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Summary: Three organisations have jointly denounced problems affecting children in the administration of justice, including the high occurrence of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment received by children especially during the phases of arrest, police custody and pre-trial detention. They have also highlighted the negative effects of sensationalist media on public perceptions of children and juvenile delinquency. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL - 16th session (28 February 2011 -25 March 20011) Item 3: Promotion and Protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Oral statement delivered by The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Defence for Children International (DCI),1 Child Rights Information Network2 Mr/Madam Chairperson, We thank Ms Marta Santos Pais for the presentation of her report to the Human Rights Council and welcome the special emphasis placed on violence against children and the administration of justice. In this regard, we remain concerned over the high occurrence of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of children especially during the phases of arrest, police custody and pre-trial detention. We are also concerned over the conditions of detention for children amounting to forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and sometimes torture. We would like to recall that children are particularly vulnerable to violence and ill-treatment as they are in the critical stages of physical and psychological development and special measures are therefore required to prevent any form of ill-treatment. It is particularly disquieting that in some countries child offenders are sentenced to cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, including to death penalty, hanging, shooting or stoning, to life imprisonment without possibility of release, and to corporal punishment such as whipping, flogging, caning or amputation. Mr/Madam Chairperson, Sensationalist media and political populism continues to negatively affect the publics’ perception of juvenile delinquency. As a result we witness retrogressive trends in a number of countries in the lowering of the minimum age of criminal responsibility, an increase in custodial measures and the lengthening of detention terms. There is ample experience of protecting children in conflict with the law from violence, including the use of alternatives to arrest and detention so that deprivation of liberty remains the clear exception. It is also vital to ensure that children deprived of liberty receive effective access to legal, social and other assistance. We believe that independent detention monitoring mechanisms demonstrated their effectiveness to prevent torture and ill-treatment against children deprived of liberty. In addition we call on states to set up child-friendly complaints’ system throughout the criminal procedure which ensure that violence does not remain unpunished and which open the possibility for the victims to access to justice, obtain redress, remedy and appropriate reparation. In conclusion we would like to encourage the Special Representative to prepare a comprehensive thematic report on violence against children in the administration of justice. In this perspective we would like to ask the Special Representative: How do you intend to follow-up on the issue of violence against children in the administration of justice and what would you consider key elements of an effective protection of children in conflict with the law from violence? 1 Having ECOSOC consultative status . 2Without ECOSOC status. Further Information: