Social Justice for Children and Young People

Book excerpt: "The goal of a social justice approach for children is 'to ensure that children, defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child as all persons under the age of eighteen, are better served and protected by justice systems, including the security and social welfare sectors' (United Nations, 2008). Despite this worthy goal, the United Nations (UN) documents how children are rarely viewed as stakeholders in justice rules of law; child justice issues are often dealt as separate from larger justice and security issues; and when justice issues for children are addressed, it is often through a siloed, rather than a comprehensive, approach. The UN concludes: 'Access to justice, though increasingly recognized as an important strategy for protecting the rights of vulnerable groups, and thus for fighting poverty, rarely takes children into account' (United Nations Secretary General [UNSG], 2008)"--