Child Protection Technical Consultant for Child Friendly Hearing Rooms in Court, Consultancy, Beirut, Lebanon, up to 3 months

UNICEF Lebanon Country Office, particularly the Child Protection programme is seeking to recruit a consultant to provide technical guidance to the design of child-friendly hearing rooms in different Courts of Justice in Lebanon, to ensure that child protection concerns are accounted for in the design of the rooms and aligned with global standards and justice for children and the domestic legal framework.

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UNICEF’s Child Protection Programme with the Government of Lebanon (GoL) and the support of the European Union (EU) aims to strengthen the child protection system to better prevent and respond to all forms of abuse, exploitation, violence and neglect towards children. Central to this is ensuring that children in contact with the law are afforded special attention in the justice system.

The notion of child-friendly justice embraces the idea that while legal processes can positively shape children's lives, the reality is that going through these steps is often more a source of harm for children, than a remedy. This particularly applies when a child is required to attend court.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Article 3(1), requires that the best interests of the child be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children, including in courts of law. This includes being tried by a competent, independent and impartial authority or judicial body. The Committee on the Rights of the Child also recommends that broader efforts be made to ensure that the court environment is as non-intimidating and child-friendly as possible, and therefore extends consideration to child victims and witnesses, and other children at risk who are in court but not being prosecuted. Article 40(2.b.vii) of the CRC calls on state parties to ensure that children in contact with the law have his or her privacy fully respected at all stages of proceedings.

The need for appropriate measures to protect the rights and interests of child victims at all stages of criminal justice processes is highlighted in the UN Guidelines on Justice in Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime, and the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. In addition, the Council of Europe Guidelines on Child-Friendly Justice hold that cases involving children should be dealt with in unintimidating and child-sensitive settings where they feel safe and can speak freely. The Guidelines refer to the need for child-friendly waiting rooms for children; interview rooms where there are no disturbances or interruptions; avoiding direct contact of child victim and alleged perpetrators; and staffed by officials who do not wear uniforms. Furthermore, the Regional Guidelines on Collaboration between Actors involved in Cases of Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime also emphasize the importance of a child-friendly environment during legal proceedings.

To minimize the challenges that children face because of their participation in judicial proceedings, and to build their confidence in the justice system, UNICEF is supporting the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to strengthen the justice system in the way it deals with children in contact with the law, whether as alleged offenders, victims or witnesses, or otherwise at risk and in need of special protection. The objective is to make the justice system more child-friendly and bring it in line with international standards. A workplan signed in November 2017

between MoJ and UNICEF, highlights the importance of ensuring that children’s rights are upheld throughout all stages of the justice process, and focuses on the need to improve the access of children in contact with the law to quality services within the Lebanese justice system. To that extent, child-friendly hearing rooms would be established in six Courts of Justice to provide all children in contact with judicial proceedings with access to a separate, dedicated space within the Court of Justice premises. These rooms will be in the Courts of Justice of Tripoli, Beirut, Baabda, Nabatieh, Saida and Zahle. The use of these rooms would be regulated by a set of robust standard operating procedures. In locations where dedicated rooms are not available, alternative space would be identified by MoJ within the premises (e.g. offices of the Union pour la Protection de l’enfance au Liban (UPEL)), and would be used for a dual purpose.  

The objective behind the establishment of child-friendly hearing rooms/spaces is to help mitigate risks that children involved in judicial proceedings may experience, reduce the psychological distress associated with their involvement in these proceedings, and ensure confidentiality by:

1. controlling contact with other parties, particularly the defendant, through various procedural measures including video recordings, video links, screens, and the exclusion of the public; 
2. providing children with a protected environment in which they can express themselves freely, and be privately and adequately informed about procedure and purpose; and
3. allowing children in contact with the law to benefit from greater awareness and understanding of court procedures.

A distinction is drawn here between ‘child-friendly hearing rooms’ and ‘child-friendly courts’, the latter of which lie outside the scope of the programme. Child-friendly hearing rooms are designed to be accessible to all children in contact with the law regardless of which court the child is attending (i.e. criminal court, personal status court, juvenile court, etc.). The availability of child-friendly hearing rooms represents one of a range of strategies that can be used to adapt a legal proceeding to the circumstances of the child involved. It presents a partial solution for children’s engagement with the legal system.

In Lebanon, court infrastructure makes no special dispensation for the needs of children, including for gender or disability. There are no ‘child-friendly courts’ per se and court chambers themselves do not conform to basic child-friendly principles. Services in courts are limited, and where available are inadequate for the full protection of children. Children who are required to attend court do not benefit from policy regulations that meet international minimum standards; they are routinely treated as adults by the system and any special measures taken in the best interests of the child are usually at the individual discretion of presiding judges, or on a case-by-case basis by judicial social workers or case workers. Nevertheless, a child cannot be heard effectively where the environment is intimidating, hostile, insensitive or inappropriate for the child’s age.

There are no internationally recognized minimum standards for the design of child-friendly hearing rooms. Examples of child-friendly rooms across the globe vary greatly – not all are state-of-the-art and/or equipped with advanced technology – and the design of such rooms will depend on context and consider local realities, including pre-existing infrastructure, budget considerations and longer-term strategic plans. Nevertheless, it is widely acknowledged that architectural surroundings and settings can make children uncomfortable and can jeopardize their right to be heard. Relevant guidance can be found in various instruments such as the UNICEF – A Practical Guide for Developing Child-Friendly Spaces, Council of Europe - Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on Child-Friendly Justice, and the New York State Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children – Tools for Engaging Children in their Court Proceedings.

Depending on the space that would be dedicated to the establishment of a child-friendly hearing room on the premises of each Court of Justice, the room may be equipped with an audio-visual connection to the court-room so that communication between the child, the judge and court officials is possible without the child having to be physically present in the court chamber; audio and visual recordings that can be considered as admissible evidence; separate entrances; space for confidential meetings with lawyers or social workers; a round table setting for custody discussions and/or a lounge setting for talking with child survivors; or other arrangements suitable for the promotion of child-friendly justice proceedings.

Consideration will be given to the needs of girls, and to the sensitivities of certain cases, such as those involving sexual abuse. Attention will be paid to the requirements of children with disabilities, including communication difficulties.

The process for the establishment of the child-friendly-hearing rooms/spaces in the Courts of Justice shall occur in two different phases:

1. Phase I: A Child Protection Technical Consultant and a Construction Designer would be recruited by the UNICEF LCO, and requested to work together to design in detail the child-friendly hearing rooms/spaces.
2. Phase II: A construction/renovation contractor would be contracted by UNICEF LCO to execute the works based on the designs developed during Phase I. The Construction Designer recruited during the first phase shall support UNICEF to source construction/renovation contractor, and oversee the execution of the construction/renovation work.

Under the overall guidance of the UNICEF Child Protection Section and reporting to the Child Protection Specialist (Juvenile Justice), the Child Protection Technical Consultant is required to provide child protection technical expertise to the design of child-friendly hearing rooms on the premises of the Courts of Justice where space may be dedicated to that extent. This work shall be undertaken for a period of 35 days (within a period of 3 months).

The Child Protection Technical Consultant shall be paired with a Construction Designer who would be recruited in parallel to develop detailed concept designs of the child-friendly hearing rooms/spaces. The Consultant shall ensure that child protection concerns are accounted for in the designs, and that the latter are aligned as much as possible with global standards on justice for children and with the domestic legal framework on children in contact with the law.

The Child Protection Technical Consultant shall:

1. Work in collaboration with the Construction Designer to assess the suitability of the spaces identified by MoJ to be used as child-friendly hearing rooms/spaces;
2. Provide technical child protection guidance to the development of the design criteria based on best international practices and standards for child friendly spaces in general and child friendly courtrooms in specific. This design criteria would be presented to UNICEF and MoJ for review and approval.
3. Once approved, support the Construction Designer in developing detailed design for each of the child-friendly hearing rooms/spaces; and
4. Develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on the use of the child-friendly hearing rooms/spaces to be established.

This assignment is part of an overarching plan to strengthen the justice system in Lebanon, which contributes to a much broader child protection and gender-based violence programme. As such, the Consultant will work in close liaison with the Construction Designer, MoJ officials, UNICEF staff and other stakeholders.

The Consultant shall maintain frequent and regular contact with the UNICEF Child Protection Section, especially the Child Protection Specialist (Juvenile Justice), on the delivery of the assignment, including any liaison and coordination issues, and strategic and technical considerations, that may arise.

Deliverables and Schedules:

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• A degree in law, social work or related discipline;
• At least 5 years of professional experience;
• Preference would be given to candidates with an in-depth knowledge of:
  • Child protection issues
  • Global standards on justice for children, and the domestic legal and social systems/frameworks relating to children in contact with the law, particularly juvenile justice judicial procedures
• Effective communication skills with fluency in spoken and written Arabic.
• Ability to work effectively within a team

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

“UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.”

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

Remarks:

Please indicate your ability, availability and hourly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference above (including travel and daily subsistence allowance, if applicable).  Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.

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