Access to justice for children, an evolving concept

Abstract

Nowadays, the access to justice for children has gained widely importance and has been addressed at the internationalas well as the domestic level. In the last decades this concept is further developed which led to considerable modifications of international and European legal framework. Access to justice for children is affected by social and cultural practices that should aim to enable children to seek justice without fearingof reprisal and stigmatization. What is worth mentioning is the approach that combines the need to always guarantee the rights of the child in relation to information, participation and representation in administrative and judicial proceedings, recognizing these rights in all stages of the proceedings, considering that the private life, interests, special needs, individual dignity of the child must be respected and protected. It is not enough to have laws that outline and prescribe children’s rights. These ought to be accompanied by interventions and mechanisms that allow all children to gain the awareness and resources required to access the justice system.