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Summary: To present its advocacy work in the field of Child-friendly justice, the International Juvenile Justice Observatory (IJJO) organized, together with its European branch, the European Juvenile Justice Observatory (EJJO), and the Istituto don Calabria, a seminar at the European Economic and Social Committee, on the 9th of June 2011.
The seminar aimed at presenting the Three IJJO Green Papers on Child Friendly Justice, as results of the research work developed within each one of the three Sections of the European Council for Juvenile Justice (ECJJ), a consultative body of the European Juvenile Justice Observatory. Dr. Ineke Pruin, from the University of Greifswald, was the expert in charge of the research and drafting of the Green Paper of ECJJ Public Administration section, which focused on “The evaluation of the implementation of international standards in national juvenile justice systems”. The Green Paper of the ECJJ Academic Section “Measures of deprivation of liberty for young offenders: how to enrich international standards in juvenile justice and promote alternatives to detention?” has been drafted under the coordination of Dr. Ursula Kilkelly, from University College Cork. Ms. Séverine Jacomy-Vité, a consultant in Children’s Rights, was the expert in charge of the drafting of the ECJJ NGO Section Green Paper which covered the important issue of “The social reintegration of young offenders as a key against recidivism”. The Three IJJO Green Papers presentation was followed by an interesting debate among more than forty experts from EU Institutions (European Economic and Social Committee, European Commission, Committee of the Regions) as well as representatives of the Polish Presidency, international NGOs and research centres, such as OSI Europe, Caritas or Diagrama Internacional. Participants at the seminar highlighted the difficulty of performing cross-European comparisons in the field of juvenile justice, mainly because of the lack of reliable data. They also pointed out that most of the juvenile justice programs are being implemented without being assessed and that human and financial resources and infrastructure are lacking in many Member States. With regards the implementation of international standards on juvenile justice, participants agreed upon the fact that substantial efforts need to be done to overcome those barriers hindering their effective implementation. In conclusion, all stakeholders agreed upon the need to work together to create synergies and effective collaboration in order to improve the situation of the children at-risk and to further developed the key elements of the child-friendly justice. The three experts in charge of the drafting of Three IJJO Green Papers on Child-Friendly Justice took note of the observations made by participants and will include their comments in the final version of the Three Green Papers to be issued by September 2011.