CHILD-FRIENDLY JUSTICE: NOTIONS, PREREQUISITES, AND SEVERAL PROBLEMATIC ASPECTS

Abstract

This article contributes to the discourse on the relationship between justice and the rights of the child by emphasizing the need to guarantee them fully and ef- fectively in the process of administration of justice. It presents an analysis of the current legal framework of child-friendly justice laid down in Lithuanian national law, including its constitutional basis and its application in practice, and distinguishes relevant problematic aspects, thereby analyzing the effectiveness of the legal status of a child. It is concluded that is important not only to enshrine in law the legal protection of the child as of an independent holder of substantive rights, but also to ensure the child’s right to participate in all child-related pretrial, judicial, and enforcement proceedings regardless of their age. It is emphasized that the right to be heard has to be understood not as an instrument to establish the views of the child without providing them with a precise procedural status in the law. The child should be guaranteed the right to access to court independently, and they should be represented by an independent representative. Finally, the conclusion is made that resolving the problems of the child’s right to access to court, regardless of their age, could lead to a change in the protection of the rights of the child and a more child-friendly notion of justice.

Keywords

• child-friendly justice
• constitutional imperative of the priority of the in- terests of a child
• autonomy of child’s right
• child’s right to be heard