DEFENCE FOR CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL (DCI) - Belgium | Practical Guide 2.2. Context of vulnerability of children deprived of their liberty The common feature of all of the previously mentioned forms of placement is that they deprive children of their liberty and that the children placed there are not allowed to leave at will. Deprivation of liberty places children in a particular dependent situation of an imbalance of power – i.e. children generally stay in institutions that can lack transparency and make them entirely dependent on the regime and administration. This in itself makes children vulnerable. The age, level of maturity, stage of development, gender, ethnicity, psychological fragility and potential state of trauma, physical or mental disability, substance abuse, level of education, administrative status and family situation of children deprived of liberty added to that context of imbalance of power puts them in a situation that makes them more at risk of abuse and discrimination than adults or their peers in the community. These risks can be from staff members or other children, or from the regime of the institution itself. The time of arrest by the police is, for example, particularly risky: the arrest can be arbitrary, the force can be used excessively as well as verbal abuses and threats, lack of information on their rights and no access to parents, guardians or legal assistance. In breach of international standards, which state that children should be separated from adults “unless it is considered in the child’s best interest not to do so” (article 37(C) of the CRC), the absence of separation between children and adults and between children themselves can also be damaging. They may be more exposed to abuses and this compromises their ability to rehabilitation and reintegration into society. Examples: pre-trial detention alongside with convicted children, deprivation of liberty for immigration purpose in places where children and adults are mixed, deprivation of liberty of girls and women together or of boys and girls without separation, or of younger and older children together, etc. The excessive use of discipline and security measures and of a punishing approach can also be at the origin of violence and anger, of reinforced psychological disorder, trauma and depression that can lead to violent behaviour, self-harm or suicide. 26