On May 8th, the president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, presented a proposal in order to debate over the possibility to reduce the age of criminal responsibility, in particular for serious offences. At the moment, the age of criminal responsibility is set at 18 years old.
On April 28th, Amnesty International addressed the Government of Puntland, a Somali semi-autonomous region, demanding for the immediate halt of the planned executions of two children.
On April 12th, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Virginia Gamba for the position of Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Children and Armed Conflict.
In March 2017, the LGBT Subcommittee of the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice (FACJJ) published its recommendations for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), regarding strategies to advance US juvenile justice reform for LGBQ/GNCT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning/gender nonconforming, transgender) youth.
On April 5th, Mexico’s National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH) published the report 1/2017 on treatment and conditions in youth detention centres. This report was produced following visits to five of Mexico City’s juvenile detention centres this past January, and presents the weaknesses found in these centres.
On April 10th, New York joined the other 48 US states which do not automatically treat 16 and 17-year-olds as adults in criminal proceedings. Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, signed a new bill raising the age of criminal responsibility to 18 years of age for those charged with non-violent crimes. The bill will also allow these minors to be moved out of adult prisons and into juvenile detention centres.
May is the last month for Non-Governmental Organizations to apply for consultative status with ECOSOC if they wish to be considered by the NGO Committee in 2018. Those interested should submit their application and required documents on or before the deadline of 1 June 2017.
On March 29, 2017, Italy voted in favour of a law that regulates the acceptance of unaccompanied migrant children on their territory. With this vote, the country considered by many migrants as the gateway to the European Union, has distinguished itself from its peers by becoming a pioneer in juvenile migration legislation.
On March 28th the Irish cabinet agreed to end the sentencing of children to adult prisons, a practice which had been in the past repeatedly criticized by various international human rights bodies.
On March 23rd , the Child Rights International Network (CRIN) released a guide entitled 'When the State doesn’t care', detailing the legal and practical tools available to get redress for violations of children's rights in care institutions in Eastern and Southeastern Europe and the Caucasus. It follows on CRIN’s global report on access to justice for children, published in 2016.
International Juvenile Justice Observatory (IJJO). Belgian Public Utility Foundation
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