CLEAR-Rights European review of practices and gaps in legal aid systems for children

Legal assistance for children in conflict with the law is a fundamental right. Good practices are evident (despite great differences between countries) across Europe proving the continuous commitment of states towards child-friendly justice, following the adoption of the Council of Europe Guidelines on Child-friendly Justice. However,  the enormous available research – in Europe and globally –  indicates that to fully achieve protection for all children in conflict with the law, one crucial challenge still remains. The Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed in §51 of its General Comment 24 its concerns that “children are provided less protection than international law guarantees for adults” and it “recommends that the States provide effective legal representation, free of charge, for all children who are facing criminal charges before judicial, administrative or other public authorities”, importantly emphasising that “child justice systems should not permit children to waive legal representation unless the decision to waive is made voluntarily and under impartial judicial supervision”.  

The main objective of the CLEAR-Rights project is to enhance legal assistance for children, more precisely to improve equal access to a lawyer for children suspected or accused of crime, through strengthening access to quality and specialised government-funded legal aid and pro bono legal assistance, in line with the Directive 2016/800/EU on procedural safeguards for children who are suspects or accused persons in criminal proceedings. This project builds upon the right to legal assistance/aid of children involved in criminal proceedings as suspects or accused persons, with a focus on 5 European countries: Belgium, France, Hungary, Romania and the Netherlands. It is coordinated by the Regional Office of Tdh for Europe in Hungary, in collaboration with 5 partners: PILnet in Hungary, Alliance des Avocats pour les Droits de l’Homme (AADH) in France, Defence for Children International (DCI) in Belgium, Terre des hommes Romania and Defence for Children International-ECPAT in the Netherlands. This project aims to support the overall effort of the European Commission to achieve a European area implementing child-friendly justice and to coherently implement the EU legislation.

This European review is mainly based on desk research at national and European level and on the results of the consultations with professionals in the five countries. It should be considered a baseline and need assessment aiming at guiding the following phases of the project. Its objectives are:

• To present an overview of the accessibility and quality offered by the systems of legal aid for children in conflict with the law in the countries where the project is being implemented, which  includes the identification of gaps and promising practices
• To provide an overview of the capacities and the training needs for legal aid lawyers and pro-bono lawyers in the countries where the project is being implemented.
• To draw some recommendations based on the gaps and the promising practices identified in the review and suggest effective remedies ensuring equal access to free of charge legal assistance for all children.

Please find below the CLEAR-Rights European Review in English, Dutch, French, Romanian, and Hungarian.