ADVANCED LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN CONFLICT WITH THE LAW AND PENITENTIARY INSTITUTIONS FOR CHILDREN

With the adoption of the new Law on Justice for Children (LJC) in 2024, the Macedonian legislation regarding children has been fully aligned with the relevant EU directives in terms of strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings, in terms of procedural safeguards for children who are suspects or accused in criminal proceedings, the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings and the right to have a third party informed upon deprivation of liberty as well as in terms of establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime. Within the framework of the basic principles, the LJC defined for the first time the principle of the best interests of the child, both in terms of its meaning in material terms and in terms of its priority in the interpretation of the provisions of the LJC. When taking about the right of the child there is an obligation the child to be informed about his/her rights, but also the obligation to be given the rights in writing (bill of rights), expanded application of the principle of expediency, except for serious crimes committed, broader scope of the term "child victim" by including indirect victims as well as a child victim when it comes to a child who promotes, accepts, supports, justifies, advocates and participates in acts of radicalization, violent extremism and terrorism, severe forms of violence, mass migration movements, xenophobia and other severe forms of extremism. New 2024 LJC became a procedural law because for the first time, it prescribed the court's actions in the case of a child in conflict with the law, instead of the previous solution that referred to the Code of Criminal Procedure without taking into account the specifics of the treatment of children in conflict with the law. Regarding institutions for execution of educational measures for children and child imprisonment, there are accurate solutions in the Law on execution of sanctions, but there are also amendments which tend to advance and improve the entire process of execution of educational measures. Improvement is related to efforts for providing education, health care, programs for preventing violence, preventing re-offending and restorative approaches as well as raising capacities of staff within institutions for children.