Secretary General of the OMCT addresses challenges of protecting children from torture during the World Congress on Juvenile Justice

Geneva, 30 of January 2015.
The Secretary General of the OMCT, Gerald Staberock, addressed the World Congress on Juvenile Justice setting out the challenges that States and the civil society faces when trying to protect children from torture and ill-treatment.
The OMCT recalled the special vulnerability of children to violence and torture and ill-treatment. Despite significant progress on international anti-torture and child rights standards over the last two decades there remains a current proposition in society and law enforcement that some form of violence against children is more acceptable than against adults.
In his presentation he emphasized the important role that the anti-torture framework, providing monitoring mechanisms, provide to the protection of children; the urgent need for the implementation of safeguards during deprivation of liberty that are child adequate, and the protection from violence in prisons. He also called for support to civil society working on torture and set out the need to translate remedies into practice, making them real and child accessible.
The Congress hosted by Terre des Hommes and the Swiss Government took place in Geneva from the 25 to the 30 of January and counted with the presence of governmental officials, civil society representatives and international organizations.
The OMCT was equally represented by its Child Rights Coordinator, overseing a global program encouraging civil society monitoring of places of detention, legal and policy reforms to improve the situation of children in conflict of the law, and the building of capacity, including Benin, Uruguay, Brasil and the Philipinnes. The Congress was also attended by a number of its member organization, in particular member of the SOS-Torture Network from Benin and Uruguay, with long-standing expertise in protecting children from violence.

To see the content of the presentation, please see attached file.
For further information please contact:

Carolina Barbara at cb@omct.org