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under an obligation to safeguard his dignity and well-being – Mr
Blokhin had received the medical care required by his condition.
This is why the Court found a violation of Article 3 of the Convention.
Directive (EU) 2016/800 on procedural safeguards for children (Children’s
Directive) aims at establishing common minimum rules on the protection
of the procedural rights of children who are suspected or accused in
criminal proceedings, taking into account their specific vulnerability58,
as well as common standards for imposing detention on children and
for specific treatment of children deprived of their liberty. Article 10
obliges member states to ensure that deprivation of liberty of a child at
any stage of the proceedings is limited to the shortest appropriate period
of time. Article 12 requires that when detaining children, the member
states must ensure and preserve their health and physical and mental
development, their right to education and training (including where the
children have physical, sensory or learning disabilities), the effective and
regular exercise of their right to family life, their access to programmes
that foster their development and their reintegration into society, and the
respect for their freedom of religion or belief, etc.
Specific standards:59
• United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child,
September 1990
• UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile
Justice: the “Beijing Rules”, November 1985
• UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their
Liberty: the “Havana Rules”, December 1990
• UN Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency: the
“Riyadh Guidelines”
• Directive (EU) 2016/800 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 11 May 2016 on procedural safeguards for children
who are suspects or accused persons in criminal proceedings
58. Recital 45 specifically recognizes that “children are in a particularly vulnerable position when they
are deprived of liberty”.
59. Based on the APT summary where there is an important omission of the European Rules for juvenile
offenders subject to sanctions and measures and of Directive (EU) 2016/800. Hyperlinks to these
documents is added. For the texts of the relevant parts of the documents cited below see: https://apt.ch/
detention-focus/en/vulnerable_groups/5/?related_standards, accessed 8 October 2020.
Prisoners in a Situation of Vulnerability
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