The EFRJ submitted its comments on the draft revised General Comment no. 10 (2007) on children’s rights in juvenile justice of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Our aim was to reflect current developments and definitions of restorative justice that contribute to child justice.
The EFRJ draw the attention of the CRC on the several legal instruments that outline the international and European standards and safeguards for children and restorative justice as well as on the increasing body of research that demonstrate that both child victims and young offenders benefit from restorative justice approaches.
Restorative justice is the only approach that guarantees that children’s views are considered and their voices are heard in identifying needs and making decisions, therefore ensuring the child participation principle as specified in art. 12 of the CRC. Thus, the EFRJ proposed a new paragraph to be included in the GC concerning the right of every child involved in child justice to have access to restorative justice.
Specifically, the EFRJ proposed to include a definition of restorative justice approaches in the GC and presented specific comments on several paragraphs of the GC in order to highlight the increasing role of restorative justice provisions in the juvenile justice systems.
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