Human Rights in the Administration of Justice, in Particular Juvenile Justice

Calls upon States to spare no effort in providing for effective legislative, judicial, social, educative and other relevant mechanisms and procedures, as well as adequate resources, to ensure the full implementation of those standards, and invites them to take into consideration the issue of human rights in the administration of justice in the universal periodic review procedure;

Invites Governments to include in their national development plans the administration of justice as an integral part of the development process, and to allocate adequate resources for the provision of legal aid services with a view to the promotion and protection of human rights, and invites the international community to respond favourably to requests for financial and technical assistance for the enhancement and strengthening of the administration of justice;

Invites Governments to provide for training, including anti-racist, multicultural and gender-sensitive and child rights training, in human rights in the administration of justice, including juvenile justice, for all judges, lawyers, prosecutors, social workers, immigration, correction officers and police officers and other professionals working in the field of administration of justice;

Encourages States to pay due attention to the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders when developing and implementing relevant legislation, procedures, policies and practices, and invites relevant special procedures mandate holders, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and all other relevant organizations to take these rules into consideration in their activities;

Encourages States that have not yet integrated children’s issues in their overall rule of law efforts to do so, and to develop and implement a comprehensive juvenile justice policy to prevent and address juvenile delinquency as well as with a view to promoting, inter alia, the use of alternative measures, such as diversion and restorative justice, and ensuring compliance with the principle that deprivation of liberty of children should only be used as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, as well as to avoid, wherever possible, the use of pretrial detention for children;

Encourages States to foster close cooperation between the justice sectors, different services in charge of law enforcement, social welfare and education sectors in order to promote the use and improved application of alternative measures in juvenile justice;

Encourages States not to set the minimum age of criminal responsibility at too low an age level, bearing in mind the emotional, mental and intellectual maturity of the child, and, in this respect, refers to the recommendation of the Committee of the Rights of the Child to increase their lower minimum age of criminal responsibility without exception to the age of 12 years as the absolute minimum age, and to continue to increase it to a higher age level;

Urges States to ensure that, under their legislation and practice, neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without the possibility of release is imposed for offences committed by persons under 18 years of age;

Calls upon States to enact or review legislation to ensure that any conduct not considered a criminal offence or not penalized if committed by an adult is not considered a criminal offence and not penalized if committed by a child, in order to prevent the child’s stigmatization, victimization and criminalization;

Urges States to take all appropriate measures so that children who are victims of human trafficking are not subject to criminal sanctions for their involvement in unlawful activities to the extent that such involvement is a direct consequence of their situation as trafficked persons;

Encourages States to collect relevant information concerning children within their criminal justice systems so as to improve their administration of justice, while being mindful of the children’s right to privacy, with full respect for relevant international human rights instruments, and bearing in mind applicable international standards on human rights in the administration of justice;

Calls upon States to consider establishing independent national or subnational mechanisms to contribute to monitoring and safeguarding the rights of children, including children within their criminal justice systems, and to address children’s concerns;

Urges States to take all necessary and effective measures, including legal reform where appropriate, to prevent and respond to all forms of violence against children within the justice system;

Invites States, upon their request, to benefit from technical advice and assistance in juvenile justice provided by the relevant United Nations agencies and programmes, in particular the Interagency Panel on Juvenile Justice, in order to strengthen national capacities and infrastructures in the field of the administration of justice, in particular juvenile justice, encouraging States to provide the secretariat of the Panel and its members with adequate resources;

Calls upon relevant special procedures of the Human Rights Council to give special attention to questions relating to the effective protection of human rights in the administration of justice, including juvenile justice, and to provide, wherever appropriate, specific recommendations in this regard, including proposals for advisory services and technical assistance measures;

Calls upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to reinforce advisory services and technical assistance relating to national capacity-building in the field of the administration of justice, in particular juvenile justice;

Invites the Office of the High Commissioner to collaborate, within existing resources, with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children in the organization of an expert consultation on prevention of and responses to violence against children within the juvenile justice system, and to submit a report thereon;

Requests the High Commissioner to submit an analytical report to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-first session on the protection of human rights of juveniles deprived of their liberty, mindful of all applicable human rights standards and taking into account the work of all relevant human rights mechanisms of the United Nations;