The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights – Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa organised an online regional roundtable on Human Rights and Child Justice on 25th May entitled “International norms and standards related to children deprived of liberty, including alternatives to and conditions of detention”. This event was structured around four thematic sessions that included interventions by invited experts to trigger a discussion among all participants. The thematic inputs revolved around 1) the international legal framework protecting the rights of children in the administration of justice, 2) child justice systems in the Arab world, including national legal frameworks, 3) conditions of detention and 4) alternatives to detention. Among the speakers Haten Kotrane, former member and Vice-president of the CRC Committee gave an overview on the international norms and standards in the child right´s system and their applications in the MENA region. Also, the Head of Justice Gate Organisations, the Vice-president of Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Unicef and other organisations were represented at the event. Our colleague, Manu Krishan, Global Study Programme Manager introduced the participants to the main findings and recommendations of the Global Study and gave an overview on one of the projects being developed, an interactive map containing promising practices (see information above for more information on it).
