Fund Dates

• Start Date: 01 December 2020
• End Date: 30 September 2022

Key documents

Reports

Fund scope

In Libya, the current legislative framework and justice system do not adequately protect children who come into contact with the law—be that as offenders, victims, or witnesses. The justice system does not have specialized procedures and dedicated personnel trained to deal with children, and many procedures are not child-friendly. This means the best interest of a child is rarely central to decision-making processes and lead to children being detained in situations that violate their rights and well-being.

As a result, children are at high risk of experiencing violence or psychosocial harm at various stages of the judicial process, especially in Libya where the system is more retributive than rehabilitative. Although, the current legal framework allows for cases to be settled outside the regular channels (and recognizes alternatives to custodial measures) there are no systems in place to help court custodians and employees implement measures that cater to children, including those tried and found guilty, and placed in detention facilities alongside adults.

Strategic and results framework

The Leaving No Children Behind Joint Programme builds on experiences of participating UN organizations in assisting stakeholders improve child friendly services in a judicial context. The programme is part of national UN strategic objectives in Libya for advancing rule of law and security services that differentiate between children and adults, and include a gender-perspective. Participating organizations provide technical support to affiliated stakeholders in exploring alternatives to detention and enhancing service delivery for children (and their families) who come in contact with the law to better facilitate their rehabilitation and reintegration. Support to Family and Child Protection Units (FCPU) are meant to build the institutional capacity of essential staff, finalize standard operating procedures, strengthen referral pathways and case management approaches, and rehabilitate the physical environment to ensure it is child friendly and in line with international best practices to guarantee efficient, effective and timely performance.

Joint Programme stakeholders work to ensure that children receive child-friendly treatment at detention facilities, which covers the provision of support for vocational education/training, skills development programme, or other forms of livelihood preparation for children and their families and facilitate a smoother reintegration into society. Programmatic outcomes are designed to reach children under the age of 18 and also benefit families of children who have, in some form, come into contact with the law.

Justice professionals, including police, social workers, judges, prosecutors, staff operating in detention facilities dedicated for children, and probation officers working with children are target beneficiaries as much as they are agents of change. Human rights and gender-specific threads are woven through the architecture of the entire programme, which filters down into consultations, collaborations, and communication with members of Libyan government institutions, civil society organizations, and community leaders engaged on broader issues of justice for children, as well as forming the backbone of generating evidence to influence and inform programmes and policies.

By empowering governmental authorities and civil society in Libya to enhance the juvenile justice system through the application of international standards and norms it can help improve the protection of children who come in contact with the justice system and ease societal reintegration for child offenders.

International Coordination Committee

Consists of national stakeholders from all relevant ministries and primary international actors engaged in justice sector reform in Libya. The focus of this Committee is on improving coordination and facilitating legislative reform. After consultations with national counterparts, other stakeholders, including civil society organisations, donors and development partners, may be invited to sit in on Committee meetings to provide feedback on coordination and the complementarity of interventions.

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee is the decision-making authority; highest body for strategic guidance, fiduciary and management oversight and coordination. It guides the implementation of the programme, oversees semi- and annual workplan development, provides strategic direction and oversight, reviews implementation progress and addresses issues, reviews and approves progress reports and evaluation reports, and notes budget revisions/reallocations.

Administrative Agent

Recipient Organizations receive funds through the Administrative Agent, the MPTF Office. The Administrative Agent is responsible for the receipt, administration and management of contributions from donors, disbursement of funds to Recipient Organizations, and consolidation and dissemination of progress reports to donors. 

Participating UN Organizations

Programme implementation is the responsibility of each Participating UN Organization. Each organization is programmatically and financially responsible for resources received.