LINK – Linking Information for Adaptive and Accessible Child-Friendly Courts

Implementation period 
June 2023 – May 2025

Donor
European Union

About the project

Child victims with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities face particular barriers to active and effective participation in the criminal justice process. These include physical barriers to court buildings, communication barriers, lack of access to protection measures, legal aid and legal representation. These are the result of gaps and barriers in legislation, and inaccessible architecture. Moreover, there is lack of awareness, knowledge, cooperation and skills of criminal justice and child protection professionals on how to enable child victims with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities to overcome these barriers and ensure protection and fair hearing for them.

With this rationale in mind, this project proposes to pursue a 2-pronged approach:

1. Build the capacity of criminal justice professionals in a sustainable and participatory manner to guarantee non-discrimination of child victims with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities through good practices (practical guides) and awareness-raising activities;
2. Optimise or develop integration and multidisciplinary cooperation of child protection systems and processes in criminal proceedings.

To achieve these aims, this project will be implemented through a combination of the following activities:

1. In-depth analysis of information, support and protection processes involving child victims of crime throughout the criminal justice system, identifying accessibility, cooperation and efficiency requirements;
2. Development of a proof of concept for a child-friendly accessible technological system. This will build upon the existing filing and case management system to enable the participation of child victims with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, including augmentative and alternative communication users, in criminal proceedings;
3. Capacity-building activities to train criminal justice professionals and relevant stakeholders on age-appropriate, gender-appropriate accommodations for child victims with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, including augmentative and alternative communication users.
4. Organisation of national children’s advisory boards, national roundtables and international conferences for the dissemination of project results and broader involvement of civil society, criminal justice professionals and children with disabilities.

Project implementing partners:
Validity Foundation (Hungary), Portuguese Association for Victim Support (Portugal), National Research Council (Italy), Fenacerci (Portugal), Kera Foundation (Bulgaria), PIC – Legal Center for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment (Slovenia), Sabine Lobnig Consulting & Translations (Austria), Spolecnost pro podporu lidi s mentalnim postizenim v Ceske republice (Czech Republi), TERRE DES HOMMES FOUNDATION LAUSANNE IN HUNGARY (Hungary), Victims Support Europe (Belgium).

Project budget: 584 937.22 EUR
Our part in the budget:  56 676.83 EUR

Reference number: 101097047

This project is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.