World Congress Preparatory Meetings Compendium Report

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child identifies equality and non-discrimination as fundamental principles for respecting, fulfilling, and protecting the rights of children. This principle serves as a foundation for many legal instruments in both national and international law. Yet, many children across the globe, in diverse contexts and settings, face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination due to a range of factors. Structural discrimination, inequalities, and power dynamics act to constrain or restrain equitable access to rights for all children. This situation is exacerbated for children who come into contact with the law in whatever form, whether as a victim/survivor, alleged or convicted offender, witness, or any other status. Children who have been subjected to discrimination are significantly more likely to be caught up in justice systems, but they are less likely to experience equal, fair, inclusive, and child-friendly access to justice. The multi-faceted negative consequences that result from these experiences further aggravate the discrimination and vicious cycle of social exclusion faced by the children for the rest of their lives. In many ways, children in contact with the law are being forced to bear the responsibility for the failures of the society and the state, which disproportionately impacts marginalised children and those in particularly vulnerable situations, whether due to specific circumstances that they are in (e.g., socio-economic status, migration status, disability, or family and community environment), or due to their identity or characteristics (e.g., ethnicity, gender, religion, or membership in a social group). Furthermore, the impact of the inequalities is ever more visible and intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is imperative that all children are provided with an equal and equitable access to justice, with child-friendly, gender-responsive, disability-inclusive, culturally-adapted, traumainformed, and context-appropriate services, information, and support. Systems should determine the individual needs of children from various backgrounds and pursue multidisciplinary approaches to prevent and respond to the causes that lead children to come into contact with the law. The rights of children in the justice system must be respected the same way as they are for children outside of the system. Governments and societies must realise that preventing inequality and discrimination in access to justice, as well as throughout the structure and procedures of the child justice system, will ultimately benefit all children. Perhaps most importantly, justice systems that are designed to genuinely integrate the voices of children are critical to building an appropriate and effective child justice system that actually achieves its intended purpose. Meaningful participation of children at all levels of the system, regardless of who they are and what situation they are in, is a prerequisite to ensuring access to justice for all children, including through nondiscriminatory and inclusive child justice systems. This report consolidates the discussions held throughout the 13 regional and national preparatory meetings organised over two years for the 2021 World Congress on Justice With Children. It highlights the main challenges, promising practices, and core recommendations shared by the participants in relation to the overall theme and 11 subthemes of the 2021 World Congress.