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Español / Français DCI is inviting organisations sharing its vision to co-sign the appeal. To sign, send an email to: [email protected] with the full name of the organisation and name and email address of a contact person. On the occasion of the Twelfth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, from 12-19 April 2010 in Salvador, Brazil, Defence for Children International (DCI), the international movement for the rights of children and adolescents with consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council, and the undersigned organisations call upon States to take immediate action to ensure that juvenile justice systems are effective, child-specific, fair and respectful of rights. General considerations Children and adolescents are the principal victims of violence in the world. As highlighted in the conclusions of the United Nations Study on Violence against Children, the settings in which violence is particularly significant are: the home, school, community, and State institutions. One area that starkly reflects the reality of violence in State institutions is juvenile justice, referring to the State’s response in dealing with cases of crimes attributed to, or committed by, adolescents. While there are international instruments ratified by the majority of States to ensure that criminal cases are resolved effectively, efficiently, fairly, respectfully, and in a specialised way that does not infringe upon fundamental rights, in practice these standards are not met. International instruments establish that a separate justice system should exist to deal with juvenile justice within which educational measures should be a priority. This system should consider the age of those concerned, and prioritise non-custodial sanctions. Likewise, they emphasise that States should respond to crimes by striving to achieve an appropriate balance between the rights of adolescent perpetrators of the crime, the rights of victims, and society's interest in public safety and crime prevention. Even though States have developed specific legislation on juvenile justice in accordance with international principles, there is still a need to develop more actions to establish child-specific justice systems. The recurring recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and other international reports show that States have failed to fully implement the educational measures established in international commitments. Neither have they allocated enough resources for a comprehensive and effective implementation of these measures. On the contrary, they maintain the use and abuse of the deprivation of liberty, as illustrated by the overcrowding of prisons. It is known that there are ongoing and serious rights violations, particularly against adolescents, such as killings, torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, arbitrary or illegal detention, in addition to the well known serious conditions in detention centres. These situations have been identified in the Study on Violence against Children in the 2009 Interim Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment, in a number of reports by the World Organisation Against Torture and in other international and national studies. In this context, we see justice systems operating in unsuitable conditions, generating more violence, while at the same time social concerns about the situation of insecurity become ever more pronounced. This reality shows that no effective response is being offered to conflicts generated by the crimes. On the contrary, it weakens the rule of law while commitments to creating specialised juvenile justice systems in accordance with international standards remain unfulfilled. APPEAL In response, the undersigned organisations demand that States do the following: By making these commitments, States will contribute to the development of specialised juvenile justice systems, to a reduction in the use and abuse of detention and the development of non-violent and effective proposals for resolving conflicts produced by the commission crimes. This is why we, the undersigned organisations, urge State authorities responsible for juvenile justice to take the necessary measures to implement the changes that will contribute to greater respect for the rights of children and adolescents in conflict with the law. Further information
Defence for Children International (DCI) has prepared an "Appeal for Juvenile Justice to be efficient, child-specific, fair and respectful of rights." The appeal will be disseminated during the Twelfth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice taking place next week in Salvador, Brazil, from April 12-19, 2010.