UNICEF: Azerbaijani government is looking for alternatives to avoid children ending up in justice system

Baku. 12 August. REPORT.AZ/ In 5 districts in the last year we developed the program supported by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior, by EU and World Bank to improve the access to legal services for children.

Report was told by UNICEF representative in Azerbaijan Edward Carwardine.

According to him they have combined that with training judges, legal professionals, prosecutors and so on.

According to E. Carwardine it helped to create a new discussion about how we avoid children ending up in the justice system. It is strong commitment of the government not to detain children. 

" Actually, there is small number of children who end up in prison here, even if they committed a crime, because government is looking for alternative ways to deal with those cases. This doesn't mean we are ignoring wrongdoings by these children but we don't have to lock them up. If you lock them up, when they come out of prison, they are about to commit more crimes. In fact, they may have to be a better criminal, as they learn from experts from the prisons. So, we have to find a way for them to go back to school or to do some community works to compensate their crime or bad behavior. I think, this is what the government looking now. We expand the practical services for children who are in contact with the justice system. I think this has been a successful start. This was a program involving a number of government agencies”, - Carwardine said.