To this end, the Lima Declaration discusses the following topics:
- Basic rights of the child and principles of juvenile justice
- Major concerns
- Restorative Juvenile Justice
- The concept of restorative justice
- The role of the restorative justice approach in juvenile justice
- The rules for the use of restorative justice
The action recommendations include:
- We call on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to systematically recommend the States Parties to the CRC to undertake the necessary measures for the integration of restorative processes as a possibility for dealing with children in conflict with the law at all stages of the administration of juvenile justice.
- We recommend the Interagency Panel on Juvenile Justice to further strengthen its technical assistance for the support of governments in their efforts to develop and implement the restorative juvenile justice approach, while referring to Resolution 2009/26 of the ECOSOC encouraging UN Member States to provide this Interagency Panel with the necessary resources and to fully cooperate with the Panel.
- We recommend the UN Office against Drugs and Crime to increase, as a follow-up to its Handbook on Restorative Justice Programmes, its efforts to promote the use of restorative justice approaches in dealing with offences committed by children and to assist Sates in their efforts in this regard where appropriate.
- We recommend UNICEF to continue and increase its efforts to support and provide technical assistance to States in the development and implementation of restorative juvenile justice programmes, in particular by providing training to all actors in the field of juvenile justice.
- We recommend States parties to the CRC and States that signed the CRC to undertake, as part of their comprehensive national policy on juvenile justice, the necessary measures to include restorative justice programmes as an integral part of the administration of juvenile justice while taking into account the observations, suggestions and rules above under a – c, and to call on the Interagency Panel on Juvenile Justice, UNICEF and UNODC for technical assistance in that regard. These measures should include awareness raising campaigns, with the involvement of national and local media, informing the public about the nature and the benefits for the victim, the offender and the society of a restorative juvenile justice policy and the promotion of the involvement of parents and the community.
- We recommend States engaging in a process of introducing restorative juvenile justice to undertake pilot projects together with a thorough evaluation and to decide on the basis of the outcome of these projects on the country wide introduction of restorative juvenile justice and on the legislative measures to provide a solid basis for a sustainable practice of restorative juvenile justice as the main characteristic of its juvenile justice system, while ensuring that human rights and legal safeguards are fully respected in line with the basic principles adopted by ECOSOC.
- We recommend States when developing and implementing restorative juvenile justice to pay special attention to vulnerable children such as children in street situation, taking into account their specific daily reality, their problems and needs and children and adolescents involved in gangs, armed groups and paramilitary groups.
- We recommend States to develop and implement adequate and ongoing training for all the key actors in the administration of juvenile justice, with special attention for changing the conventional legal approach and to establish and/or support the services necessary for implementing restorative juvenile justice programmes while using existing networks as much as possible. These services should practice an interdisciplinary approach, for instance by establishing multidisciplinary teams, in conducting restorative juvenile justice among others with the view to address also the emotional needs of both the victim and the juvenile offenders.
- We recommend States to establish or strengthen the systematic collection of data on the nature of and the responses to juvenile delinquency in order to inform its policies in that regard with a view to adjusting them as necessary and to conducting or supporting research on the nature and the impact of the various responses to juvenile delinquency.
- We recommend States and the relevant UN agencies to initiate and/or support the development and implementation of regional projects of restorative juvenile justice in different parts of the world.
See the full-text of the Lima Declaration on Restorative Juvenile Justice in English, Spanish, and French.