Ukraine ranks 80th in world ranking of access to justice for children

Ukraine ranks 80th in the world ranking of effective use of courts by children to protect their rights.

This is stated in the study of the Child Rights International Network (CRIN) “Rights, Remedies and Representation.”

This report is the result of a research project scrutinizing how the legal systems of 197 countries empower children to complain to the courts if their rights are violated, which legal resources are available to them, which practical solutions are needed for taking legal action and whether the international law on children’s rights is applicable in the national courts.

Rwanda also ranks 80th. Russia ranks 76th, Poland – 23th, Romania – 37th, Hungary – 40th.

The children’s rights are best protected in Belgium (ranks 1st), Portugal (2nd) and Spain (3rd).

“Our ranking shows how the states provide the children with access to justice, not how well secured their rights are. However, it is difficult to ignore the number of countries with a sad index of human rights listed at the end of the ranking,” CRIN director Veronica Yates said.

As a reminder, Ukraine ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991 and automatically included it in the national legislation. The Convention may be directly applicable in the courts and has a priority over disputable provisions of the national law.

The human rights activists of the Child Rights International Network remind that a lawsuit may be filed by the representative of the child. A child of any age can inform investigator or prosecutor of a crime.

They can also directly seek protection in court in family issues with the right to appeal, accessible through a representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner on Human Rights for the protection of their constitutional rights and freedoms.

As reported, more than 123,000 children in Ukraine are at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.