CHAPTER 5 VIEWS AND PERSPECTIVES OF CHILDREN DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY In order to ensure that children’s views were sought and given due weight in the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty, a dedicated work stream on child participation was established.2 The research began by undertaking a review of the existing literature on the views of children deprived of liberty and from this, a methodology respecting children’s rights was used to gather the views of children as part of the Global Study. The research team – with unique expertise in children’s participation methodologies and international children’s rights law – partnered with Terre des Hommes and a range of international NGOs to access and collate the views and experiences of 274 children from 22 countries across a range of detention settings. The process was not and did not purport to be representative of the views of all children in detention around the world. However, it was nonetheless an important step in ensuring that the views, perspectives and experiences of children deprived of their liberty were taken into account in the Global Study. The research has obvious limitations such as the size, reach and dependence on organisations who were willing and available to facilitate the consultation with children at a local level. Nevertheless, the findings offer rich insights into the experiences and views of the 274 individual children consulted, who included those deprived of their liberty in different types of settings, in different social and geographical contexts, and in different global regions. During the consultation, children talked about the fulfilment of their rights – to family, health and education for instance – and about the importance of ensuring detention is a measure of last resort, highlighting the need for States to use community-based sanctions over detention. Children also told us about the many ways in which they are denied their rights, through experiences of loss, trauma and violence, of stigma and disempowerment. But they also reported experiences of resilience and hope and they detailed the friendships and other strengths that can help them cope with the adversity of their experience. Taking account of other studies that heard from children deprived of their liberty and the experience of involving children in previous Global Studies, these insights into children’s experiences of their rights in detention adds significantly to this Study for a number of reasons. First, and most importantly, it fulfilled children’s right to be heard by asking children deprived of their liberty about their rights, thus giving them the opportunity to express their views on matters that affect them. The consultation enabled children to give voice to the full range of their experience, articulated with great depth and colour. Second, in addition to being rights-based, the research used a systematic and transparent methodology whereby national organisations were required to follow a single approach 2 The research team consisted of researchers from the Centre for Children’s Rights, Queen’s University Belfast as well as the Centre for Children’s Rights and Family Law at the School of Law, University College Cork and Terre des Hommes. 80