Facilitating Access to Justice for Minors (MT0020)

Our Commitment

When discussing children within the justice system, one often thinks of the barriers that need to be removed in order to safeguard to the specific needs and rights of minors who are in some way part of the judicial proceedings. In this regard, child-friendly justice should guarantee respect and implementation of all children’s rights. In particular, justice should be accessible, age appropriate and should give children the tools to participate in and to understand the proceedings. This means that children should be informed of their rights. The Maltese government is also aware that information structures for children (for example free helplines and the office for the Children’s Commissioner) are in place, however, children must be aware of how and who to complain to about their treatment. This commitment will seek to enhance informational access to children about their rights and other matters related to justice in a language that is easily understood by all children irrespective of age, educational level or cultural or language background. It is also imperative that the most vulnerable and marginalised children are also aware of their rights, and this commitment will look into ways to reach those children and to provide them with the most relevant information in relation to their rights. In so doing, this commitment will continue to build on the work carried out by the Ministry for Social Policy and Children’s Rights and the Commissioner for Children in addressing a number of lacunas in the current provision of justice-related information for all children. The commitment shall also seek the input of civil society stakeholders active in the field of justice and child rights. In particular, civil society stakeholders including other stakeholders experts in the field, will provide their expertise and share previous studies and research carried out in the field. Furthermore, this commitment draws on the principles of access to justice for children from another perspective, one that aligns itself to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that the possibility “…to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media … “echoes the fundamental right of freedom of expression. As such, the commitment goes beyond the simple provision of information on digital platforms but foresees the children as co-creators of the content that is to be transmitted. In this sense, this commitment aligns with the fundamental principles of good governance in that it actively engages the main recipients of the service, redefining the way that child-centered services are designed and implemented. The commitment forsees further action in terms of capacity building of those working with children, therefore of those front liners who are in direct contact with children. The campaign will include a continuous effort to assess the impact and evaluate the ways the content reaches and engages children.

Problem Definition

What problem does the commitment aim to address?

The commitment aims to address two problems, namely, the lack of provision of information about justice to children that is delivered in a manner that is mindful of children’s needs, and the lack of active engagement of children in the creation of this content. These two issues are symptoms of systems that are not people-centered, let alone childfriendly. UNICEF has long advocated that children’s rights cannot be properly advanced unless they are embedded within a system based on sound principles of good governance. The Ministry for Justice has embarked on a process that will embrace people-centred principles and hence the need for a more child-friendly justice is acknowledged and endorsed. Yet so far, the application of this approach has manifested itself in efforts addressed at the removal of obstacles to access to justice, rather than the application of good governance principles in support of children rights. To this end, this commitment seeks to empower children to become engaged with the justice sector, through the targeted design and delivery of justice-related information that is mindful of the specific circumstances of children such as the age, the educational background and their level of maturity. The commitment will see the involvement of children representatives and possibly also children, in a co-creation process that will ensure that the perspective of children is kept at the forefront of the content creation process. Equally importantly, the commitment will be carried out within a framework that espouses good governance principles such as transparency, active engagement, accountability and sustainability in order to ensure that the bridge between good governance and children rights is sustained.

What are the causes of the problem?

Historically speaking, government has structures aligned to a top-down management approach in which policies, initiatives and priorities across all sectors are issued centrally. Whilst the value of such an approach for managing the biggest organization in Malta cannot be understated, it does come with its set of pitfalls. For example, within the justice sector, such an approach tends to centralize service provision within traditional definitions of justice, namely the courts, the judiciary and the legal profession. In addition, the prevalent narrative defines users of the justice system as those who in some way or another are involved in the legal process. This approach blinds the system to the under-representation of vulnerable clients but also of the general public who constitutes an important voice in matters related to justice. As a result of this traditional framework, there is often a lack of consultative dialogue between the service provider and the users of services resulting in services that are not addressing the needs of clients themselves. For example, information about justice services is written in a language targeting adults within websites that children will definitely not access. This reflects an underlying assumption that children lack the insight, experience or knowledge to be able to contribute towards the design of systems and services that are intended for them as well. This alienates children from seeking information about justice, perhaps to the extent to make them believe that justice is something that adults, rather than children, have to deal with. The system therefore reinforces debilitating preconceptions, alienating children from informational content that would help them grow and prosper in a society which values inclusion, engagement and accountability towards all users.

Commitment Description

What has been done so far to solve the problem?

At a national level, a major advancement within the field of children rights lies in the Children’s Policy Framework 2024 – 2030 which has just been launched for public consultation by the Ministry for Social Policy and Children’s Rights3. This document outlines the vision of the government for the protection and empowerment of children over the next 6 years, identifying a set of 4 national priorities which are made implementable by a set of targeted measures. The commitment being undertaken within the OGP, builds upon two main priorities, namely Improving Child Wellbeing with its related aim and corresponding measures on child-friendly justice, and Strengthening Child Participation with its related aim and corresponding measures on enhancing the dissemination of child-friendly information on law, policy and services. The framework has been developed through the active engagement of relevant stakeholders including children themselves. In addition, the public consultation initiative further invites parents, educators, policymakers and concerned citizens to participate in a nationwide conversation. Cognisant of the fact that actions must be taken to actively include children’s voices, concerns and recommendations, the Ministry responsible for Social Policy is also inviting all children to submit their opinions through the Empowering Children App: https://empoweringchildren.gov. mt. On this platform, children find the child-friendly version of the Policy Framework4 enabling them to understand this important information for their wellbeing and make their voice heard. By sharing insights, experiences, and recommendations, we aim to create a comprehensive policy framework focused on improving child well-being, supporting families, providing a better environment, and strengthening child participation. The broad online consultation app ‘Empowering Children’ App not only provides information to children in a child-sensitive language, but also offers children the possibility to continuously forward feedback on any of the national priorities covered by the Framework as well as on other policies and initiatives presented in a child-friendly format. The ‘Empowering Children’ App forms part of the 2-year (2023-2025) EU co-funded Project ‘Empowering Children’s Participation in Malta’5 which will also provide: capacity building for policymakers to integrate and improve child participation in decision making; ii) an innovative Child Policy Evaluation Toolkit for use in Malta but which has transnational applicability; and an awareness raising campaign on children’s right to be heard and on child participation, as well as promote the project and the App. The project will be implemented in full consultation with children throughout, whilst also ensuring that the project takes a do-no-harm approach in terms of gender and discrimination concerns. Therefore, the Children’s Policy Framework and the Project ‘Empowering Children’s Participation in Malta’ are in effect already applying good governance principles of active engagement, public consultation, transparency and accountability in order to support the development and implementation of a/ national policy focused on strengthening and empowering children. In tandem with this development, the Ministry for Justice is embracing a people-centred approach to Justice, based on the Framework for People-Centred Justice championed by the OECD. This Framework lays the ground for justice initiatives that are more responsive to the needs of the people, making justice more accessible and strengthening trust in the system through the application of 4 pillars that reflect the application of good governance principles to achieve access to justice and meet the legal needs of society. These four pillars detail the role of government in designing people-centred justice initiatives, the importance of embracing good governance enablers and designing the technological infrastructure that enhances access to justice, the need to empower people to engage in the identification of legal needs and co-design of services, and last but not least, the design of systems that measure, monitor and evaluate initiatives within the spirit of transparency, accountability and sustainability. A child-friendly justice framework is built within this people-centred approach, supporting governments in implementing measures and initiatives in pursuance of the legal needs of children. Given these developments, this commitment will solidify the resolve of the Ministry for Justice to actively embrace child-friendly initiatives that are based on inter-ministerial cooperation, the involvement of relevant stakeholders including children and the setting up of structures that promote transparency, accountability and sustainability.

Our Solution

The Ministry for Justice is proposing to start implementing child-friendly measures to enhance informational access to justice through the design and development of justice-related information disseminated through dedicated channels of communication. The commitment foresees the engagement of relevant stakeholders, both from the government and from civil society and NGOs working with children, as well as children, in a co-design and co-creation process of information related to human rights, justice systems, ethics and other material delivered in a format that meets the differing needs of all children irrespective of age, academic level, cultural background and availability of access. The commitment will also entail the analysis of current digital infrastructures that can be used as a vehicle to promote informational access to children, and will devise a five-year action plan with defined milestones and governance enablers that will ensure that the process respects transparency, active engagement and sustainability.

The results we want to achieve by implementing this commitment

In implementing this commitment, the Ministry for Justice aims to achieve the following objectives: Provide access to justice-related information in a format that meets the diverse needs and requirements of children; Set-up a dedicated multi-disciplinary working group whose task would be to identify the range of content that can be made accessible, design it, co-create it and agree on the methodology of dissemination (for example the digital platforms to be used and other means of disseminating information); Draft a five-year action plan that includes the ways in which children will be engaged in the process as well as evaluation measures and development of key indicators that will ensure accountability and sustainability; Carry out pilot testing of the process in order to ensure a successful roll-out of the action plan at the end of the 2-year set-up process.

Our Commitment Analysis

How will the commitment promote transparency?

The very aim of this commitment is to promote informational access to justice through the engagement and active participation of relevant stakeholders including children. The link between informational access and transparency is very strong and forms the basis of a number of EU treaties safeguarding the right to access to information. Transparency requires governments to set-up structures that enable the disclosure of documents, data, expenditure and other relevant information in such a way as to support accountability and promote trust in the process. This specific commitment builds on this principle of transparency and seeks to provide avenues for justice-related information to reach target audiences, in this case children, in a way that is understandable to them. It acknowledges that children have a right to information about decisions and policies that will effect their rights and, in addition, seeks to provide them with the means to voice their opinion on such matters. Intrinsic within the commitment is the publication and dissemination of information that can assist children make informed decisions on matters related to their rights, and will help educate and raise awareness amongst the public in general on child-justice issues, thereby shaping opinions and entrenching them in the political discourse.

How will the commitment help foster accountability?

Accountability is a key principle of good governance that is difficult to extricate from other principles such as active engagement, voice, and transparency. Whilst in its definition it relates to the ability of service users to hold to account service providers, in reality it is achieved through its interaction with other good governance principles. This commitment seeks to uphold accountability in a number of ways. First of all, in principle, this commitment is seeking to educate children and raise their awareness about their human and legal rights, thereby equipping them with the knowledge necessary to hold government and other entities accountable towards the protection of their rights. Secondly, this initiative seeks to set-up accountability mechanisms through the active engagement of the main recipients of the service, the drafting of an action plan with set milestones, and the development of evaluation protocols that will ensure the sustainability of the initiative. All of this will be made public through dedicated channels. This will enable all relevant stakeholders to hold government to account if it fails to deliver in line with the proposed commitments.

How will the commitment improve citizen participation in defining, implementing, and monitoring solutions?

Just like in the case of Accountability, the essence of the commitment is to provide information to children on justice-related themes. This will improve their chances of voicing their concerns and opinions and equip them with the knowledge required to actively participate and shape government-wide policies. In this broad sense, this commitment will enhance the inclusion and active participation of children across diverse policies, such as educational and/ or environmental policies, that impact their rights. At a more specific level, the commitment will provide a channel for active participation and will build on initiatives already implemented by other Ministries in ensuring an open channel of communication. For example, the Empowering Children App by the Ministry for Social Policy and Children’s Rights is not simply an important vehicle of information-sharing, but it provides children with the means to forward their thoughts and views at any point and in various formats according to their preference: in writing as well as by uploading drawings, audio and/or video recordings. Thus, this commitment supports collaboration across various government agencies, allowing relevant stakeholders to provide informed opinions across different policy areas and thereby actively contribute to the improvement of public policy.

Commitment Planning (Milestones | Expected Outputs | Start Date | End Date)

Preparation for the setting up of the digital environment | Identify key stakeholders and discuss possible options of how to implement access to information on justicerelated issues; Hold discussions related to the type of content that will be disseminated and also the technical infrastructure that will shape it; Agree on a list of initial content to be tested and uploaded within the 2nd year | Jan - 2024 | Dec - 2024

Launch of the Digital Environment hosting childfriendly justice information | Set up the digital infrastructure to host the justice information; Create the content agreed about in Year 1 and test it online; Launch of the digital environment Draw a 5-year Action Plan for enhancing informational accessibility for children | Jan - 2025 | Dec -2025