- Project: Juvenile Justice Analysis
- Review and assessment of the existing juvenile justice system in Azerbaijan in the light of international standards and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommendations.
- Funding Source: UNICEF
From 2006 to 2007, the CLC completed a detailed research and analysis of the system for dealing with children in conflict with the law in Azerbaijan. The analysis examined law, policy and practice in light of international law and standards of good practice. The analysis provided a set of recommendations to the Government identifying the steps that need to be taken to address the current gaps in the system.
- Project: Juvenile Justice Diversion Project
- Establishing programs for juveniles accused of minor crimes as an alternative to institutionalisation or detention centres.
- Funding Sources: British Embassy Azerbaijan and UNICEF
The juvenile justice analysis, carried by the Children’s Legal Centre from 2005 and which will continue to 2008, highlighted the lack of effective community alternatives to detaining juvenile offenders. The use of custody for long periods violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In addition, there was no opportunity for law enforcement officials to divert young offenders and children at risk of offending away from the formal criminal justice system to rehabilitation projects. The report recommended that the Government establish a community project to work with young offenders to ensure that young offenders are not unnecessarily institutionalised and are, wherever possible, assisted within the community.
The Children’s Legal Centre is working with UNICEF, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the NGO Alliance for Children’s Rights to develop and implement a diversion and alternative sentencing scheme pilot in one district of Baku. The purpose of the project is to develop blue print for diversion and alternative sentencing schemes in Azerbaijan and to demonstrate the benefits of running these schemes for the young people and for society, with a view to the model being rolled out in the future.
Further Information: Law Reform; System Reform
- Project: Child Protection Analysis
- Analysis and assessment of the Azerbaijani child protection system in the light of international standards.
- Funding Sources: UNICEF
The CLC currently has a collaboration agreement with UNICEF Azerbaijan to work on child protection and juvenile justice issues in the country.
The CLC team is conducting a review of legislation, policies and institutions in Azerbaijan to determine the existing gaps in legislation and make recommendations on what is needed to fill these gaps. The recommendations will include the need for changes in policy and practice as well as law to fully implement the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The project components include research and analysis of current legislation, institutional development and social policies of Azerbaijan in relation to the CRC, with particular emphasis on children in need of special protective care; specific recommendations on improvement of legislation, policy and practice to bring it into line with the CRC (based on the recommendations of the CRC Committee); and an outline of the guiding principles and standards as basis for the creation of legislation for family-oriented alternative care in Azerbaijan.
The CLC team is looking at current administrative structures and practices, meeting with Ministerial stakeholders children’s services providers (including NGOs) at the regional and local level and local authority areas in order to understand the present situation of children, propose entry points for legislative reform and devise guiding principles and standards for the future development of legislation on family-oriented care.
Under the agreement, the CLC is also working in collaboration with the State Committee on Family, Women and Children’s Affairs to develop the Terms of Reference of the Inter-ministerial Coordination Council on Child Rights.
Time Frame for this Project: 2007-2008
Click here to visit the Children and Armed Conflict Unit's country profile of Azerbaijan.
