Summary:

This paper addresses the right of children to be heard in any judicial or administrative proceeding affecting them. It introduces the subject based on examples from the laws and practices of 52 countries around the world, shedding further light on a topic covered in the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre publication Law Reform and Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (2007).

http://www.crin.org/docs/iwp_2009_04.pdf

Section 1 analyses the text of article 12.2 in the light of other provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other norms of international human rights law.

Section 2 reviews the legislation of selected countries, including laws that establish fixed limits concerning the age at which a child can or must be heard in various types of legal and administrative proceedings (such as child protection proceedings, family law proceedings, criminal proceedings in which the child is a witness). It also addresses laws that establish other criteria (such as maturity, ability to understand, risk of adverse psychological consequences) for such purposes.

Section 3 explores the reasons that underlie the criteria such as age limits used in different legal systems for determining when a child will be heard in legal or administrative proceedings.

Section 4 concerns how laws are applied in practice in different legal systems, including the flexibility of the criteria as applied in practice and the extent to which the views of children are actually taken into account.

Section 5 reviews efforts made by selected countries to make children’s participation in legal and
administrative proceedings child sensitive, such as by making the courtroom less intimidating, barring repeated interrogation on sensitive subjects and establishing new modalities of cross-examination.

Section 6 reviews the advances made in some countries in recognizing children’s right to legal services and legal representation. This is vitally important in enabling them to exercise the right to be heard and to have their views taken into account in legal and administrative proceedings.

Section 7 contains findings and recommendations.

This paper is addressed primarily to child rights advocates, researchers, legal practitioners and other professionals working in the area of children and the law. Further research is needed document good practices and to complement this introductory, global overview with studies focusing in more detail on different regions or legal traditions and specific types of proceedings.

Further information

• HRC: Statement on Child Sensitive Justice System (11 March 2009)
• Council of Europe: Developing guidelines for child friendly justice (September 2008)

Previous UN report items

• 05/05/2009: UN: Handbook on legislative reform: realising children's rights
• 05/05/2009: UN: Legislative Reform on Child Domestic Labour: A gender analysis
• 05/05/2009: UN: Global Perspectives on Consolidated Children’s Rights Statutes
• 05/05/2009: UN: Child marriage and the law
• 24/04/2009: ARMED CONFLICT: Annual Report to the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict

Organisation Contact Details:

UNICEF Office of Research
Piazza SS. Annunziata 12
50122 Florence
Tel: + 39 55 203 30
Email: florence@unicef.org
Website: www.unicef-irc.org

Last updated 17/08/2011 04:47:48

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