Despite the fact that the Convention of the Rights of the Child affirms that, in principle, children should not be detained and deprivation of liberty should be a measure of last resort, millions of children in the world are locked away.

To assess and address this situation, the United Nations appointed Prof. Manfred Nowak as Independent Expert to lead an in-depth Global Study on children deprived of liberty.

This MOOC stems from the UN Global Study and provides insights, learning and recommendations in this important area at the crossroad of children, violence, and human rights studies.

Course Outline

The course is articulated in 4 modules:

• Module 1 focuses on the general framework of the Study and looks at legal standards, guiding principles, definitions, objectives and methodology. It also offers an overview of the history of the Global Study and its links with the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
• Module 2 deals with the cross-cutting themes that have been identified in the Study: personal liberty, children’s participation, disability, gender and health.
• Module 3 is dedicated to the six focus areas of the Study: administration of justice, children living in places of detention with their primary caregivers, migration-related detention, children deprived of liberty in institutions, in armed conflict and for national security reasons.
• Module 4 looks at the making of the UN Global Study in practice and discusses challenges, opportunities, recommendations and the way forward.

Lecturers and Experts

The MOOC has been designed in close cooperation with the UN Global Study Team. The faculty includes the following lecturers and experts (read bios here), among others:

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course participants will have acquired:

• Understanding of the process behind the UN Global Study;
• Knowledge about international standards for the protection of the human rights of children deprived of liberty;
• Awareness of data, reasons and root-causes in the area of deprivation of liberty for children;
• Information on some contextual situations, examples, and practices from different regions of the world;
• Understanding of challenges and limitations in the current systems;
• The ability to identify some legal, political and social strategies to safeguard the human rights of children deprived of liberty;
• Knowledge of recommendations to bring about change and improvements.

F.A.Q.s