Justice for Children
Project | Where every child can access justice to secure their rights and obtain remedies
Justice systems are important to enable the fulfillment of all child rights.
Justice systems should offer fair processes, respect for laws and redress when rights are violated. As much as adults, children enjoy these rights – and some special ones. Justice for children means the rights are enjoyed whether children: seek out justice; their participation is sought as victims/witnesses; or they are held by justice systems to address (possible) law breaking.
Justice systems are often not well-designed to meet the rights and needs of children, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable. This is especially evident in cases of sexual violence against children, or in climate-related loss of land, life, livelihoods or cultural heritage – which represent some of the greatest intergenerational injustices that children face today.
What laws are in place? What do the ‘right’ laws look like in a given context? What measures are most effective and efficient for enabling access to justice for different populations, including girls?
Where children’s special needs are identified, they may not be properly addressed or financially supported. The law and legal procedures may be hard to access or decipher. Assistance from lawyers or other professionals may be out-of-reach. Children may not be able to claim rights in their own name or give their own evidence, if they can reach court. Conversely, individuals on whom children uniquely depend for care and protection may be immune from claims. The process may present threats to children’s safety and privacy, without offering expeditious and effective relief. In criminal, migration or national security processes, children may face inappropriate detention and punishment.
These justice barriers have been reported by children and others, in diverse contexts. Children and youth have consistently called for more meaningful participation and inclusion in legal processes that aim to address injustices. In the context of climate-related loss and damage finance, for example, there is a growing need for child-responsive loss and damage financing and action, recognizing children as agents of change and promoting their rights now and in the future.
But the global body of knowledge has huge gaps.
What laws are in place? What do the ‘right’ laws look like in a given context? What measures are most effective and efficient for enabling access to justice for different populations, including girls? What kinds of remedies are available and what are those actually granted? What would the most appropriate remedies be for children, notably for girls? How does ‘access to justice’ drive the fulfilment of other child rights?
UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight generates high-quality legal information and evidence to help governments, UNICEF offices and others fill justice gaps.