In December 2021, the IIJ convened its second national-level workshop for Niger, at their request, under the auspices of the IIJ Juvenile Justice Initiative. The Second Niger Workshop on Justice for Children in Terrorism Cases was held in person in Niamey and brought together 20 investigators, prosecutors, judges, prison officials, representatives from the National Judicial Training School of Niger, officials from the Transit and Referral Center for minors, social workers and other relevant actors, along with invaluable support from The U.S. Department of Justice’s OPDAT Resident Legal Advisor (RLA).
During this workshop, practitioners discussed strategies to ensure early representation for young offenders, the importance of involving social workers to assist in making decisions regarding the child; lack of knowledge of the juvenile court act by professionals and lack of specialisation in the counter-terrorism brigade.
On the final day of the workshop, participants finalised the cross-sectoral recommendations for dealing with children in a counter-terrorism context, consisting of practical guidance to practitioners on how they can ensure the rights of children suspected of terrorism-related offences without changing the law and with fewer resources and commitment. With this second workshop, participants established a clear roadmap to achieve sustainable changes in current practices of dealing with children involved in terrorism.
For more information on this workshop, please contact Programme Manager Emerson Cachon.