Our website uses Cookies - by using this site or closing this message you're agreeing to our Terms & Conditions, Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy
xShare your views on draft General Comment 27
Date: 1st May 2025
Category:
Child justice system, Child victims and witnesses
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is currently inviting feedback on the draft of General Comment No. 27, focusing on children’s right to access to justice and to an effective remedy. This is a significant opportunity to influence international standards and ensure children’s voices are heard in justice systems around the world.
Here is a summary of the key points in the draft:
Context and importance:
- Despite wide ratification of the UNCRC, many children suffer rights violations without effective remedies.
- Children face disproportionate impacts from global crises such as conflict, climate change and inequality.
- Cultural norms, lack of awareness and systemic barriers prevent children from accessing justice.
Objectives:
- To clarify governments’ obligations under the UNCRC.
- To emphasise access to justice as central to children’s rights.
- To guide governments’ in creating legal and practical mechanisms for remedy, irrespective of a child’s age or capacity.
Barriers and adaptations:
- Barriers include legal standing, cost, complexity and discrimination.
- Remedies must be child-sensitive: timely, confidential, understandable, supportive and held in child-appropriate environments. They should also include restitution, compensation, recovery and reintegration, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition.
Together is calling on its members to contribute to our collective response to the current draft of the General Comment No. 27. We welcome feedback that directly engages with the content of the draft, particularly in relation to how it addresses children’s access to justice and effective remedies in practice.
Deadline: Input/comments should be sent by the 19th of May 2025.