Child-friendly justice

Children in judicial proceedings

Children can be involved in judicial proceedings, either directly, as a defendant, victim, witness or indirectly when decisions have a considerable impact on their lives. This can be the case in divorce or custody proceedings or in migration and status determination procedures.  

In all cases, children should feel comfortable and safe to participate effectively in the proceedings and judicial systems in Europe need to be adapted to the specific needs of children and must respect their rights.

EU actions to support justice systems that uphold the rights and needs of children

To encourage judicial systems to adapt to children's needs, the European Commission has:

• adopted directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, with a proposal for recast 
• adopted the EU Strategy on victims’ rights (2020-2025)

• adopted directive 2016/800/EU on procedural  safeguards for children suspected or accused in criminal proceedings

  Children’s version of the directive

• adopted the European Judicial Training strategy for 2021-2024
• adopted regulation on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility (2201/2003/EC)
• adopted Council Regulation on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and cooperation in matters relating to maintenance obligations (4/2009/EC)
• adopted extensive migration EU acquis
• promoted the Council of Europe guidelines of 17 November 2010 on child-friendly justice
• adopted the 2017 Communication on the protection of children in migration
• funded the set-up of the European Guardianship Network

Under the new EU Strategy on the rights of the child, the Commission committed to:

• propose in 2022 a horizontal legislative initiative to support the mutual recognition of parenthood between Member States;
• contribute to training of justice professionals on the rights of the child and child friendly justice, in line with the European judicial training strategy for 2021-2024, and through the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN), the Justice and CERV programmes, as well as the European Training Platform of the EU e-justice portal;   
• strengthen the implementation of the 2010 Guidelines on Child-friendly Justice with the Council of Europe;
• provide targeted financial support for trans-national and innovative projects to protect children in migration under the new Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF);
• support Member States in the development of effective and viable alternatives to the detention of children in migration procedures.

Joint Council of Europe – European Commission project on child-friendly justice 

The European Union is co-funding a joint project on child-friendly justice between the Council of Europe and the European Commission. The Project objective is to contribute to improved protection of children in contact with the law – as offenders, victims or witnesses in non-judicial, judicial (such as civil and criminal cases) and administrative proceedings – across Europe at national and local level by fostering a practical implementation of the 2010 Council of Europe Guidelines on Child-Friendly Justice and to ensure the application of the relevant international legal frameworks and standards on child-friendly justice, including at the European Union and Council of Europe level.

This Project aims at developing child-friendly frameworks, strengthening capacities of specialised staff so that they are able to use child-friendly procedures, and raise awareness of children in contact with the law and their parents on children’s rights before, during and after judicial proceedings.

The project will be implemented by the Council of Europe. It started on 1 January 2024 and will last 27 months. Three EU Member States as focus countries and three partner countries have been selected to participate in the project.