EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty (2020) 32 CHILDREN IN VARIOUS SITUATIONS OF DEPRIVATION OF LIBERTY CHILDREN DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE Canada United States 14.49 60.05 Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago 9.03 * 17.85 27.46 22.57 * 10.78 15.46 15.94 * 15.14 * 15.63 23.75 15.71 4.58 * * * 39.57 21.89 Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela 9.27 53.13 * 3.52 * 13.41 5.37 15.19 28.46 * * * IMPRISONMENT RATE OF CHILDREN IN Rate per 100,000 children 60.00 0.00 CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE 5.81 NORTH AMERICA 56.08 CENTRAL AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN 16,33 SOUTH AMERICA 19.02 CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ASIA 4.78 AFRICA 3.77 OCEANIA 8.27 MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA 6.60 EASTERN ASIA 5.40 WESTERN EUROPE 5.05 * = no data available SUB-SAHARAN Regional Imprisonment Rate of Children Source: Responses to the Global Study Questionnaire; World Prison Brief Legal Background Under Article 9 ICCPR, everyone has the right to personal liberty and security. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. Article 37(b) CRC reiterates this right for all children, but requires as an important further restriction that the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child must be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time. This means that every decision leading to the detention of a child shall be considered as an exceptional measure which is only permissible if diversion is not possible and non-custodial solutions are not available or appropriate in the specific circumstances of an individual case. In all decisions concerning children, including whether to deprive them of their personal liberty, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration, as required by Article 3 CRC. That means children should be supported, not punished, in order to assume a “constructive role in society”. Diversion and the transfer of children from the criminal justice to the child welfare system shall be considered and applied, as far as possible, at every stage of the criminal proceedings. In this respect, Article 40(4) CRC provides that a “variety of dispositions, such as care, guidance and supervision orders; counselling; probation; foster care; education and vocational