Call to Action

Building on the work of Pathfinders’ Task Force on Justice, the Justice for Children, Justice for All initiative is an international, multi-agency initiative with a strategic vision that actively puts children at the centre, affirms children’s human rights, and is aligned with the SDG agenda. It forms an essential part of our collective global challenge to achieve SDG 16.

The Call to Action outlines responses to ten challenges:

The Justice for Children, Justice for All published a widely endorsed Call to Action, which is drawn from a background Challenge Paper.

They highlight the necessary, collective and global Responses to Ten Challenges across three themes, which are essential if children are to not only benefit from, but indeed be at the heart of, the emerging global movement for justice:

Promote justice as an enabler of children’s development by delivering equal access and support to all children who require the services of justice systems, preventing unnecessary contact with the justice system including via informal alternative approaches, and ensuring the right to legal identity for all children.

Accelerate action through implementation channels that prevent all forms of violence against children, safeguard the rights of children used by armed or other criminal groups, and restrict the deprivation of children’s liberty to exceptional circumstances.

Establish and sustain the foundations for change by adopting a multi-sectoral approach to child protection, promoting the participation of children in decisions that affect their lives, securing sustained political commitment to high quality justice for children, and ensuring responses are based on international standards and evidence-based policies.

For more about the Call to Action see our news release and the Pathfinders for Justice site.

Challenge Paper

This Challenge Paper underpins a Call to Action to fulfil our collective global commitment to ensure that all children live peaceful, just and inclusive lives, and are provided with the opportunity to flourish and live to their full potential.

The overarching purpose of this Challenge Paper on Justice for Children is to draw out the distinctiveness of the challenges that children face in accessing justice when coming into contact with the justice system, whether in administrative proceedings, as victims, witnesses or offenders in both criminal and civil disputes. It equally importantly draws out the forms of justice that are required for the needs and rights of children to be addressed.

This Justice for Children Challenge Paper explores and discusses how justice for children contributes to realising justice for all, to the full implementation of SDG 16 – and progress towards all the SDGs - and the overarching vision to leave no child behind.

For the full text of the Challenge Paper, see the Pathfinders for Justice site.