More rights for juveniles in prison

In the Netherlands the percentage of children and juveniles in prison is greater than in other European countries. Bert Janssens, director of the national broadcaster Human, examines the reasons for this in the left-leaning Internet forum Joop.nl: "Yasmina has been serving her sentence in a closed institution for months, waiting for her therapy to begin. Christel went to pieces without anyone even reporting it. … Davron is facing deportation to a country … whose language he doesn't speak and where he knows nothing and nobody. … These cases make painfully clear why the UN has admonished the Netherlands to guarantee children's rights. So why is it that there are so many violations of children's rights in the Netherlands - more than in neighbouring countries with similar problems? Is it because of the less efficient social social net of benefits? … These are questions that should be high on the agendas of all politicians and journalists, because they touch on the basic values of our society."

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