New PRI project tackles violence against children in detention in Europe

Photo credit: Yurii Zushchyk / Alamy Stock Photo                                                        Cell for juvenile offenders: bunks, lockers, tables, benches and pegs. Lukyanovskaya detention facility. July 19,2017. Kiev, Ukraine

Next month (March 2023) PRI is embarking on a new project under PRI’s Europe programme to improve monitoring and addressing of violence against children in detention in the EU. Funded by the European Commission’s Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme, the Data for Monitoring the Safety of Imprisoned Children – Data MOSAIC project will be implemented in partnership with Terre des Hommes / Tierra de Hombres, the Social Activities and Practice Institute (SAPI), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa and with the support of child justice authorities in Bulgaria, Ireland and Romania.  

Over the next two years, the Data MOSAIC team will map current practices and promising approaches to monitoring and tackling violence against children in prisons across the EU, develop a data collection tool and guidance on the basis of identified gaps, needs and child-friendly, human rights-based practices. At the national level it will conduct in-depth research and pilot a tailored data collection tool in detention facilities in the three focus countries, Bulgaria, Ireland and Romania. Children and young people with lived experience of the justice system, international experts as well as front-line staff will be involved throughout the project to ensure the tool(s) and guidelines reflect their unique perspectives and the realities of lived experience.  

The project’s lessons and outputs will be shared as the work progresses – be sure to follow along through our social media channels as well as a dedicated section on the project on the Justice with Children Initiative’s website:  www.justicewithchildren.org.