“[…] Deprivation of liberty means deprivation of rights, agency, visibility, opportunities and love. Depriving children of liberty is depriving them of their childhood.”
Manfred Nowak, United Nations Global Study Report A/74/136 (2019)
Children deprived of liberty
…remain an invisible and forgotten group in society notwithstanding the increasing evidence of these children being in fact victims of further human rights violations. Countless children are placed in inhuman conditions and in adult facilities – in clear violation of their human rights – where they are at high risk of violence, rape and sexual assault, including acts of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Depriving children of their liberty means to expose them to a form of structural violence, while States have committed themselves in the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 to end all forms of violence against children.