"HAQ: Centre for Child Rights has been working on access to justice for children since 2002. Over the years, HAQ’s experience shows that often children involved with criminal justice system are left without any kind of effective support system in the judicial process. This is one of the biggest hurdles in the children’s rights to access to justice. Legal representation is a constitutional guarantee and backed by a law. However, children are seldom able to access it or they have to succumb to the poor quality of legal aid, which defeats the ends of justice.

There is not only a dire need in the country for more dedicated lawyers for children coming in contact with the law as victims or witnesses of crime or as alleged offenders, but also for building technical knowledge of law and legal strategies amongst lawyer’s’ fraternity. 

It is in this context that HAQ: Centre for Child Rights proposes to work towards creating a cadre of child rights advocates through intensive training and continued guidance so that an effective team of dedicated and well-trained lawyers comes into existence to work for rights of children in contact with criminal justice system, either as victims or witnesses or children in conflict with law.

Towards this end, HAQ: Centre for Child Rights has started “The Justice Initiative”, which aims at conducting a three full-day residential workshop at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh for lawyers who are engaged with and committed to the issues of child rights, criminal laws related to children’s issues, children deprived of liberty in institutional set-up, litigation strategies while taking up cases of children in contact with law, international standards in the field of torture and children etc. The proposed workshop will be free of cost for the selected lawyers. Arrangements for travel support, modest boarding and lodging and food shall be made by the organizers.  Participation is limited up to 30 lawyers.

Thus, we request you to either nominate yourself or at least one lawyer from your organisation or circulate this message to any legal practitioner who has been or eager to work towards the issues of children. Please click on the link below to know more about the programme and to download the registration form. The duly filled in registration form can be sent to applications@haqcrc.org with a subject line as "Application for The Justice Initiative" on or before 17th May, 2019."

Concept Note

Registration Form