Roundtable discussion: “Coordination of local institutions in the field of Children’s Justice”

On November 4, 6 and 7, 2012, KJI in cooperation with UNICEF organized a roundtable discussion in the region of Gjilan, Prizren and Peja with the representatives of children's justice institutions on a regional level.
The roundtables aimed at discussing problems and challenges in children’s justice at the regional level.

Representatives of the courts and prosecution offices in these regions emphasized the lack of adequate institutions where they could be sent to the juveniles after imposing measures as provided by the Children’s Justice Code. Another problem was the small number of juvenile judges and prosecutors in these regions.

Prosecutors expressed their concerns when dealing with delinquents under the age of 14, in accordance with Article 41 of the JJC, and they do not receive any report from the Guardianship Authority for the actions undertaken by them. It often happens that the child shows up again at the prosecution office. The implementation of Article 54 of the JJC, in practice, is one of the concerns of the participants because juvenile cases are sent only in the main cities of the country and not in every municipal court. 

It was also emphasized the need for the training of newly appointed judges and prosecutors for juveniles as well as the training of the police because there are frequent cases of violations by them. They also discussed the need for profiling of the Probation Service and Mediators.
Participants in these roundtables were municipal and district court judges, municipal and district prosecutors, regional directors of probation services, social work center representatives, representatives of the municipal department of education, representatives of the Kosovo police.