United Nations Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems
A/RES/67/187
(f) Promoting, where appropriate, diversion from the formal criminal justice
system and ensuring that children have the right to legal aid at every stage of the
process where diversion is applied;
(g) Encouraging, where appropriate, the use of alternative measures and
sanctions to deprivation of liberty and ensuring that children have the right to legal
aid so that deprivation of liberty is a measure of last resort and for the shortest
appropriate period of time;
(h) Establishing measures to ensure that judicial and administrative proceedings
are conducted in an atmosphere and manner that allow children to be heard either
directly or through a representative or an appropriate body in a manner consistent with
the procedural rules of national law. Taking into account the child’s age and maturity
may also require modified judicial and administrative procedures and practices.
54. The privacy and personal data of a child who is or who has been involved in
judicial or non-judicial proceedings and other interventions should be protected at
all stages, and such protection should be guaranteed by law. This generally implies
that no information or personal data may be made available or published,
particularly in the media, that could reveal or indirectly enable the disclosure of the
child’s identity, including images of the child, detailed descriptions of the child or
the child’s family, names or addresses of the child’s family members and audio and
video records.
Guideline 11
Nationwide legal aid system
55. In order to encourage the functioning of a nationwide legal aid system, States
should, where it is appropriate, undertake measures:
(a) To ensure and promote the provision of effective legal aid at all stages of
the criminal justice process for persons detained, arrested or imprisoned, suspected
or accused of, or charged with a criminal offence, and for victims of crime;
(b) To provide legal aid to persons who have been unlawfully arrested or
detained or who have received a final judgement of the court as a result of a
miscarriage of justice, in order to enforce their right to retrial, reparation, including
compensation, rehabilitation and guarantees of non-repetition;
(c) To promote coordination between justice agencies and other professionals
such as health, social services and victim support workers in order to maximize the
effectiveness of the legal aid system, without prejudice to the rights of the accused;
(d) To establish partnerships with bar or legal associations to ensure the
provision of legal aid at all stages of the criminal justice process;
(e) To enable paralegals to provide those forms of legal aid allowed by
national law or practice to persons detained, arrested, suspected of, or charged with
a criminal offence, in particular in police stations or other detention centres;
(f) To promote the provision of appropriate legal aid for the purpose of
crime prevention.
56.
States should also take measures:
(a) To encourage legal and bar associations to support the provision of legal
aid by offering a range of services, including those that are free (pro bono), in line
with their professional calling and ethical duty;
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