Juvenile Penal Mediation in Palestine: A Framework for Advancing the Regulatory Process

This publication highlights the recent innovation in terms of juvenile penal mediation in Palestine. After the adoption of the Juvenile Protection Law of the State of Palestine in 2016, great progresses have been made to ensure a child-rights-based approach to children’s access to justice. In this frame, Terre des Hommes and Attorney General Office of the State of Palestine partnered in 2018-2019 to conceptualize and implement a pilot and innovative project to set up and strengthen juvenile mediation processes in Palestine. This publication underlines the importance of juvenile penal mediation and describes the main outcomes of the project. This paper is meant to be a mean for the advancement of the juvenile penal mediation regulatory process in Palestine. It also highlights several key elements that shall be considered to strengthen juvenile penal mediation enforcement: definition and conceptualization of the mediation, the role of the mediator, accreditation process, mediation phases, accountability mechanisms as well as the main principles of juvenile mediation and how it relates with restorative justice. Juvenile penal mediation processes are considered pivotal to tackle recidivism and ensure child participation and effective reintegration. Therefore, this publication concludes with the necessity to keep going along the path inaugurated with the 2016 Juvenile Protection Law.