Building a case for better child protection

Bangladesh has a child population of 65m and more than a million are homeless. Very young street children can be placed in jails without protection or representation. Children can encounter justice systems as victims, witnesses, or because they are in conflict with the law. If held in detention, children can suffer violations of their rights - they are often detained with adult prisoners – and may be exposed to torture, physical and emotional abuse.

The scale of the challenge in Bangladesh is enormous but the situation is mirrored in many countries around the world, where justice systems do not include child-sensitive procedures due to lack of resources or political will. UNICEF estimates that more than one million children worldwide are deprived of their liberty by law enforcement officials (UNICEF, Progress for children, 2009).

DLA Piper and UNICEF’s ground-breaking child justice partnership has been established to help countries like Bangladesh implement solutions to better protect children. Child justice is an under-supported issue for UNICEF and DLA Piper is providing pro bono assistance through Unicef UK to the value of $5m to support work in countries worldwide.

“A global partner with the legal expertise and global reach of DLA Piper is in a unique position to understand and make a vital contribution to support UNICEF’s extremely ambitious but crucial objective of protecting all children,” says Lucy Scallan, Head of Partnerships Development at Unicef UK.

The firm is recognized as a leader in pro bono service delivery. In 2014, it donated over 200,000 hours of pro bono legal work globally, which makes it one of the largest providers of pro bono legal services in the world.

“We focus on priority areas such as human rights, poverty, juvenile justice, inheritance rights, and supporting nonprofits and charities,” explains Michelle Milnes, International Corporate Responsibility Manager at the law firm. “Our UNICEF partnership is an example of our global approach to ground-breaking pro bono support in action.”

Milnes maintains that the firm is committed to conducting its business in a way that is consistent with its values: “We look to realize the full potential of our global business to effect positive and lasting change in the communities in which we operate, as well as supporting justice around the world.

“A major element of the partnership is supporting a multi-tiered ‘Justice for Children’ project in Bangladesh, a key aim of which is to address the legal reforms necessary to align the country’s legislation with international child rights standards,” says Milnes. “The projects we are supporting are helping to put in place the legal, social and organisational frameworks that will better protect children for the future.”

The Government of Bangladesh has committed to policy and legislative reform for children. However, many of the rights guaranteed in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other human rights treaties are not yet supported by national legislation and some laws and policies contradict them. In some cases when appropriate laws and policies are in place, they are often poorly implemented and enforced.

The ‘Justice for Children Project’ entails significant advocacy interventions and mobilisation of decision makers as well as communities. The project includes local child justice capacity building and piloted community interventions focused on rehabilitating and reintegrating children who come into contact with the law.

“The support of DLA Piper has been priceless. This is a terrific partnership which we hope will gradually expand in Bangladesh and in other countries around the world,” says Dr. Pascal Villeneuve, UNICEF Bangladesh.

In addition to the work in Bangladesh, DLA Piper is supporting comprehensive child protection projects around the world. The firm is currently researching Inheritance Rights issues in Zimbabwe and Cote d’Ivoire and the work is being expanded to cover a number of additional jurisdictions in Africa, Asia and South America. An estimated 17.8m of the world’s children have lost one or both parents to AIDS, with 85% of these children living in sub-Saharan Africa. DLA Piper lawyers are reviewing children’s inheritance laws across Sub-Saharan Africa, with support from in-house counsel at Barclays Legal to support UNICEF’s work to strengthen and protect the rights of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. The firm also provides secondees to UNICEF offices internationally to offer specific legal expertise and project support.

“We seconded a legal assistant from our Georgia office in 2013 to help UNICEF review and analyse Georgian legislation, international standards and best practices, and prepare specific recommendations for the protection of children. This year we seconded a human rights lawyer to the UNICEF Advocacy team in Australia, helping increase capacity to raise the profile of child rights issues, provide technical expertise and influence decision makers to adopt a human rights based approach to issues affecting children,” explains Milnes.

An important part of the partnership for DLA Piper is its role in employee engagement. “As lawyers, injustice experienced by children is an issue that resonates profoundly with us. Through working with UNICEF’s expert child protection staff our core skills as lawyers and our knowledge of justice systems is being utilised to promote the rights of children through law reform across nations around the world,” maintains Milnes.

“We have lawyers at all levels contributing to the partnership, from trainees, associates, senior associates and legal directors to partners and senior partners. In addition, the awareness-raising and fundraising aspects of our partnership engages staff from all areas of our business.”

Milnes is pleased with the progress to date: “So far, 35 offices have contributed pro bono work totalling over 8,750 hours. That equates to $3.3m in pro bono hours. Over 250 lawyers have so far been involved.”

Indeed, staff have raised $750,000 too through fundraising events and matched donations from the firm.

The three- year partnership has recently been extended as major global pro bono projects around birth registration and inheritance rights are only just underway.

“These projects have huge scope and potential for change, which we want to be able to support well beyond the original partnership timeframe,” explains Milnes. “We soon realised that when you embark on a global partnership tackling a major global issue, three years is a short time ”

Milnes says DLA Piper intends to continue, adapt and scale up the work it has already done to support UNICEF in this area, in particular widening the scope of its research work around inheritance rights and birth registration on a global scale and how it might continue to support UNICEF beyond the research phase.

“Our partnership with UNICEF has enabled us to explore the wider issue of child rights and business principles and this will continue to be an area of focus for the firm in forthcoming years,” she says. “Our pro bono work has already played a valuable role in contributing to real progress in understanding the opportunities to improve legal protections for vulnerable children around the world - and the existing barriers to change.”

By working with UNICEF to appraise national challenges at a local level, DLA Piper hopes to create a situation whereby significantly fewer children are vulnerable to exploitation and receive the protection they deserve to enable them to develop in a safe and supportive environment. “We believe that UNICEF’s work with children is integral to creating lasting change - on a global scale - by ensuring future generations have a positive foundation to develop in a positive, sustainable way,” adds Milnes.