The United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty: ‘Leaving No One Behind, in Particular Children Behind Bars’

Abstract

The paper summarizes the findings of the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty and gives an overview of the study recommendations in regard to children deprived of liberty in the six main situations dealt within the research of the study, namely that of children deprived of liberty within the administration of justice; children living in prisons with their primary caregivers; children deprived of liberty for migration-related reasons; in institutions; in the context of armed conflict and due to national security grounds. On the one hand, it gives a brief summary of the study findings but goes beyond and gives an overview of the follow-up and dissemination strategy, children deprived of liberty and the COVID19 pandemic, and the role of the Global Campus of Human Rights, a network of 100 universities, many of which are engaged in the implementation of the Global Study recommendations throughout the world. This paper is based on the comprehensive version of the UN Global Study and previous articles written by the authors. Although there has been some progress, evidently much more needs to be done in terms of deinstitutionalization, diversion, ending migration-related detention and other measures in order to comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.