A review of juvenile justice standards and the protection of children under international law: lessons for Uganda

This article conducts a critical analysis of Uganda's juvenile justice system through the prism of established international law standards. It posits that despite a progressive legal framework on paper, the operationalisation of juvenile justice in Uganda is characterised by significant systemic deficiencies that contravene core international norms. The analysis is anchored on key instruments, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (the Beijing Rules), and the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty (the Havana Rules). The article employs a doctrinal and comparative legal methodology to juxtapose Uganda's Children Act, the Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces Act, and relevant judicial pronouncements against these international benchmarks. The findings reveal critical gaps in areas of diversion, detention as a measure of last resort, conditions of confinement, and the treatment of children in conflict with the law in situations of armed conflict. The discussion concludes that these gaps perpetuate harm, hinder rehabilitation, and undermine the overarching international law principle of the child's best interests. The article recommends urgent legislative reform, capacitation of family and children courts, investment in non-custodial alternatives, and the explicit incorporation of international juvenile justice standards into national training programmes for all justice actors.