Child-friendly Justice
A cooperation of the German Children's Fund and the German Institute for Human Rights
The Coordination Office for Children's Rights of the German Children's Fund (Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk) and the National CRC Monitoring Mechanism of the German Institute for Human Rights (Deutsches Institut für Menschenrechte) have been working for many years on the topic of child-friendly justice.
Joint Actions
Setting political impulses for action:
- Initiation and support of the development of practical guidelines on child-friendly justice for
Germanyfor family law proceedings and criminal law proceedings involving child victims, based on the Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on child-friendly justice
(CoE guidelines) - Promoting the implementation of the international framework and the normative requirements of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the CoE guidelines as well as the corresponding elaborations of the European Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA)
- Statements to influence legislative procedures, expert discussions, expert conferences, etc.
Collaborative projects:
- Testing of the implementation of the practice guidelines in family law proceedings in Germany
- Qualitative research through interviews with judges (in three different courts in Germany) with the aim to find out how they conduct proceedings that involve children (without and with knowing the criteria)
- Presentation of the results in a conference with experts, civil society, political and judicial representatives and interested parties
- Monitoring of the implementation of the practice guidelines in criminal law proceedings in Germany involving child victims
- Quantitative research through interviews of professionals in 5 federal states and
- Qualitative research through queries to the 16 state departments of justice
Raising awareness and informing professionals and children on child-friendly justice:
- Podcast on children's rights in family proceedings
- Booklet for children about their rights in family proceedings
- Explanatory film for children about their rights in judicial proceedings
- Information events
Contact Information:
Sophie Funke, Deutsches Institut für Menschenrechte, funke@institut-fuer-menschenrechte.de
Leona Vehring, Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk, vehring@dkhw.de
Linda Zaiane-Kuhlmann, Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk, zaiane@dkhw.de