Global Study on Administrative Detention of Children
The Children’s Legal Centre is currently undertaking a global study on administrative detention of children.The study is being undertaken by the Centre as consultants to UNICEF HQ.
The purpose of the study is to examine the extent, contexts and circumstances of administrative detention, the procedures behind such detention and child rights implications.
As part of the research, we are collecting information about laws and procedures related to administrative detention from organisations around the world.
If you have any existing reports, research studies or publications concerning any type of administrative detention from your country or region, could you please forward them to me by email at knander@essex.ac.uk or by post to: The Children’s Legal Centre, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester Essex CO11RU.
Also, if you have any anecdotal information about administrative detention practices, or knowledge of any organisations that may be working in this field, could you please email this information to me at knander@essex.ac.uk
Administrative detention is detention that occurs by order of an administrative or executive ministerial authority, rather than that ordered by a judge or court. It does not include detention which occurs after being charged with or being convicted of an offence within the formal criminal justice system.
Administrative detention of children can occur in many different contexts and for many different reasons. The study will focus on the following types of administrative detention:
·Detention of children within a country’s immigration system (for example, the detention of refugee or asylum-seeking children);
·Detention of children for security purposes (for example, under a country’s counter-terrorism legislation, which may permit a police officer to detain a child without being formally charged, for an extended period of time);
·Detention of children who are involved in armed forces and / or hostilities (for example, the detention of child soldiers working for an armed opposition group who are captured by a government’s armed forces but not charged with a crime);
·Detention of children outside the formal criminal justice system (for example, the detention of ‘street children’, or children who are ‘out of control’ or without parental care. Children may also be detained for their own protection, for instance, where they are victims of sexual offences and are being protected from their families); and
·Detention of children on health-related grounds (for example, where a child has a mental health condition and is perceived as being dangerous to the community or to themselves).
