On December 3rd and 4th, 2009 an international meeting on the topic “Key messages of NGO from the European countries regarding juvenile justice” took place in Paris.

The meeting was organized by the International Observatory for Juvenile Justice (IOJJ), www.oijj.org, centred in Brussels. The mission of the organization is to establish a European network in this sphere that would combine the efforts of civil societies, university staff, and other specialists for successful application of the UN standards and mostly, of the standards of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the minimum standards of the UN for the various justice systems. The International Observatory for Juvenile Justice works in Europe, as well as in Africa and America. The main activities of the Observatory are implementation and coordination of comparative studies; organization of conferences, events, and thematic work meetings; as well as lobbying and defending on a political level. Representatives from NGO from 21 EU member countries took part in the meeting in Paris. The aim of the meeting was to introduce various NGO working in the sphere of juvenile justice to each other, and to start a common dialogue between them. The profile of the organizations was quite diversified – justice organizations, social service providers for children and young people in conflict with the law, as well as research organizations. SAPI was represented by Nelli Petrova. She presented the activities of the organization in the field of juvenile justice and the current situation of our country in regards to this sphere. Discussions evolved, concerning the purpose of legal justice when applied to children, as well as the different models of justice applied in different European countries. Widely supported was the view that there is a need to oppose the increasing tendency in Europe to apply the penal approach in the cases of children and juveniles. Approved was also the idea to introduce and promote restorative justice in this sphere. Shared were various successful practices. SAPI promised to provide IOJJ with the reports about the analysis and evaluation of the juvenile justice practices in our country so that these reports become accessible to all interested organizations.