The document discusses the Ugandan justice system's treatment of children. It describes situations that may involve children, such as criminal, civil, administrative, and traditional proceedings. It notes issues like a lack of juvenile detention facilities, difficulties verifying ages, and case backlogs. To address this, it recommends increasing investment in child justice systems, harmonizing formal and informal systems, strengthening community leader and police training, prioritizing alternative dispute resolution, and establishing child-friendly procedures. The goal is ensuring all children's rights are respected in the justice process regardless of circumstances.

1. Child Rights and the
Justice System in
Uganda

2. Situations in which Children may
be involved in the Justice
System
• Criminal justice
– Children in conflict with the law/ children accused of, or
recognized as, having infringed the law
– Child victims of crime or as witnesses to crime.
• Civil justice Children
– Children in need of care and protection, judicial review
of removal or placement
– Children caught up in custody and access disputes,
through guardianship issues , as unaccompanied or
separated children

3. Situations…..
•Administrative justice
– Through school disciplinary proceedings
– Through aspects of the care and protection system.
• Customary/traditional courts or other
informal systems
• Children issues are often dealt with by customary/
traditional systems considered closer to the people and
inexpensive.
• Access to justice for all children
• children in their own right bringing a wide range of court
cases relating to any situation

4. Overview of the Justice
system in Uganda
•Lack of detention facilities for children
•Difficulty in verifying the age of a child
•Violation of the 24 hour rule,
•Case backlog and the low disposal of cases
•Limited pre-trial support services for
children
•Lack of child friendly procedures and
processes.

6. Video Presentation;
Child Justice “All Deserve a Better
hearing

7. Key Actions
•Increase investment in the development of effective
systems of justice for children;
•Harmonize informal and formal justice systems by
clearly defining jurisdictions, building working
relationships between the two systems, and
establishing procedures for their interaction;
•Strengthen the capacity of community leaders to
promote and respect children’s rights in the justice
system;

8. Key actions ….
• Nationalize registrations of births that is free,
compulsory and accessible to all, and design child
friendly guidelines for age verification.
• adopt and invest in programes that will prevent
children from getting into conflict with the law.
•Establish and/or strengthen child protection systems
including alternative family-based care for children in
need of alternative care.

9. Key Actions
• Strengthen child protection units within the
police and provide institutionalized training on
children's rights for all professionals
• Invest in community based diversion and
alternative dispute resolution initiatives;
• Strengthen protection measures for children
who come in contact with the law, particularly
vulnerable children.

10. Conclusions
• Ensure that all children enjoy their rights in the
justice system, whether they are in conflict with the
law, or they are victims, witnesses, or subjects of
judicial proceedings.
• Ensure that deprivation of liberty is used as a
measure of last resort for children and promote
alternative measures, such as diversion and
restorative justice.

11. Conclusions
•Establish Child-friendly justice describes justice
systems that are designed or adjusted to be
sensitive to the particular issues that children face
when they come into contact with the law and
courts (or legal proceedings) for any reason.

12. For the Children of Uganda…