Human Rights in the Administration of Justice, Including Juvenile Justice

A/HRC/RES/24/12No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2013.

What other versions does this mandate have?

4 versions · 2013–2019

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/42/11

2019A/HRC/RES/42/11Human rights in the administration of justice, including juvenile justiceLatestCompare with previous version
2017A/HRC/RES/36/16Human rights in the administration of justice, including juvenile justiceCompare with previous version
2015A/HRC/RES/30/7Human rights in the administration of justice, including juvenile justiceCompare with previous version
2013A/HRC/RES/24/12Human rights in the administration of justice, including juvenile justice

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

8 topics

Administration of Justice Conferences Criminal Justice Human Rights Juvenile Justice Prisoner Treatment Report Preparation Rights of the Child

What does this mandate say?

36 operative paragraphs

Notes with appreciation the latest report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights submitted to the Human Rights Council on the protection of human rights of juveniles deprived of their liberty;

Also notes with appreciation the latest report of the Secretary-General submitted to the Human Rights Council on the latest developments, challenges and good practices in human rights in the administration of justice, analysing the international legal and institutional framework for the protection of all persons deprived of their liberty;

Further notes with appreciation the joint report of the Office of the High Commissioner, the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children on prevention of and responses to violence against children within the juvenile justice system;

Reaffirms the importance of the full and effective implementation of all United Nations standards on human rights in the administration of justice;

Calls upon States to spare no effort in providing for effective legislative, judicial, social, educative and other relevant mechanisms and procedures, as well as adequate resources, to ensure the full implementation of those standards, and invites them to take into consideration the issue of human rights in the administration of justice in the universal periodic review procedure;

Invites Governments to include in their national development plans the administration of justice as an integral part of the development process, and to allocate adequate resources for the provision of legal aid services with a view to the promotion and protection of human rights, and invites the international community to provide an increased level of both technical and financial assistance to States and to respond favourably to their requests for the enhancement and strengthening of institutions concerned with the administration of justice;

Stresses the special need for national capacity-building in the field of the administration of justice, through reform of the judiciary, the police and the penal system, as well as juvenile justice reform;

Reaffirms that no one should be unlawfully or arbitrarily deprived of his or her liberty, and notes the principles of necessity and proportionality in this regard;

Calls upon States to apply individual criminal responsibility and to refrain from detaining persons based solely on their family ties with an alleged offender;

Also calls upon States to ensure that anyone who is deprived of his or her liberty has prompt access to a competent court with the effective power to determine the lawfulness of the detention, and to order release if the detention or imprisonment is determined not to be lawful, as well as prompt access to legal counsel, in accordance with their international obligations and commitments;

Encourages States to address overcrowding in detention facilities by taking effective measures, including through enhancing the use of alternatives to pretrial detention and custodial sentences, access to legal aid, and the efficiency as well as the capacity of the criminal justice system and its facilities;

Urges States to endeavour to reduce pretrial detention by, inter alia, adopting legislative and administrative measures and policies on its preconditions, limitations, duration and alternatives, and by taking measures aimed at the implementation of existing legislation, as well as by ensuring access to justice and legal advice and assistance;

Urges all States to consider establishing, maintaining or enhancing independent mechanisms with the mandate to monitor all places of detention and have private interviews with all persons deprived of liberty without witnesses;

Recalls the absolute prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in international law, and calls upon States to address and prevent detention conditions of persons deprived of their liberty that amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

Calls upon States to investigate promptly, effectively and impartially all alleged human rights violations suffered by persons deprived of their liberty, in particular cases involving death, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and to provide effective remedies to the victims;

Notes the work of the open-ended intergovernmental expert group on the revision of the United Nations standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners reiterating that any changes should not lower any existing standards but should reflect recent advances in correctional science and best practices as well as human rights standards, and, in this regard, invites the expert group to continue to benefit from the expertise of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Office of the High Commissioner and other relevant stakeholders;

Recognizes that every child and juvenile in conflict with the law must be treated in a manner consistent with his or her rights, dignity and needs, in accordance with international law, bearing in mind relevant international standards on human rights in the administration of justice, and calls on States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to abide strictly by its principles and provisions;

Encourages States that have not yet integrated children’s issues into their overall rule of law efforts to do so, and to develop and implement a comprehensive juvenile justice policy to prevent and address juvenile delinquency as well as with a view to promoting, inter alia, the use of alternative measures, such as diversion and restorative justice, and ensuring compliance with the principle that deprivation of liberty of children should only be used as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, as well as to avoid, wherever possible, the use of pretrial detention for children;

Encourages States to foster close cooperation between the justice sectors, different services in charge of law enforcement, social welfare and education sectors in order to promote the use and improved application of alternative measures in juvenile justice;

Stresses the importance of including reintegration strategies for former child offenders in juvenile justice policies, in particular through educational programmes, with a view to their assuming a constructive role in society;

Encourages States not to set the minimum age of criminal responsibility at too low an age level, bearing in mind the emotional, mental and intellectual maturity of the child, and, in this respect, refers to the recommendation of the Committee of the Rights of the Child to increase their lower minimum age of criminal responsibility without exception to the age of 12 years as the absolute minimum age, and to continue to increase it to a higher age level;

Urges States to ensure that, under their legislation and practice, neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment are imposed for offences committed by persons under 18 years of age;

Calls upon States to enact or review legislation to ensure that any conduct not considered a criminal offence or not penalized if committed by an adult is also not considered a criminal offence and not penalized if committed by a child, in order to prevent the child’s stigmatization, victimization and criminalization;

Urges States to take all appropriate measures so that children who are victims of human trafficking are not subject to criminal sanctions for their involvement in unlawful activities to the extent that such involvement is a direct consequence of their situation as trafficked persons;

Invites Governments to provide for human rights training on the administration of justice and juvenile justice, including anti-racist, multicultural and gender-sensitive and child rights training, for all judges, lawyers, prosecutors, social workers, immigration, correction officers and police officers and other professionals working in the field of administration of justice;

Calls upon States to consider establishing or strengthening existing independent and child-friendly national monitoring and complaints mechanisms to contribute to safeguarding the rights of children deprived of their liberty;

Stresses the importance of paying greater attention to the impact of the imprisonment of parents on their children;

Urges States to take all necessary and effective measures, including legal reform where appropriate, to prevent and respond to all forms of violence against children within the justice system;

Invites States, upon their request, to benefit from technical advice and assistance in juvenile justice provided by the relevant United Nations agencies and programmes, in particular the Interagency Panel on Juvenile Justice, in order to strengthen national capacities and infrastructures in the field of the administration of justice, in particular juvenile justice, encouraging States to provide adequate resources to the secretariat of the Panel and to its members;

Calls upon relevant special procedures of the Human Rights Council to give special attention to questions relating to the effective protection of human rights in the administration of justice, including juvenile justice and the human rights of persons deprived of their liberty, and to provide, wherever appropriate, specific recommendations in this regard, including proposals for advisory services and technical assistance measures;

Calls upon the High Commissioner to reinforce advisory services and technical assistance relating to national capacity-building in the field of the administration of justice, in particular juvenile justice;

Decides to convene, at its twenty-seventh session, a panel discussion on the protection of the human rights of persons deprived of their liberty;

Requests the Office of the High Commissioner to organize, from within existing resources, at the twenty-seventh session of the Human Rights Council, the afore-mentioned panel discussion in consultation with States, relevant United Nations bodies and mechanisms, in particular the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, as well as with civil society and other stakeholders, with a view to ensuring their contribution to the panel discussion;

Also requests the Office of the High Commissioner to prepare a report on the outcome of the panel discussion in the form of a summary, and to present it to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-eighth session;

Requests the High Commissioner to submit to the Human Rights Council, at its thirtieth session, an analytical report on the human rights implications of over-incarceration and overcrowding, drawing on the experience of United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms, seeking the views of States, including on their practice regarding alternatives to detention, and other relevant stakeholders;

Decides to continue its consideration of this issue under the same agenda item, in accordance with its annual programme of work.

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