The Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, implementing the European Commission funded Project “Legal aid for children in criminal proceedings: developing and sharing best practices” (LA CHILD), organised the 6-hour long online trainings "Ensuring the rights of suspected and accused minors in criminal proceedings" on the 26th of November. It should be noted that the virtual event was attended by more than 150 interested participants.

During the event, the results of the Project were introduced and presentations on the most relevant issues of protection of children in criminal proceedings were given by attorney Liutauras Lukošius, judge of Vilnius City District Court Miglė Suchankienė, associate professor of Vilnius University dr. Gintautas Sakalauskas and prof. dr. Ilona Laurinaitytė, Audronė Bedorf, Senior Advisor to the Office of the Ombudsman for Protection of Children's Rights, dr. Agnė Limantė, dr. Simonas Nikartas and dr. Rūta Vaičiūnienė of the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences. The speakers' presentations focused on the issues of deviant behaviour at a young age, the criteria of child-friendly justice, the aspects of ensuring quality legal assistance to children, and the implementation of individual assessment of suspected and accused children in criminal proceedings. The trainings also covered the psychological aspects of interviews with juvenile suspects and accused persons, current issues in the practice of pre-trial judges and the experiences of lawyers.

Bendras projekto „Teisinė pagalba vaikams baudžiamajame procese: gerosios praktikos formavimas ir sklaida (LA CHILD)“  tikslas yra prisidėti stiprinant vaikų, kurie yra įtariamieji ar kaltinamieji baudžiamajame procese, procesinių teisių apsaugą ir skatinti nuoseklų Direktyvos 2016/800 įgyvendinimą ES valstybėse narėse. Projektas pagrindinį dėmesį skiria vaikams teikiamos teisinės pagalbos klausimams ir jos kokybei.

Watch the recording of the trainings here.