You are entrusted to protect people in your community from harm and ensure their most basic rights. This is a very serious and rewarding responsibility, which you must fulfill while respecting human rights, the rule of law and remaining open and accountable to the public. This means you must respect the rights of everyone you come into contact with.
Children are particularly vulnerable when they are in contact with the law - whether they are an offender, complainant, victim or witness. It is vital that children can trust you and the office you represent. It is essential that you uphold all children’s rights and treat them with equality, dignity and respect at all times. In particular, you must fulfill children’s due process rights if they are in the justice system, and take their right to be heard seriously.
Resources for you
- CRIN has produced a number of guides and toolkits that may help you in your work, including how to create a legal system that is child-friendly. All of this information can be accessed through our guides section.
- You can also find out about specific children’s rights themes and issues, including justice.
Below are some additional children’s rights resources tailored to law enforcement officials. We are developing more all the time, and updating and adding to existing resources. Please email us with your feedback on these, as well as suggestions for further resources we could look to produce.