On 4 July 2025, the 46th anniversary of Defence for Children International (DCI)’s founding in Geneva, DCI and the NGO Panel on Children Deprived of Liberty launch the Roadmap for Action 2025–2030. This new framework is an urgent response to persistent global failures to protect children from detention.
The 2025–2030 Roadmap translates the findings of the 2019 UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty into concrete action. It builds on the momentum of the 2023–2024 plan and was developed through wide-ranging consultations during the Global Conference on Justice for Children Deprived of Liberty, co-organised by DCI and UNICEF in Geneva. The event convened over 150 participants, including children, from more than 50 countries to forge a collective vision rooted in rights, dignity, and justice. countries, including children, to forge a collective vision rooted in rights, dignity, and justice.
The Roadmap demands urgent implementation across key areas:
- Ending child immigration and military detention
- Promoting non-custodial, community-based alternatives
- Ensuring legal safeguards, independent monitoring, and access to justice
- Addressing emerging threats from digital surveillance, conflict, and climate crises.
DCI calls on all governments, UN bodies, civil society, and communities to act decisively and in solidarity. Depriving a child of liberty must never be normalised. It is a grave human rights violation, and we refuse to be silent.
Justice cannot wait. Not for any child.
Read the full Roadmap here (English)