DETENTION

OF CHILDREN
IN THE TIME
OF COVID-19
© United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF), Division of Data, Analytics,
Planning and Monitoring, and
Programme Group, November 2021

Permission is required to reproduce

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been taken by UNICEF to verify
the information contained in this
publication. For any data updates
subsequent to release, please visit
<www.unicef.org>.

SUGGESTED CITATION
United Nations Children’s Fund,
Detention of Children in the Time of
COVID-19, UNICEF, New York, 2021.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The preparation of this publication
was led by Claudia Cappa (Data
and Analytics Section, UNICEF
Headquarters), with inputs from Nicole
Petrowski (Data and Analytics Section,
UNICEF Headquarters), Vijaya Ratnam
Raman, Erin Elzo and Kirsten Di Martino
(Child Protection Programme Team,
UNICEF Headquarters) and Isabel Jijon
(independent consultant). Gratitude
goes to UNICEF staff in regional and
country offices for their participation in
the survey and verification of the data
used in the report, in particular Settasak
Akanimart, Teona Aslanishvili, Amanda
Bissex, Andrew Brooks, Kendra
Gregson, Rachel Harvey, Karin Heissler,
Phenny Kakama, Nami Nakatani, Esther
Ruiz, Lucio Valerio Sarandrea and Eri
Mathers Suzuki.

The publication was edited by Tina

Johnson and designed by Era Porth
(independent consultants).

COVER PHOTO
© UNICEF/UN0185848/Tremeau
 © UNICEF/Bangladesh/2020/Paul
CONTENTS
1. Introduction 5

2. Detention of children during COVID-19 6

3. State of the justice sector during COVID-19 8

4. Where to go from here? Continuing challenges 11

5. Reimagining justice for children: 13

A new way forward for a brighter future

Endnotes 15
 © UNICEF/UNI318255/Ryeng

4 DETENTION OF CHILDREN IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

1. INTRODUCTION

As the world continues to grapple with the impact

of COVID-19, there is increased recognition
of the profound effects that this public health
emergency is having on all spheres of children’s
lives, including on their protection from violence,
their mental health and their access to justice.
The ripple effects of the pandemic – both
positive and negative – on access to justice,
especially for children, can be seen in countries
across the world. Such access is a prerequisite
for protecting and upholding the human rights
of all people, including children, and is key to
achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), particularly for building peaceful, just
and inclusive societies as called for in SDG 16.

For far too long, we have witnessed the use

of detention of children in conflict with the
law as anything but a ‘last resort’ globally,
with countless children in detention for minor
or ‘status’ offences, and many held for long
periods before ever seeing a lawyer or receiving
a fair trial. As COVID-19 threw the world into
crisis, UNICEF drew attention to the unique
vulnerability of detained children – highlighting
the increased risks of contracting the virus in
confined and overcrowded spaces – and called
© UNICEF/UNI150699/Asselin

for their immediate release. And during those

first months of the pandemic, an unprecedented
release of children from detention did occur
around the world. This figure has continued
to grow, with over 45,000 children across
54 countries released from detention by
governments and authorities since March 2020.

MORE THAN 45,000 CHILDREN HAVE BEEN

RELEASED FROM DETENTION SINCE THE
BEGINNING OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

5
 2. DETENTION OF CHILDREN DURING COVID-19

UNICEF and partners have advocated for decades May and June 2020. These results were achieved
for the rights of children deprived of their liberty, using alternative measures (including parole,
especially children in conflict with the law. The amnesty and conditional release, with additional
2019 UN Global Study on Children Deprived of initiatives prohibiting new admissions of children
Liberty spotlighted the situation of children around into detention) and programmatic adaptations
the world deprived of their personal liberty in the including high-level advocacy, technical assistance
administration of justice and those living in prisons to governments and courts – e.g., case reviews,
with their primary caregivers, in migration-related digitizing processes and other mechanisms (virtual
detention, in institutions or detained in the context courts, online learning and training for justice
of armed conflict or on national security grounds.1 professionals) – and post-release support and
The study found these children among the most monitoring.3
vulnerable, invisible and forgotten groups in
societies, routinely denied family care and access What became evident during this period was that
to justice and often unable to challenge the legality respecting, protecting and fulfilling the rights of
of their detention. Of even greater concern, it children in the justice system could not be over-
found that children were being tried and detained looked in crisis situations. Child justice systems4
at increasingly younger ages and held for longer should be resilient enough to withstand crises and
periods of time in inhumane conditions. In response, continue to deliver essential services. Evidence
the report provided detailed recommendations for from the COVID-19 pandemic – along with previous
much needed changes. infectious disease outbreaks – suggests that such
crises exacerbate existing child protection violations
In April 2020, as COVID-19 swept the globe, leading and lead to new risks. In addition to the adverse
child rights organizations, academics and UN impacts of detention and incarceration on their
agencies released technical guidance on concrete well-being, children are more likely to contract the
steps that authorities could take during the pandemic virus when detained in confined and overcrowded
to respect and protect the rights of children deprived spaces. They are also more vulnerable to neglect,
of their liberty.2 This included issuing an immediate abuse, violence and exploitation, especially if
moratorium on admitting children to detention staffing levels or care are undermined by the
facilities and refraining from the arrest and detention pandemic or containment measures. Children in
of children for minor offences and violation of detention facilities often have inadequate access
curfew orders. It recommended that governments to clean water and sanitation and to nutrition and
and other relevant authorities should also release medical care, creating conditions for the spread of
all children who could safely return to their families infectious diseases.
and provide an appropriate alternative for those
who could not. If sustained, such measures could Disruptions to child protection and child justice
become steps towards making the justice system services and systems due to lockdowns can also
more child-friendly and gender-responsive, thereby cause delays in court proceedings and in access to
fulfilling the rights of every child who comes into legal aid and representation, meaning that children
conflict with the law. can face long(er) periods deprived of liberty and
separated from their families.
These early efforts contributed to the successful
release of 11,600 children from detention between

6 DETENTION OF CHILDREN IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

 © UNICEF/UN0508875/Sokhin

7
 3. STATE OF THE JUSTICE SECTOR DURING COVID-19

Understanding the current status of justice for children

is essential to call attention to the immediate and long- Findings presented in Figures 1 and 2 are
term measures that need to be put in place to ensure
derived from a UNICEF survey among its
the safety and well-being of all children amidst the
pandemic’s continuing fallout. network of 157 country offices to collect
information on disruptions in service
The available data reveal a mixed picture of how COVID-19 provision at the national level and
has impacted access to justice for children in conflict across different sectors as a result of the
with the law. On the one hand, 84 countries reported coronavirus. These programme countries –
the release of children from detention; however, only 54
including all 138 low- and middle-income
of these countries provided specific data on the number
countries plus 19 high-income countries
of children released – which means the actual number
released globally is even higher than indicated here. – are home to 90 per cent of the world’s
On the other hand, diversion and alternative measures population of children.  
to detention have been less commonly employed by
governments. Establishing processes and programmes The country offices were asked whether
for diversion from the justice system and non-custodial the government had released any children
measures typically requires mid- to long-term investment. from detention and, if so, how many and
This means that countries that already had such processes
whether alternatives to detention had
or programmes in place prior to the pandemic were able
to leverage them more easily afterwards. been put in place since the start of the
COVID-19 pandemic. As of 31 October
But beyond this, ending the detention of children requires 2021, 152 country offices had provided
child justice systems to work in concert with national child responses to questions pertaining to
protection and allied systems to break existing negative justice for children. Thus, the results
cycles through prevention and early identification of
reflect the situation in 97 per cent of the
children who are at risk instead of only focusing on
programme countries, which are home to
children who come into conflict with the law. If a child is
alleged to have offended, he or she should be diverted as around 2 billion children. 
early as possible from the justice system. This includes
avoiding arresting her/him, putting more emphasis on pre- Although every effort was made to
trial processes, prioritizing restorative justice approaches document and verify the numbers, the
and the use of non-custodial measures, providing availability and quality of data from service
rehabilitation and post-release support and expanding the providers remain weak in many countries,
availability of legal representation and legal aid to ensure
compromising the ability to accurately
that every child is treated humanely and with dignity.
More broadly, child justice systems must be aligned report on the number of children released
with relevant international human rights standards and from detention. In fact, while 84 countries
instruments. This results in a system that is child-friendly reported the release of children from
and gender-responsive and operates in the best interests detention, only 54 of them provided specific
of the child, considering specific circumstances including data on the number of children released.
the child’s age- and gender-specific needs. This approach
can have a transformative impact on a child’s life.

8 DETENTION OF CHILDREN IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

IN MORE THAN HALF OF COUNTRIES, GOVERNMENTS HAVE RELEASED CHILDREN
FROM DETENTION SINCE THE START OF THE PANDEMIC
Figure 1. Percentage distribution of countries, by whether the government has released children from detention since the
COVID-19 pandemic started

Yes No Do not know Not applicable Did not participate in the survey

West and Central Africa 79 8 4 8

Eastern and Southern Africa 70 22 9

South Asia 63 38
Middle East and North Africa 61 17 17 6

Latin America and the Caribbean 44 33 8 14

Eastern Europe and Central Asia 38 48 10 5
East Asia and the Pacific 33 7 7 48 4

World 54 24 8 11 3

Notes: The ‘not applicable’ category includes situations where there were no (or very few) COVID-19 cases and related containment
measures that would have impacted or necessitated a change in service delivery within the justice sector. Figures have been rounded
and do not add up to 100 per cent.

ONE THIRD OF COUNTRIES REPORTED THAT THE GOVERNMENT HAD PUT IN

PLACE ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION IN RESPONSE TO THE PANDEMIC
Figure 2. Percentage distribution of countries, by whether the government has put in place alternatives to detention since the
COVID-19 pandemic started

Yes No Do not know Not applicable Did not participate in the survey

South Asia 63 13 25
Eastern and Southern Africa 52 35 13

Middle East and North Africa 50 28 17 6

Latin America and the Caribbean 33 50 6 11

Eastern Europe and Central Asia 33 57 5 5

East Asia and the Pacific 30 11 7 48 4

West and Central Africa 25 46 17 4 8

World 38 37 11 11 3

Notes: The ‘not applicable’ category includes situations where there were no (or very few) COVID-19 cases and related containment
measures that would have impacted or necessitated a change in service delivery within the justice sector. Figures have been rounded
and do not add up to 100 per cent.

9
 © UNICEF/UNI59039/Holmes

10 DETENTION OF CHILDREN IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

4. WHERE TO GO FROM HERE? CONTINUING CHALLENGES

Reaching the most vulnerable sex, age, race/ethnicity and disability for alleged
Some groups of children continue to be excluded offenders but also extends to child victims and
from release measures in response to COVID-19, witnesses and to children being released from
including those in immigration detention, in military immigration detention. Child justice data face
detention or detained due to national security numerous challenges, including the confidential
concerns or alleged association with armed groups. and/or sensitive nature of the statistics as well as
These are among the most vulnerable children in a lack of capacity to collect, compile and analyse
detention. data. As a result, policy decisions are often based
on very limited information about the scope of the
Lack of data problem and the impact of interventions. Though
Lack of data remains a major bottleneck, with few these issues existed pre-COVID-19, the pandemic
countries able to provide data during the pandemic. has highlighted the critical need to redouble efforts
This not only includes data disaggregated by to strengthen data systems.

In early 2021, UNICEF published ‘Achieving A more recent publication, ‘Estimating the
Justice for Children: Review of innovative data Number of Children Deprived of Liberty in
initiatives around the world’ and ‘Assessing the Administration of Justice’, provides an
Administrative Data Systems on Justice overview of the availability of administrative
for Children: A tool for country-level self- records of such children and presents global
evaluation’.5 The review of innovative data and regional estimates using existing country-
initiatives examined sources of administrative level data.6 It also discusses data challenges
data on justice for children in four UNICEF and includes suggestions on how to strengthen
programme countries (Jordan, Montenegro, available records.
United Republic of Tanzania and Uruguay)
plus Canada. The self-evaluation tool involves With these publications, UNICEF is redoubling
in-depth country assessments to identify its efforts to support countries to overcome
the various sources of administrative data data gaps on children in and released from
on justice for children and evaluate the detention, child victims and witnesses and
strengths and weaknesses of these sources. alleged offenders. This challenge is not new
It also includes recommendations on how to and was highlighted in the 2019 UN Global
improve the quality and use of administrative Study on Children Deprived of Liberty.7
data relevant for children in contact with the
justice system.

11
 Post-release support programmes economic pressures, education has been halted
There is an ongoing need for the establishment and support services have been curtailed due to
and integration of effective post-release support lockdown measures.
programmes in child justice systems around the
world. Post-release programmes (also known as New risk
aftercare or re-entry programmes) are proven to A risk that emerged amid the pandemic is the
help children successfully reintegrate into their increased arrest and detention of children who
families and communities and avoid reoffending. violate curfew orders or movement restrictions
This is even more important amid the pandemic as during this time, which threatens to reverse
we see thousands of children being released, often progress made so far in reducing the global numbers
into environments where families are under socio- of children in detention.

In Indonesia, UNICEF supported the Director General

of Corrections in the Ministry of Law and Human Rights
to facilitate intersectoral collaboration to ensure
children’s safe release and put in place appropriate
measures to support those who had been released,
including through the development of a ‘Protocol on
Release and Rehabilitation of Children’.8
© UNICEF/UNI93634/Rose

12 DETENTION OF CHILDREN IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

5. REIMAGINING JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN: A NEW WAY
FORWARD FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE

These results and challenges offer a chance to re- implementation of restorative justice approaches
think approaches, release more children, end the as the standard, scale up diversion and integrate
detention of children and bring about wider justice mental health and psychosocial support throughout
reforms for children. Every child has the right to juvenile justice systems.
live free from violence, exploitation and abuse.
Now is the moment to reflect on these results and 4. Every child is protected from detention: End
the lessons learned and to reimagine justice for the detention of children in conflict with the law
children. through legal reforms (including of the minimum
age of criminal responsibility), the provision of
To drive progress for a more just, inclusive and child protection services, the use of non-custodial
peaceful society, UNICEF calls for six interconnected measures and therapeutic approaches, the
actions, with non-discrimination (regarding gender, elimination of inhumane and degrading treatment
gender identity and sexual orientation, race/ and conditions and the strengthening of post-
ethnicity, disability, age and nationality) as an release reintegration support. End the unlawful
overarching principle: and arbitrary detention of children, immigration
detention of children and detention due to alleged
association with armed groups or for national
1. Every child knows and can claim his or her
security reasons. Prioritize the use of alternatives
rights: Invest in legal rights awareness for children
to detention in cases where children live with a
in justice and welfare systems, particularly over-
detained or imprisoned caregiver.
represented groups – children with disabilities,
indigenous and ethnic minority children, children
5. Every child survivor of sexual violence, abuse
discriminated against due to gender, gender
or exploitation receives justice: Embed child-
identity and sexual orientation and children on the
friendly and gender-sensitive justice processes and
move – to claim their rights and to become justice-
procedures and strengthen cooperation between
reform advocates. Support reforms that recognize
justice, child protection and allied systems to
children’s legal standing and their right to be heard.
respond to violence, abuse and the exploitation
of children. Remove limitation periods for sexual
2. Every child can access free legal aid, offences against children and establish redress
representation and services: Expand free legal aid schemes for survivors of child sexual violence,
for children and build national cadres of specialized abuse and exploitation. Support the development
lawyers and paralegal services. Integrate social of comprehensive legal frameworks to protect
work and child specialization within the justice children from online or technology-facilitated sexual
sector and ensure intersectoral coordination and abuse and exploitation.
collaboration. Support strategic litigation on justice
for children for broader policy impact. 6. Every child can access alternative dispute-
resolution mechanisms and child-friendly courts:
3. Every child in conflict with the law can be Support specialized children’s courts and virtual and
diverted: Prioritize prevention and early intervention mobile courts, as appropriate. Increase investment
in child offending – including through the child in traditional/informal justice, transitional justice and
protection system, community engagement and alternative dispute-resolution mechanisms to make
stronger linkages with allied systems – and increase them child-friendly and gender-responsive and
support to children in street situations and youth provide remedies for violations of children’s rights
experiencing homelessness. Promote the global to protection, as appropriate.

13
 © UNICEF/UNI146674/Kiron

14 DETENTION OF CHILDREN IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

ENDNOTES

1 Nowak, Manfred, United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived

of Liberty, November 2019, <www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/
StudyChildrenDeprivedLiberty/Pages/Index.aspx>, accessed 2
November 2021.
2 The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action and United
Nations Children’s Fund, ‘Technical Note: COVID-19 and children
deprived of their liberty’, 8 April 2020, <https://alliancecpha.org/
en/child-protection-online-library/technical-note-covid-19-and-
children-deprived-their-liberty>, accessed 2 November 2021.
3 United Nations Children’s Fund, ‘Access to Justice for Children
in the Era of COVID-19: Notes from the field’, UNICEF, New York,
December 2020, <www.unicef.org/media/92251/file/Access-to-
Justice-COVID-19-Field-Notes-2021.pdf>, accessed 2 November
2021.
4 In this paper, the phrase ‘child justice system’ is used as per the
Committee on the Rights of the Child, ‘General Comment No. 24
(2019) on Children’s Rights in the Child Justice System, CRC/C/GC/24,
18 September 2019, <https://undocs.org/CRC/C/GC/24>, accessed 2
November 2021. The Committee uses this term in place of ‘juvenile
justice’, and it is defined as “the legislation, norms and standards,
procedures, mechanisms and provisions specifically applicable to,
and institutions and bodies set up to deal with, children considered
as offenders”.
5 United Nations Children’s Fund, ‘Achieving Justice for Children:
A review of innovative data initiatives around the world’, UNICEF,
New York, 2021, <https://data.unicef.org/resources/achieving-
justice-for-children/>, accessed 2 November 2021; United Nations
Children’s Fund, ‘Assessing Administrative Data Systems on Justice
for Children: A tool for country-level self-evaluation’, UNICEF,
New York, 2021, <https://data.unicef.org/resources/assessing-
administrative-data-systems-on-justice-for-children/>, accessed 2
November 2021.
6 United Nations Children’s Fund, Estimating the Number of Children
Deprived of Liberty in the Administration of Justice, UNICEF, New
York, 2021, <https://data.unicef.org/resources/children-indetention-
report>, accessed 14 November 2021.
7 Nowak, United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty.
8 Gugus Tugas Percepatan Penanganan COVID-19 [COVID-19
Response Acceleration Task Force], ‘Protokol pengeluaran dan
pembebasan anak melalui asimilasi dan integrasi, pembebasan
tahanan, penangguhan penahanan dan bebas murni [Protocol
cross-sector release of juvenile prisoners through assimilation and
rehabilitation, release from pre-trial detentions and full release]’,
Gugus Tugas Percepatan Penanganan COVID-19, Indonesia, 2020.

15
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