SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2012, para. 14a

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[At the consultation, in which governmental experts and representatives of United Nations agencies, international and regional organizations, human rights bodies, academia and civil society participated, a set of practical recommendations to assist States and other actors in the development of a violence-free justice system for children was drawn up. Those recommendations, included in a joint report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/21/25), address the following issues:] Preventing the criminalization and penalization of children. The prevention and reduction of situations leading to the deprivation of children's liberty is a critical strategy for decreasing the risk of violence in the criminal justice system. States should pursue this goal by: (i) decriminalizing "status offences", such as begging, vagrancy, truancy and loitering; (ii) preventing the detention of unaccompanied migrant children and asylum seekers on the basis of their status; (iii) ensuring that children with mental health and substance abuse problems are appropriately cared for, rather than dealt with by the criminal justice system; (iv) ensuring universal birth registration, raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 12 years and continuing to raise it further, and ensuring non-custodial options for children below that age; and (v) supporting the prevention of criminalization and penalization through a robust and well-resourced child protection system, with effective coordination between the justice, social welfare and education sectors.
Legal status
Non-negotiated soft law
Body
Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
Document type
SRSG report
Means of adoption
N.A.
Topic(s)
  • Governance & Rule of Law
  • Violence
Person(s) affected
  • Children
  • Persons on the move
Year
2012
Paragraph type
Other
Paragraph number
14a