Defence for Children International (DCI) spoke on behalf of the NGO Panel on Children Deprived of Liberty at the 61st Session of the UN Human Rights Council during Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children.
In the statement, DCI warned that crisis-driven governance and the growing use of emergency measures are contributing to the expansion and normalisation of child detention across multiple contexts, including justice, migration, institutional care, and situations of armed conflict.
Drawing on the findings of the Roadmap for Action on Children Deprived of Liberty 2025-2030 and the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty,
DCI calls on all Member States to:
- End the detention of children for minor or status offences within the administration of justice and establish emergency release mechanisms in overcrowded or unsafe facilities.
- Prohibit migration-related detention of children, in line with international legal standards, and urgently scale up non-custodial, community-based reception models, particularly in humanitarian and cross-border contexts.
- Impose moratoriums on new admissions to large-scale institutions, advancing their transition to family- and community-based care.
- In armed conflict and security contexts, deploy mobile child protection units and community reintegration for children formerly associated with armed groups.
Watch the delivery here: