EU and UNICEF: Fewer children behind bars, greater reforms needed
Children in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia have seen steady and positive reforms in children's rights but still face huge barriers in accessing justice, according to a new European Union-UNICEF report launched at a conference on justice for children in Brussels.
The report, Juvenile Justice in the CEE/CIS (Central and Eastern Europe/ Commonwealth of Independent States) region: Progress, Challenges, Obstacles and Opportunities, notes that across the region, fewer children are being put into prison. It also points to ill-treatment, sometimes amounting to torture, in all surveyed countries. Solitary confinement is still allowed in nearly all of them.
The EU and UNICEF welcomed moves by governments in the region, including in countries due to join the EU, to widen the scope of reforms towards systematically protecting the rights of all children in the justice process. Broader reforms will include ending the culture of impunity by authorities and giving access to justice for all children who are victims or witnesses to crimes.
Legislation in many of these countries is moving closer to international standards. Importantly, changes in legislation on sentencing and other reforms have also led to a substantial decline in the number of children languishing behind bars.
“Despite some progress, there is still scope for considerable improvement when it comes to children’s rights. There is a need to overcome the institutionalisation of children and to promote less technical term in support of families. And our concerns don’t just end there. It is essential that countries in our neighbourhood not only adhere to international human rights standards, but they must also ensure the effective implementation of recently-adopted criminal justice legislation, which in some countries is very progressive” European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle said in his opening speech at the conference.
“The more children in conflict with the law are shut out of society, the harder it is for them to heal,” said Yoka Brandt, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director. “Progress has been made but justice is often blind to children’s needs. Justice systems must adjust to meet the rights of all children.”
Source: United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund
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