Human Rights in the Administration of Justice

A/RES/67/166View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 69b Human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, published in 2013.

What else is in this group?

28 documents · 1972–2024

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2024).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2024	A/RES/79/172	Human rights in the administration of justice	5,084	–
2023	A/RES/77/219	Human rights in the administration of justice	4,516	–
2020	A/RES/75/185	Human rights in the administration of justice	4,229	–
2019	A/RES/73/177	Human rights in the administration of justice	3,780	–
2017	A/RES/71/188	Human rights in the administration of justice	3,318	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

What subjects does this mandate have?

8 subjects

Administration of Justice Capacity Building Human Rights Inter-Agency Cooperation Juvenile Justice Prisoners Technical Cooperation Women

What’s in this document?

32 operative paragraphs

Takes note with appreciation of the most recent report of the Secretary-General;¹⁵

¹⁵A/67/260 and Add.1.

Also takes note with appreciation of the most recent report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the protection of human rights of juveniles deprived of their liberty¹⁶ and the joint report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children on prevention of and responses to violence against children within the juvenile justice system,¹⁷ both submitted to the Human Rights Council;

¹⁶A/HRC/21/26.

¹⁷A/HRC/21/25.

Reaffirms the importance of the full and effective implementation of all United Nations standards on human rights in the administration of justice;

Reiterates its call to all Member States to spare no effort in providing for effective legislative and other mechanisms and procedures, as well as adequate resources, to ensure the full implementation of those standards;

Invites States to make use of technical assistance offered by the relevant United Nations entities and programmes in order to strengthen national capacities and infrastructures in the field of the administration of justice;

Appeals to 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 promoting and protecting 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;

Stresses the special need for national capacity-building in the field of the administration of justice, in particular through reform of the judiciary, the police and the penal system, as well as juvenile justice reform, in order to establish and maintain stable societies and the rule of law in post-conflict situations, and in this context welcomes the role of the Office of the High Commissioner in supporting the establishment and functioning of transitional justice mechanisms in post-conflict situations;

Affirms that States must ensure that any measure taken to combat terrorism, including in the administration of justice, complies with their obligations under international law, in particular international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law;

Notes the work of the open-ended intergovernmental expert group to exchange information on best practices, as well as on national legislation and existing international law, and on the revision of existing United Nations standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners so that they reflect recent advances in correctional science and best practices, with a view to reporting on its progress to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, at its twenty-second session, and in this regard invites the expert group to benefit from the expertise of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and of the Office of the High Commissioner and other relevant stakeholders;

Recalls the absolute prohibition of torture in international law, and calls upon States to address and prevent the detention conditions, treatment and punishment of persons deprived of their liberty that amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

Urges States to endeavour to reduce, where appropriate, pretrial detention, inter alia, by adopting legislative and administrative measures and policies on its preconditions, limitations, duration and alternatives and by taking measures aimed at the implementation of existing legislation, as well as by ensuring access to justice and legal advice and assistance;

Encourages States to address overcrowding in detention facilities by taking effective measures, including through enhancing the use of alternatives to pretrial detention and custodial sentences where possible, access to legal aid and the efficiency as well as the capacity of the criminal justice system and its facilities;

Continues to encourage States to pay due attention to the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules)Error: Reference source not found when developing and implementing relevant legislation, procedures, policies and action plans, and invites relevant special procedure mandate holders, the Office of the High Commissioner, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and all other relevant organizations to take those rules into consideration in their activities;

Recognizes that every child and juvenile in conflict with the law must be treated in a manner consistent with his or her rights, dignity and needs, in accordance with international law, bearing in mind relevant international standards on human rights in the administration of justice, and calls upon States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the ChildError: Reference source not found to abide strictly by its principles and provisions;

Encourages States that have not yet integrated children’s issues into 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 complying with the principle that deprivation of liberty of children should be used only 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;

Stresses the importance of including reintegration strategies for former child offenders in juvenile justice policies, in particular through education programmes, with a view to their assuming a constructive role in society;

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;

Also urges States to ensure that, under their legislation and practice, neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without the possibility of release nor corporal punishment is imposed for offences committed by persons under 18 years of age, and invites States to consider repealing all other forms of life imprisonment for offences committed by persons under 18 years of age;

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 on the Rights of the Child to increase the 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;Error: Reference source not found

Also 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;

Stresses the importance of paying greater attention to the impact of the imprisonment of parents on their children, while noting with interest the day of general discussion on the situation of children of prisoners, held by the Committee on the Rights of the Child on 30 September 2011, as well as the summary report on the full-day meeting of the Human Rights Council on the rights of the child, held on 8 March 2012;¹⁸

¹⁸A/HRC/21/31.

Invites Governments to provide for tailored and interdisciplinary human rights training, including anti-racist, multicultural, gender-sensitive and child rights training, to all judges, lawyers, prosecutors, social workers, immigration and police officers and other professionals concerned, including personnel deployed in international field presences;

Encourages the regional commissions, the specialized agencies, United Nations institutes active in the areas of human rights and crime prevention and criminal justice, and other relevant parts of the United Nations system, as well as intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, including national professional associations concerned with promoting United Nations standards in this field, and other segments of civil society, including the media, to continue to develop their activities in promoting human rights in the administration of justice;

Invites States, upon their request, to benefit from technical advice and assistance in juvenile justice provided by the relevant United Nations entities 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;

Invites the Human Rights Council and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, as well as the Office of the High Commissioner, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, to continue to closely coordinate their activities relating to the administration of justice;

Invites the Office of the High Commissioner and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to reinforce, within their respective mandates, their activities relating to national capacity-building in the field of the administration of justice, in particular in post-conflict situations, and in this context to cooperate with relevant departments of the Secretariat, including the Peacebuilding Support Office, the Department of Political Affairs and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations;

Underlines the importance of rebuilding and strengthening structures for the administration of justice and of respecting the rule of law and human rights, including in post-conflict situations, as a crucial contribution to building peace and justice and ending impunity, and in this respect requests the Secretary-General to ensure system-wide coordination and coherence of programmes and activities of the relevant parts of the United Nations system, including through the Rule of Law Coordination and Resource Group chaired by the Deputy Secretary-General and supported by the Rule of Law Unit in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, and in cooperation with the Peacebuilding Commission, including assistance provided through United Nations field presences;

Invites States, in the context of the universal periodic review mechanism and in their reports under international human rights treaties, to consider addressing the promotion and protection of human rights in the administration of justice;

Invites relevant special procedure mandate holders of the Human Rights Council, as well as relevant treaty bodies, 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;

Invites the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice to consider developing a set of model strategies and practical measures on the elimination of violence against children in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice, in consultation with all Member States and in close collaboration with all relevant United Nations entities, in particular with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children and the Office of the High Commissioner;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth session and to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-fourth session a report on the latest developments, challenges and good practices in human rights in the administration of justice, analysing the international legal and institutional framework for the protection of all persons deprived of their liberty, and on the activities undertaken by the United Nations system as a whole;

Decides to continue its consideration of the question of human rights in the administration of justice at its sixty-ninth session under the item entitled “Promotion and protection of human rights”.

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