consultations and the working consultation meeting will serve as the basis to draft the project work plan and to prepare an inception report which will outline an analysis of the reforms to be implemented and the key roles and responsibilities of stakeholders.