The remote conference “Legal aid for children in criminal proceedings: child-friendly legal aid at focus” that took place on February 11, 2021 and that is part of the EU co-funded project “Legal aid for children in criminal proceedings: developing and sharing best practices” (LA CHILD) gathered almost 200 participants from countries all over the world, including representatives of the European Commission, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, which acts as an independent centre of excellence for the promotion and protection of human rights in the European Union, later announced the conference and the LA Child project itself in its weekly newsletter.

During the international conference organized by the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences together with partners from Belgium (Defence for Children (DCI-Belgium)) and Albania (Centre for Integrated Legal Services and Practices (CILSP)), presentations were given by a number of prominent experts, law professionals, practitioners specialising in the field of legal assistance for minors, members of the academic community and representatives of key international organizations and institutions, such as the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, European Commission, the European Criminal Bar Association, the UNODC, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania and many others.

We are glad that an international conference in which the issues of quality legal aid for minors were examined and which was held under such non-standard quarantine conditions attracted not only a group of brilliant speakers but also interested a large audience of participants.