12 CPT: 9TH GENERAL REPORT JUVENILES DEPRIVED OF THEIR LIBERTY Preliminary remarks 20. In certain of its previous general reports, the CPT has set out the criteria which guide its work in a variety of places of detention, including police stations, prisons, holding centres for immigration detainees and psychiatric establishments.8 The Committee applies the above-mentioned criteria, to the extent to which they are appropriate, in respect of juveniles (i.e. persons under the age of 18) deprived of their liberty. However - regardless of the reason for which they may have been deprived of their liberty - juveniles are inherently more vulnerable than adults. In consequence, particular vigilance is required to ensure that their physical and mental well-being is adequately protected. In order to highlight the importance which it attaches to the prevention of illtreatment of juveniles deprived of their liberty, the CPT has chosen to devote this chapter of its 9th General Report to describing some of the specific issues which it pursues in this area. In the following paragraphs, the Committee identifies a number of the safeguards against illtreatment which it considers should be offered to all juveniles deprived of their liberty, before focussing on the conditions which should obtain in detention centres specifically designed for juveniles. The Committee hopes in this way to give a clear indication to national authorities of its views regarding the manner in which such persons ought to be treated. As in previous years, the CPT would welcome comments on this substantive section of its General Report. 8 Police custody and imprisonment, cf. the 2nd General Report (CPT/Inf (92) 3), paragraphs 35 to 60; Health care services in prisons, cf. the 3rd General Report (CPT/Inf (93) 12), paragraphs 30 to 77; Foreign nationals detained under aliens legislation, cf. the 7th General Report (CPT/Inf (97) 10), paragraphs 24 to 36; Involuntary placement in psychiatric establishments, cf. the 8th General Report (CPT/Inf (98) 12), paragraphs 25 to 55. 21. The Committee wishes to stress at the outset that any standards which it may be developing in this area should be seen as being complementary to those set out in a panoply of other international instruments, including the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; the 1985 United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (the Beijing Rules); the 1990 United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty and the 1990 United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (the Riyadh Guidelines). The Committee also wishes to express its approval of one of the cardinal principles enshrined in the above-mentioned instruments, namely that juveniles should only be deprived of their liberty as a last resort and for the shortest possible period of time (cf. Article 37 b. of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Rules 13 and 19 of the Beijing Rules).