Childhood is when children develop their personality, their emotional relationships with others, their social and educational skills and their talents. For children, deprivation of liberty means depriving them of their childhood.

In order to address and counter the phenomenon of deprivation of liberty of children, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has commissioned an in-depth global study, which Manfred Nowak, founder and former director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights (BIM), has been leading as an independent expert since October 2016.

The Global Study is the first scientific attempt, on the basis of global data, to comprehend the magnitude of the situation of children deprived of liberty, its possible justifications and root causes, as well as conditions of detention and their harmful impact on the health and development of children. Placing children in institutions and other facilities where they are, or may be, deprived of liberty is difficult to reconcile with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which celebrates its 30^th anniversary this year.

The Global Study aims to contribute to the ultimate goal of the Agenda 2030 to leave no one behind and, in particular, to leave no child behind bars. Depriving children of liberty has a strong impact on their physical and mental development, and on their ability to lead healthy and constructive lives in society – leaving a permanent mark not only on their lives but also on society at large.

The report is available now in all official UN Languages: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/StudyChildrenDeprivedLiberty/Pages/Index.aspx

The presentation of the report will be streamed live on 8 October at around 4:30pm (GMT-4) / 10:30pm (GMT+2): http://webtv.un.org/