A/71/206
administration, to prevent and identify incidents of violence and other child rights
violations; to assess and recommend improvements to conditions of detention and
the safeguarding of children’s rights; and to review individual complaints.
108. In this process, three different approaches have been followed. In countries
such as Argentina, Brazil and Chile, judiciary authorities have a special oversight
responsibility over places where children are deprived of liberty as part of their role
in executing judicial sentences and in safeguarding children’s rights.
109. In other cases, a non-jurisdictional mechanism has been put in place. In Chile,
inter-institutional commissions of supervision have been established throughout the
country under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice. With the participation of
representatives from the judiciary, academia and civil society, as well as UNICEF,
the commissions operate by consensus and their recommendations are made public
and available online. In Colombia, the National Congress established a commission
for the verification of human rights within the juvenile justice system composed of
representatives from the Ministries of Justice and Law and of Education, the
Colombian Family Welfare Institute and the National Planning Department. In both
countries, monitoring tasks include interviews with children.
110. In Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, pursuant to the Optional Protoco l
to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, important independent bodies have been set up as
national mechanisms for the prevention of torture, at times under the auspices of the
national independent human rights institution (in the case of Uruguay). These
mechanisms, which are accorded full access to centres of detention, including those
where children are placed, conduct periodic and unannounced visits, hold private
interviews with children deprived of liberty and issue public reports and
recommendations addressed to the authorities.
111. Although they differ in nature, these various institutions are indispensable and
mutually supportive in monitoring the premises and conditions of detention,
preventing and responding to any risk of violence or other human rights violations
and meeting with children and being informed by their views and concerns. These
mechanisms are designed to complement and support the national child protection
system, as well as other actors whose intervention may be needed for the recovery
and reintegration of any child victim of violence.
C.
Key recommendations
112. The conference highlighted significant recommendations, both on deprivation
of liberty as a measure of last resort and on national monitoring mechanisms for
places of detention.
113. As a measure of last resort, deprivation of liberty should never be used as a
response to a non-existent or weak national child protection system. When in
exceptional circumstances children are lawfully deprived of liberty, their right to
challenge the legality of the deprivation of their liberty before a court and to a
prompt decision thereon should be respected. The length of their placement must be
clearly determined at the time of the decision, and non-custodial alternatives should
be strengthened at all stages of the proceedings, including through restorative
justice approaches. Moreover, restriction of a child’s right to liberty can never be
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