International legal standards relevant to children and young people in detention The body of international law relating to children in detention includes both guarantees specific to children – such as the right to be separated from adults in detention unless it is in his or her interests not to be – and enhanced versions of principles applying to adults, in recognition of children’s need for special protection and treatment appropriate to their age. In relation to the prohibition on torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment itself, it is recognised that treatment may be cruel, inhuman or degrading for a child when it would not necessarily be so for an adult. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child reproduces the UNCAT prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (TCIDT), and provides additional requirements for children in detention (Article 37): - Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age - 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 - Children in detention shall be treated in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age. They shall be separated from adults unless it is considered in the child’s best 26 interest not to do so and shall have the right to maintain contact with his or her family through correspondence and visits, save in exceptional circumstances - The right to prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance, as well as the right to challenge the legality of the deprivation of his or her liberty before a court or other competent, independent and impartial authority, and to a prompt decision on any such action. Other UNCRC rights that provide important safeguards against TCIDT include: the rights to life and optimal development; health; not to be separated from parents unless in the child’s best interests; freedom from violence, neglect and abuse; and to have his or her views heard and given due weight in all matters affecting him or her (Articles 6, 24, 9, 12, 19). Further standards have been developed in the following documents: - UNCRC General Comment on the Treatment of Unaccompanied and Separated Children Outside their Country of Origin - UNCRC General Comment on the Rights of Children in Juvenile Justice - UN CRC General Comment on the Right to Freedom from All Forms of Violence - UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty - UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (‘Beijing Rules’) - CPT Standards for Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty - Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on child-friendly justice.