Rights of the Child in the Child Justice System

Abstract

It is now several decades since the United Nations and other international bodies began to develop standards in relation to the protection of children’s rights in the child justice system. The adoption of the Beijing Rules (the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice) by the United Nations in 1985 represented an early milestone in the establishment of a progressive rights-based approach to children in conflict with the law. In 1989, the rights-based approach to youth justice became enshrined as binding international law with the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Article 1 of the CRC makes clear that all children under 18 years are entitled to protection of their rights and under Article 3, the child’s best interests must be a primary consideration in all actions concerning the child whether taken by private or public bodies or welfare institutions. Together with the CRC’s other general principles – Article 2 which prohibits discrimination in the enjoyment of Convention rights, Article 6 which provides for the child’s right to development, and Article 12 which requires states to assure to children the right to a say in matters that affect them – the Convention establishes that children are entitled to decision-making that is child-centred, non-discriminatory and informed both by children’s development and their views. In its first General Comment on the matter, the Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee), the body that monitors implementation of the CRC, made clear that states parties are required to apply these general principles systematically in the administration of child justice (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2007, para. 5). In addition to these general children’s rights principles, Articles 37 and 40 of the CRC set out a number of more specific provisions relevant to children in conflict with the law. Most importantly, Article 40(1) provides that states parties to the Convention recognise the right of every child: