UNICEF Europe and Central Asia

From across the region

A 17-year-old boy hangs onto a fence at a detention centre where he has spent the last 19 months. He is only half way through his sentence.

Programme

Access to justice

Read how we advocate for justice and welfare systems that meet children's needs.

Explore our work

Johann Sattler, Head of EU Delegation

Press release

25 February 2020

Number of children in detention facilities reduced by 90 per cent in Eastern and Central Europe and Central Asia – UNICEF

Juvenile detention center

Article

Kosovo: reforms in the justice for children system

How adopting ‘diversion measures’ has helped Kosovo deal compassionately with juvenile justice cases

Mother holding a child

Blog post

A mother takes her case to Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court

UNICEF supported legal aid services help families access justice

Bulgaria

Article

The power of compassion and persistence

How organizations and advocates use the law to help refugee children in Bulgaria find a future

Lale looking at the brochure about the children in contact with law at the Judicial Interview Room.

Article

Special room helps Turkey handle court cases

12,000 children have used the special rooms in 62 courthouses across the country

Our work

Omar (17), front, with his fellow housemates on the balcony at the reception centre where they stay in the small village of Naro, in Sicily, Italy

Protecting refugee and migrant children

Sonia, 14 remembers the teachers helping to her calm down.

Supporting children caught in conflict in Ukraine

A young child receives polio vaccine at the Kizil Oy Village Primary Health Clinic in Zomin district in Jizzakh region.

Ensuring all children receive life-saving vaccines

On 17 May 2018 in Belarus, three-year-old Agatha laughs with her mother, Ekaterina, at home in Minsk, the capital.

Ending institutionalization and keeping families together