Making best use of the 'Technical Note: COVID-19 and Children Deprived of their liberty'

The current case study describes several countries’ response to the UNICEF ECA Regional Office’s request to provide feedback on the dissemination and utilisation of the Technical Note.

Key  findings

1. All sixteen countries^[1] that provided feedback mentioned that the Technical Note was timely and that it provided a strong basis and guidance to support their advocacy efforts for the release of children and protection of those that remained in detention. As a result, 1,051 children in five countries - Albania, Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Turkey and Uzbekistan - were released from detention by June of 2020.

2. The Technical Note urged a moratorium on new detentions of children, which has been complied with by all countries in the region. There have been no new entries in places of detention since the outbreak of COVID-19. Children who were in situations that could have led to their detention, were released to their families and/or specialised foster carers. 

3. In situations when children were not released from detention, measures were put in place to ensure their health, safety, and protection. While provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) in places of detention was not a typical regular UNICEF intervention, several country offices - Armenia, Tajikistan Ukraine and Uzbekistan - responded to government’s request and initiated provision of PPE in places of detention.

4. The Technical Note inspired: 

• In Serbia, the Juvenile Justice Council issued a press release prompting all professionals to deal with each child in the justice system in line with international standards;
• In Kosovo, a joint advocacy initiative with the Ombudsperson, a coalition of 30 child protection NGOs, and the European Union office took place, calling for the immediate release and protection of juveniles deprived of their liberty;
• In Albania, the issuance of guidance to all prosecutors handling cases involving children, to avoid using custodial measures against child alleged offenders;
• In Bulgaria, the Ombudsperson’s delivered recommendations to the Ministry of Education on safety measures for children in the four correctional educational boarding schools;
• In the Ukraine, a programme for mothers and pregnant women was developed, with a total of 15 children reported to be with their mothers in detention.
• The Technical Note was also found to be useful as a training resource. In Turkey, for example, online training was conducted on its guidelines, with the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, to encourage lawyers to apply to courts for the immediate release of children under pre-trial detention.

Key finding

A key finding from the development and use of the Technical Note is that it provided additional guidance to governments to appropriately respond to Covid-19 in relation to children deprived of their liberty. The measures and recommendations thereof, provide a strong  basis for continued advocacy to release children from detention during this pandemic, and for governments to accelerate the promotion of alternatives to detention.

[1] Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan