Children behind Belgian Bars: Rights and Resistance against the Pains of Imprisonment

Korte inhoud:When children are deprived of their liberty, they are in a vulnerable position. But thanks to the crc, children’s rights have been enshrined for the last 25 years. These rights can play an important role in protecting children during their confinement, yet these rights are still too often violated. Therefore we want to point to the importance of the right to complain. This right can be used as an important instrument against harshness or arbitrariness in youth institutions and/or unfair or inhumane treatment. However, it remains unclear how this (formal or informal) right actually plays a role in daily detention practices. In this chapter we emphasise the need for more empirical research that focuses on the situation of children deprived of their liberty. We want to gain more insight into how children experience their time in detention. We also want to understand how children’s rights, specifically the right to complain, operate in daily policy and practice. At the end of the chapter we provide an example of this kind of research, which we are currently conducting in Belgium and the Netherlands.

ISBN:9789004295049

Jaar van publicatie:2016

Toegankelijkheid:Open

Reviewstatus:Peerreview