Minor Rights

The Project Minor Rights - Access to justice for children at risk of social exclusion, funded by the European Commission, DG Justice, was conducted by Save the Children Italia (project coordinator) together with the Department of Philosophy and Law at Roma Tre University, l’Associazione Studi Giuridici sull’Immigrazione (ASGI), the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) in Athens and l’Instituto Universitario de Estudios sobre Migraciones (IUEM) of Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid. The project lasted 18 months and provided the following activities: • Desk research on national and international legislation covering access to justice for children at risk of social exclusion in Italy, Greece, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, conducted by Roma Tre University. • Three field researches that, starting from the desk research results, performed an analysis of the real application of the legislation in Italy, Spain and Greece, carried out by ASGI, IUEM and EPLO respectively. • Three international meetings of national and European experts held in Rome, Madrid and Athens, with the aim to analyse the desk and field researches results and to work out shared recommendations for National and European institutions. • Three ateliers with children in Rome, Madrid and Athens with the scope to collect their point of view on the issue. They were coordinated by Save the Children Italy and held by IUEN and EPLO respectively. This publication includes reports for all the above mentioned activities. It also contains a video clip of the rap song “They shut us up and put us down”, produced by children as a result of the ateliers and a backstage video. The issue of children’s access to justice and particularly those at risk of social exclusion** is a central theme in the most recent European debate regarding the protection of children’s rights. The international community is paying increasing attention to the development of practical principles, standards and strategies addressing children’s roles and status within the justice system, both as victims and/or witnesses and as offenders.