“CLEAR-Rights: enhancing legal assistance for children in Europe” is a new project funded by the Justice Programme of the European Union. This 24-month project runs from January 2021 until January 2023 and is being coordinated by the Regional Office of Terre des hommes in Europe.
The project’s main aim is to improve equal access to a lawyer for children suspected or accused of a crime, through strengthening access to quality and specialized government-funded legal aid and pro bono legal assistance. Furthermore, the aims of CLEAR-Rights include the following: improving the knowledge of legal aid to provide child-friendly legal assistance, establishing a legal assistance network, as well as increasing awareness of policymakers and service providers about legal aid and legal assistance for children in conflict with the law.
As part of the project’s Governance structure, a Child Advisory Board (CAB) comprised of 10 children and young people will be set up in France, Hungary and Romania. In Hungary, the CAB is organised by the Hintalovon Foundation, they cooperate with 11 children in the project. The tasks of the CAB are giving assistance in implementing ’young proof’ materials, advising the partners on the development of the consultation methodologies and training materials, and also helping the partners to reach children and young people in a way they find appealing. Moreover, the CAB is acting as a ‘test audience’ for the developed materials and taking part in evaluation activities, while providing feedback and suggestions.
The safety of the children and young people is guaranteed by the ethical protocol developed for the CLEAR-Rights Project in accordance with the Child Safeguarding Policy of the Hintalovon Foundation. This includes proper information about the project and provides the opportunity for children and young people to give informed consent to not only take part in the project but also consent to data collection elements of the project.
CAB members will be invited to attend a minimum of one meeting every 1-3 months throughout project implementation.
Image from here.
