Monitoring violence against children in criminal justice detention : A compendium of international standards and practices

This compendium was prepared as part of the Data for Monitoring the Safety of Imprisoned Children (Data MOSAIC) project which aims to improve data collection practices that aim to tackle violence against children (VAC) in child detention facilities in Ireland, Bulgaria, Romania and ultimately across Europe. The purpose of this document is to compile relevant international standards and promising practices adopted in the region on protecting children against all forms of violence in detention settings through data collection, monitoring and/or reporting.

It is designed to be an easy-to-read resource for various stakeholders, including criminal justice authorities, lawyers, NGOs and other practitioners in the field. Focusing on the United Nations (UN), Council of Europe (CoE) and European Union (EU) systems, the compendium provides a comprehensive selection of the relevant legislative framework, as well as promising practices applied at the national level across the EU. It includes provisions and standards set by legally binding instruments such as Conventions and Treaties as well as guiding or standard-setting documents and reports drafted by human rights mechanisms and initiatives at the international (Section 1) and European (Section 2) levels.

The compendium sets out the most important standards, recommendations and promising practices for protecting children against all forms of violence in detention settings through data collection and monitoring. It includes provisions and standards for safeguarding children from violence in any setting, which also apply in detention, as well as those explicitly focusing on safeguarding children in detention facilities. Given the increased risk of violence in closed settings, standards and measures that minimise the number of children who would spend time in a detention facility are considered preventive measures for VAC. The documents are listed according to the publishing authority and publication year. In light of the focus on child protection, human rights

documents related to all persons are briefly summarised within the context, and child-specific documents and relevant clauses are listed in detail. Promising practices from countries across the EU have been compiled through inputs of child safeguarding experts and state officials from 25 member states as part of an EU-wide mapping research on the current data collection and monitoring practices on VAC in detention.

They are presented throughout the report with the aim of providing practical examples of approaches that can be utilised, enhanced and replicated by other countries in their efforts to improve data collection and monitoring practices within their child justice systems. Due to limitations of the research the list is not intended to be exhaustive.