About the webinar:
Each year, an estimated one million children face criminal justice proceedings in the EU, and yet they often lack the necessary procedural safeguards envisioned by the Procedural Rights Directive (2016/800/EU). To address the magnitude of this issue, the Children in Contact with the Law in Europe: Trends & Opportunities report released by Tdh, in partnership with DLA Piper, found that 33% of European countries can prosecute children above the age of criminal responsibility for offences committed, even if they are under the age of criminal responsibility, and that individual needs assessments of children involved in criminal proceedings are not systematically conducted across Europe.
The report presents a snapshot of the situation in 18 European countries, and makes a number of recommendations aimed at improving the skills of professionals working with children, creating child-centred policies and legislation, investing in robust monitoring mechanisms of the situation of children in criminal proceedings, and improving the knowledge of professionals about the needs of children in criminal proceedings. The “Children in Contact with the Law in Europe: Where are we at?” webinar seeks to introduce the findings of this report, together with key European experts on child-friendly justice, in order to reinvigorate discussion and encourage participants to take action to improve criminal justice proceedings for children.
Presenters:
- Dr Stephanie Rap, Assistant Professor, University of Amsterdam
- Eva Huls, Judge and Attorney, Defence for Children International
- Astrid Podsiadlowski, EU Fundamental Rights Agency Project Manager, Rights of the Child
- Ingrid Breit, Team Leader at the European Commission, DG Justice and Consumers
- Zsuzsanna Rutai JD LLM, Independent Consultant on Children’s Rights
Moderator: Mariama Diallo, Regional Programme Manager for Access to Justice Europe, Tdh
Concluding Remarks: Margaux Bia, Lead Lawyer for DLA Piper Pro Bono Team and Cédric Foussard Global Advisor on Access to Justice, Terre des hommes
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