Scots lawyers wanted for justice for children survey

Lawyers have until Thursday of this week to help the International Bar Association in a global survey on access to justice for children.

The IBA's Access to Justice & Legal Aid Committee is seeking responses from Scottish practitioners involved in child and family law as part of its international survey.

The committee is working with the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law on a research project, looking at access to justice for children, exploring obstacles and solutions across jurisdictions. The study will:

• examine the main challenges children face when they come into contact with the law and the justice system as offenders, victims or witnesses;
• assess the strategies and solutions employed across jurisdictions to address these challenges;
• and explore the transfer of good practices to inform access to justice across jurisdictions.

Completed anonymously, the survey asks respondents among other things for examples of programmes that have been successful in improving access to justice in the different instances where children come into contact with the justice system. "We would be grateful if you could please think in advance about such programmes as these will be useful for the research findings", it states.

Andrew Mackenzie, the committee's communications officer, who is also chief executive of the Scottish Arbitration Centre, commented: “Access to justice is at the core of guaranteeing children’s rights, but legal systems often make it difficult or impossible for children to obtain redress for rights violations. Lawyers involved in advocacy, law reform, drafting of new legislation, legal education and providing legal assistance and representation have a huge opportunity to support and contribute to improving access to justice worldwide.

"The Access to Justice Committee welcomes responses to the survey from any individual or body involved in child right issues. I am particularly keen that we have some expert responses from Scotland.” 

Click here to access the briefing paper and survey. The deadline for responses is 30 June. The report on the survey will be launched at IBA Washington DC in September.