Judiciary System: Monitoring of Child’ Legal Protection System and Equitable Access to Justice in Civil, Administrative and Criminal Proceedings
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REPORT Children with[in] Judiciary system: Monitoring of child’ legal protection system and equitable access to justice in civil, administrative and criminal proceedings Uncertain Pathways: Bridging practice policy gaps in enabling access to justice for children in Albania Tirana, 2019 | 1 This report was published by the Albanian Rehabilitation Centre for Trauma and Torture (ARCT), as part of the Programme “Children with[in] Judiciary system: Monitoring of child’ legal protection system and equitable access to justice in civil, administrative and criminal proceedings”, supported through sub-grant scheme of the program “Civic engagement for a functional judiciary system and access to justice in Albania”, supported by the European Commission and implemented by Save the Children and Centre of Integrated Legal Services and Practices (QSHPLI). The views contained in this publication are the sole responsibility of the Albanian Rehabilitation Centre for Trauma and Torture and they do not necessarily reflect the views of European Commission, Save the Children and Centre of Integrated Legal Services and Practices (QSHPLI). Uncertain Pathways: Bridging practice policy gaps in enabling access to justice for children in Albania © Albanian Rehabilitation Centre for Trauma and Torture No part of this publication, protected by law no. 35/2016 "On Copyright and Related Rights" cannot be reproduced, stored, transmitted or used with any form of graphic, electronic or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopies, scanning, digitization, web or other systems, without the written permission of publishers. All Rights Reserved. ISBN: Tirana, 2019 | 2 CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................................5 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................6 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................... 10 PART I – PART I – LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND STANDARDS….. .............................................................. 23 CHAPTER 1: INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK REGARDING CHILDREN’S ACCESS TO JUSTICE ............................................................................................................................................ 23 1.1 THE KEY RELEVANT COMPONENTS OF JUSTICE SYSTEM IN REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA ............................................... 23 1.2WHY IS ACCESS TO JUSTICE IMPORTANT?.................................................................................................... 28 1.3JUVENILE JUSTICE, THE DEFINITION AND THE REQUIRED CRITERIA FOR ACCESS ................................................... 29 CHAPTER 2: THE DEMAND FOR JUSTICE ............................................................................................ 33 2.1WHAT TYPES OF LEGAL ISSUES DO CHILDREN EXPERIENCE? ............................................................................ 33 2.2 FACTORS INFLUENCING WHETHER A CHILD EXPERIENCES LEGAL ISSUES ............................................................ 37 2.3 JUDICIAL PROTECTION AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE ........................................................................................... 39 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................. 41 CHAPTER 3: THE SUPPLY OF JUSTICE ................................................................................................. 42 ADVICE, SUPPORT AND OTHER PERSONAL PATHWAYS ........................................................................................ 42 COURTS ..................................................................................................................................................... 42 INTERNAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION ..................................................................................................................... 42 OMBUDSMAN AND COMMISSIONER FOR PROTECTION AGAINST DISCRIMINATION ................................................... 42 ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION ............................................................................................................... 43 FAMILY DISPUTE RESOLUTION SERVICES .......................................................................................................... 44 CONCLUSION: LESSONS FROM THE SUPPLY SIDE ................................................................................................ 44 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSIONS ABOUT ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN .............................................. 45 4.1THE JUSTICE SYSTEM SHAPE ...................................................................................................................... 45 4.2 THE NEED FOR A SYSTEM-WIDE PERSPECTIVE .............................................................................................. 47 PART II – STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK FOR CHILDREN’S ACCESS TO JUSTICE ........................................... 48 CHAPTER 5: AN ACCESS TO JUSTICE FRAMEWORK ............................................................................. 48 5.1 THE ACCESS TO JUSTICE PRINCIPLES .......................................................................................................... 48 5.2 THE ACCESS TO JUSTICE METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 48 5.3 HOW DOES THE TRIAGE SYSTEM WORK? .................................................................................................... 50 5.4 THE WAY FORWARD ............................................................................................................................... 51 5.5 DATA REQUIREMENTS ............................................................................................................................ 52 PART III – SUPPORTING THE STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK ...................................................................... 53 CHAPTER 6: INFORMATION ABOUT THE LAW .................................................................................... 53 6.1 IMPROVING ACCESS TO INFORMATION FOR PEOPLE WITH LEGAL ISSUES ........................................................... 53 6.2DIRECT ENGAGEMENT ............................................................................................................................. 55 6.3COLLABORATION BETWEEN SERVICE PROVIDERS .......................................................................................... 56 6.4ACCESS TO LEGISLATION .......................................................................................................................... 57 | 3 CHAPTER 7: NON COURT MODELS OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION ............................................................. 58 7.1EXTERNAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION .............................................................................................................. 58 7.2INTERNAL COMPLAINT MECHANISMS ........................................................................................................ 58 CHAPTER 8: COURT BASED DISPUTE RESOLUTION ............................................................................. 60 8.1 THE DISTRICT COURTS AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE............................................................................................ 60 8.2THE CURRENT PICTURE ............................................................................................................................ 61 8.3 ACTIVE CASE MANAGEMENT .................................................................................................................... 61 CHAPTER 9: COSTS ........................................................................................................................... 64 9.1THE CURRENT PICTURE ............................................................................................................................ 64 9.2 COSTS OF THE NATIONAL JUSTICE SYSTEM ................................................................................................. 65 CHAPTER 10: LEGAL ASSISTANCE ...................................................................................................... 67 10.1 NATIONAL COORDINATION OF LEGAL ASSISTANCE SERVICE PROVISION .......................................................... 67 CHAPTER 11: BUILDING RESILIENCE .................................................................................................. 70 11.1THE CURRENT PICTURE .......................................................................................................................... 70 BUILDING RESILIENCE IN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM ................................................................................................... 70 LEGAL EDUCATION ....................................................................................................................................... 71 POST-RESOLUTION SUPPORT ......................................................................................................................... 71 | 4 Abbreviations ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution ARCT Albanian Rehabilitation Centre for Trauma and Torture JCJC Juvenile Criminal Justice Code CPD Commissioner for the Protection from discrimination CEPEJ European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice ECHR European Convention for the protection of Human Rights NACR National Agenda for Children’s