Objectives

The main objective of DCI's No Kids Behind Bars! Global Campaign is to reduce the number of children in detention, by promoting the development and implementation by governments of National Action Plans.

In order to bring about a shift from the use of detention, the National Action Plans should focus on the necessary measures for the full implementation of articles 37 and 40 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and other relevant international instruments.

In particular, the National Action Plans should provide for measures to implement the international standard that “the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time” (art. 37(b) CRC), including measures to ensure:

• The adoption of effective measures to prevent juvenile delinquency;
• The use of diversion;
• The use of alternatives to detention, as well as restorative justice;
• The collection and analysis of national data on children in conflict with the law;
• The improvement of conditions for children deprived of their liberty.