On 24 October, the European Commission published a report on the implementation of the directive on procedural safeguards for children suspected or accused in criminal proceedings. This directive, adopted on 11 May 2016, aims to ensure that children involved in the justice system enjoy appropriate and fair rights while respecting their vulnerability and right to specific treatment.
It establishes minimum standards in the Member States to protect children at all stages of criminal proceedings, thereby strengthening confidence in the European judicial system.
The European Commission’s report, based on responses from Member States and field studies, reveals significant shortcomings in the directive’s transposition.
Several Member States, including Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Croatia and Malta, have not fully transposed the directive’s provisions into their national legislation, triggering infringement proceedings from 2019 for failure to transpose fully or correctly.
Although some have addressed these deficiencies, several cases remain open, such as those of Bulgaria, Germany and Greece, which have not fully communicated their transposition measures or have gaps in the application of the required safeguards. These States are still subject to an additional formal notice.
In particular, the directive requires that children be informed of their rights in appropriate language and have easy access to a lawyer. However, several Member States, including Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, do not systematically provide legal assistance from the initial stages of questioning.
In some cases, assistance is provided late, while in others it is limited or conditional, thus contravening the requirements for immediate and effective assistance set out in the directive. This is particularly problematic for children who are the subject of a European arrest warrant.
More than a third of Member States do not extend the necessary rights and safeguards to these children, which deprives them of essential assistance when they are arrested in connection with extradition requests.
The report also refers to limiting the deprivation of liberty of children. The directive stipulates that this should only be considered as a last resort and for as short a time as possible in order to minimise the negative effects on their development.
However, several Member States are struggling to apply this principle, particularly in the area of pre-trial detention, where alternatives to imprisonment are insufficiently exploited. Some countries offer only one alternative to detention, while others, such as Luxembourg, Spain and Italy, have not introduced full transposition measures, thus limiting children’s access to suitable alternatives.
Finally, with regard to training judicial staff and data collection, the directive calls on Member States to raise awareness and train the professionals involved, so as to ensure that treatment complies with children’s rights.
In addition, current data is insufficient to fully assess national practices, making it difficult to monitor progress and areas requiring improvement.
Read the report: https://aeur.eu/f/e4c (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)