Adolescent manifesto: "Justice without barriers"

Panama City, 18-20 November 2024

We, adolescents from Latin America and the Caribbean, have gathered in Panama on behalf of about 837 children and adolescents from the region, to express our concerns and recommendations on Access to Justice.

We want our experiences and voices to be heard and taken into account, to build a more just and equitable future and present. Children and adolescents in all their diversity face barriers and setbacks when it comes to accessing justice.

Justice and its access have varied definitions. Based on our participations, we conclude that:

• "Justice is that we have somewhere to go, who to turn to when any of our rights are violated...."
• "Justice represents the right to be respected, protected, listened to and defended." 
• “… Access to justice means a guarantee, if we seek a good life the first word should be the right to access to justice."
• "Anyone can access this right, regardless of their situation, age, orientation, economy or status."

It's time to act! The right to access justice has to be for everyone.

We were able to visualize several problems that we have in common to access justice and which we want to share today:

Adult-centrism: It is a central issue associated with the barriers to fair treatment and recognition of all people, include C&A as equal within society, with opinions and knowledge. We are constantly confronted with expressions such as: "they are still growing" and "they lack life experience, which discredit us as present social subjects.

"The world is centred on adult-centrism, the child is told 'he doesn't know', 'he invents' 'exaggerates' or it is 'his imagination', he may go through any tragedy, but he is not listened to."

Grievance mechanisms: The grievance channels we currently have have not been designed for children, as they are not efficient, agile (they are bureaucratic) and do not offer concrete answers for the restitution and reparation of our rights.

Lack of knowledge of children's rights: For many of us, it is difficult to say if we know about our rights when in reality, we do not know all of them. To this we add that knowing rights also implies being able to claim them, which leads us to ask ourselves, "How can we demand them, if we do not know them?"

Lack of trust in adults and institutions: Many times, in our countries, distrust in institutions and in certain adults is a barrier for us, because we do not always feel safe to report and there are not many protection mechanisms when we do, or they do not believe us, and we are required to provide a lot of evidence when we report a situation of violation.

"That they make us feel confident in ourselves, because sometimes we are underestimated, when we do have the ability to make decisions."

Barriers to access to information: We do not have access to quality information or access is limited. The information we need to know and exercise our rights is not in our languages or adapted to our age. They are denying us the possibility of understanding what corresponds to us, of knowing what to do when our rights are violated and of raising our voices.

Indigenous children face even more barriers, because they do not even have information in their languages, as well as people with some type of disability. This is a direct violation of our rights.

Social inequality: The lack of economic resources affects us directly. How are we going to exercise our rights if we don't even have the basics? A child who cannot eat will not have the energy to learn or attend school. In rural areas, the situation is even worse. If there is violence, we have nowhere to turn, there are no police nearby. What rights do they tell us about if we cannot defend them?

Justice has become a consumer good, something that only a few can access.

We demand that governments, the United Nations and society in general do more to ensure Access to Justice and therefore to all our rights and for this we propose to:

1. Promote spaces for listening and attention in all our communities and neighbourhoods to create solutions that meet our needs, teach life skills, in addition to implementing activities that are attractive to us, that are safe, protective spaces and that consider minorities such as migrant, indigenous and Afrodescendent populations.
2. Demand that all state workers be trained to treat children and adolescents directly, safely and confidentially. Such as: providing more training to the police, doctors, counsellors, teachers, among others, on how to establish positive and safe relationships with children and how to create a safe, welcoming and supportive environment for children and adolescents to share their concerns.
3. Implement workshops to strengthen our knowledge about our rights and the mechanisms we have for access to justice within the education system, including for our families and/or guardians.
4. Provide for the existence of helplines for children and adolescents in all countries, and where they already exist, improve them and make them equitable and inclusive.
5. Create advertisements in mass media (such as television and social networks) about children's rights and access to justice. Advertisements can also be in squares, parks, roads and highways. Create child-friendly versions of policies.
6. Strengthen mechanisms for monitoring and monitoring protection services, mainly for children and adolescents who are deprived of their liberty.
7. Ensure regular mechanisms for listening, protection and reporting children and adolescents in institutions, homes and shelters.
8. Demand the mastery of at least one indigenous language/local dialect and creoles by justice operators so that the ordinary justice system has the capacity to safeguard and consider the cultural practices and values of the peoples in decision-making processes.
9. Promote spaces for parents and caregivers where they can share about their parenting experiences and that this strengthens trust with their children.
10. Apply national legislation/regulations and institutional procedures where the best interests of the child are the priority, taking our opinions into account. As well as the specialization of the justice system to serve us according to needs, contexts and confidentiality.
11. Promote that people with special jurisdictions, recognized for their autonomy, commit themselves to eliminating cultural or social practices that violate the dignity and integrity of people, guaranteeing respect for human rights, promoting a balance between their traditions and international standards.
12. Promote change in norms, behaviours that culturally limit children and adolescents from feeling safe to express themselves, to report freely and without fear, which facilitate the guarantee of our rights.
13. Advocate for schools to be accessible to those with disabilities or from indigenous and Afrodescendent populations and for teachers and principals to be trained to understand and implement inclusion.
14. Advocate for accessible health systems (medicines, rehabilitation therapies, assistive technologies), especially for the most vulnerable, such as people with disabilities living in poverty.
15. Advocate for migrant children and adolescents to be protected and able to access their rights to education and health, especially those who are more invisible, such as children and those with disabilities.

This manifesto represents our voices and our demands. Together, we can ensure that our rights are respected and that our experiences are valued. We invite all authorities, institutions and communities to join us in this effort for a better future for all adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean.