Terre des hommes is working in 6 countries in Europe, South America and Africa toward a more educational, rather than repressive, justice, that abides by the Convention of the Rights of the Child. Terre des hommes’ procedures are based on various pillars. On the legislative level, Terre des Hommes works together with the national authorities concerned to adapt laws to the respect of the child’s dignity, as advocated in the international legislative standards.

Together with the police forces, Terre des hommes gives advises and offers support to children and teenagers as soon as they are arrested. It then follows them throughout the procedure of the judiciary process so as to ensure their rights are being respected. In our work, one of the most fundamental area is the training of all actors involved in juvenile law:
policemen, prosecutors, judges, attorneys, social workers, psychologists, and so on. Finally, on the political and institutional level, Terre des hommes is committed to advocacy so as to accelerate, as much as possible, the reforms required within the juvenile law administration.


Terre des hommes' vision
Almost half of the world population is living is urban areas, which explains the break with traditional ways of living in rural contexts and a clear increase in juvenile delinquency. Some children are forced to survive by themselves or to contribute to support their family, to the detriment of their most fundamental rights to education and to health.

International norms regulating juvenile law advocate for a particular system of juvenile law, viewing detention as the exception, the rule being the setting up of educational sanctions which would constitute alternatives to prison, right from arrest on.

This having been said, the immediate sanction taken boils too often down to juvenile custody – sometimes together with adult prisoners –, even if it means releasing the juvenile once he has been tried, given the time already spent in prison, and even if that time spent in prison might have meant : bad treatments, humiliations, violence, sexual abuses, and so on… If alternatives to prison only succeed up to 50%, prison is nevertheless synonymous, in 100% of cases, with a guaranteed failure in trying to reintegrate of the person into society.

This can be explained by both the ignorance of police and judiciary actors as regards dealing with juvenile delinquency and the lack of trained socio-educational workforce or of specialized institutions. The two main people in the juvenile law framework are the judge and the social worker. If they are sometimes assisted by attorneys, those far too often lack a specialisation in psychology and in the specific rights of juveniles.


Terre des hommes' action
First of all, Terre des hommes works on projects aimed at preventing juvenile delinquency in order for the children not to experience the penal law system. When they nevertheless do meet it, our action aims, at every stage of the judiciary procedure, at safeguarding juveniles’ possibility to benefit from an alternative based on restorative justice, endeavouring to prevent a subsequent offence by dealing appropriately with the behaviour’s causes.

Finally, one dimension of our works aims at protecting juveniles in conflict with the law, in order to prevent any violation of their human rights. Taking into account their personal evolution, we also try to encourage their rehabilitation and to facilitate their social reintegration.

Terre des hommes is also attempting to train all the actors involved in juvenile law so that they can set up alternatives to arrest: parole, social follow-up, conciliation, penal mediation, probation, community service, and so on… Terre des hommes also lobbies so that laws are improved because all the field workers can only act if their action falls within what the national law prescribes.

According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the fundamental principles of any adequate judiciary system designed for juveniles are that children ought to be treated with humanity (loss of liberty should only be used as a last resort and be as brief as possible), that the system should revolve around the child’s best interest and that it should be adapted to the age and maturity of the child.


A scene from real life

"I was abused by my parents, so I had to leave school and I began hanging around in the street, taking drugs … I committed small thefts so that I can pay for my dope. One day, I got myself arrested: aggravated theft. I was then taken care of by an attorney, a social worker and a psychologist from Terre des hommes free of charge. They were there to protect my rights and to conduct the case for the defence. I faced the facts and I therefore did not have to go to jail. I gave back the car lights I had stolen and I began to undergo a treatment against drug consumption”. Aldo, 15 years old, living in one of the greater Lima townships.