Human Rights in the Administration of Justice, Including Juvenile Justice

A/HRC/RES/30/7View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2015.

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

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2019	A/HRC/RES/42/11	Human rights in the administration of justice, including juvenile justice	2,440	47%Compare
2017	A/HRC/RES/36/16	Human rights in the administration of justice, including juvenile justice	3,113	73%Compare
2015	A/HRC/RES/30/7	Human rights in the administration of justice, including juvenile justice	2,749	47%Compare
2013	A/HRC/RES/24/12	Human rights in the administration of justice, including juvenile justice	2,714	–

What subjects does this mandate have?

10 subjects

Administration of Justice Anti-Discrimination Measures Capacity Building Criminal Justice Human Rights Juvenile Justice Prisoner Treatment Report Preparation Rights of the Child Standards

What’s in this document?

32 operative paragraphs

Notes with appreciation the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights submitted to the Human Rights Council on the human rights implications of overincarceration and overcrowding;²

²A/HRC/30/19.

Welcomes the panel discussion convened by the Human Rights Council on the protection of the human rights of persons deprived of their liberty, held on 10 September 2014, and notes with appreciation the summary report prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner and submitted to the Council at its twenty-eighth session;³

³A/HRC/28/29.

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 States to assess their national legislation and practice in accordance with those standards, including the revised United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners;

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 promoting and protecting 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 capacity-building, and enhancement and strengthening of institutions concerned with the administration of justice;

Stresses the special need for continuous 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 solely on the basis of 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;

Urges all States to consider establishing, maintaining or enhancing independent mechanisms with the mandate to monitor all places of detention, including by making unannounced visits, and to hold private interviews without witnesses with all persons deprived of their liberty;

Calls upon States to ensure a proper file and data management system on prisoners that allows the tracking of the number of persons deprived of their liberty, their detention period and developments regarding the prison population;

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 and abuses suffered by persons deprived of their liberty, in particular cases involving death, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, to provide effective remedies to the victims, and to ensure that detention administrations cooperate fully with the investigating authority and preserve all evidence;

Encourages States to address overcrowding in detention facilities by taking effective measures, including through enhancing the availability and use of alternatives to pretrial detention and custodial sentences, access to legal aid, mechanisms for crime prevention, early release and rehabilitation programmes and the efficiency and capacity of the criminal justice system and its facilities, and to make use in this regard of, inter alia, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Handbook on Strategies to Reduce Overcrowding in Prisons;

Calls upon States to review penal policies that can contribute to overincarceration and overcrowding, in particular regarding so-called “zero-tolerance” policies, such as the application of mandatory pretrial detention and mandatory minimum sentences, especially for minor and/or non-violent crimes;

Urges States to endeavour to reduce pretrial detention, which should be a measure of last resort and for as short a period as possible by, inter alia, adopting legislative and administrative measures and policies on its preconditions, limitations, duration and alternatives, and by taking measures aimed at implementing existing legislation, as well as by ensuring access to justice and legal advice and assistance;

Underscores the particular importance of providing appropriate training for prosecutorial and judicial authorities with a view to ensuring proportionate sentencing and enhancing the implementation of non-custodial measures at the pretrial and post-conviction stages;

Recognizes that every child and juvenile alleged as, accused of or recognized as having infringed the law, particularly those who are deprived of their liberty, as well as child victims and witnesses of crimes, should 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 taking into account the age, gender, social circumstances and development needs of such children, and calls upon States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to abide strictly by its principles and provisions;

Welcomes the United Nations Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Children in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice,⁴ and urges States to consider applying them, as appropriate, in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of laws, policies, programmes, budgets and mechanisms aimed at eliminating violence against children in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice;

⁴General Assembly resolution 69/194, annex.

Also welcomes the Global Programme on Violence against Children in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice recently developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and United Nations Children’s Fund, which is intended to promote and assist in the effective implementation of the Model Strategies and Practical Measures, and encourages Member States and other stakeholders to support and to benefit from this programme;

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 the deprivation of a child’s liberty should only be used as a measure of last resort, for the shortest appropriate period of time, and that such decisions must be subject to periodic review of their continuing necessity and appropriateness, as well as to avoid, wherever possible, the use of pretrial detention for children;

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

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

Welcomes the invitation made by the General Assembly to the Secretary-General to commission an in-depth global study on children deprived of liberty, and to submit the conclusions to the Assembly at its seventy-second session;⁵

⁵General Assembly resolution 69/157, para. 52 (d).

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

Also invites States, upon their request, to benefit from the technical advice and assistance provided by the relevant United Nations agencies and programmes in order to strengthen their national capacities and infrastructures in the field of the administration of justice, including in addressing overcrowding, overincarceration and violence against children in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice;

Calls upon relevant special procedures of the Human Rights Council to pay 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 the causes and effects of overincarceration and overcrowding, 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 strengthen advisory services and technical assistance relating to national capacity-building in the field of the administration of justice, in particular juvenile justice;

Requests the High Commissioner to submit to the Human Rights Council, at its thirty-sixth session, a report on non-discrimination and the protection of persons with increased vulnerability in the administration of justice, in particular in situations of deprivation of liberty and with regard to the causes and effects of overincarceration and overcrowding, drawing on the experience of United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms, and seeking the views of States, including on their policies and best practices, civil society, 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.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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