OECD Pre-Conference Workshop on Equal Access for Children
We are delighted to announce that the OECD, in partnership with the Global Working Group on Justice for Children, whose Secretariat is hosted by the Institute of Inspiring Children’s Futures, are holding this side event as part of the 2026 Global Roundtable on Equal Access to Justice.
Taking place in Istanbul, Türkiye, this half-day workshop (09:00-12:00) will explore how justice systems can better protect children’s rights and ensure effective access to justice, including through integrated, whole-of-government approaches. Drawing on OECD frameworks and country experiences, the discussion will examine the institutional arrangements, coordination mechanisms and service-delivery approaches that can make child-friendly justice work in practice.
📅 20 October 2026
⏰ 09:00-12:00
📍 OECD Istanbul Centre, Asmalı Mescit Mahallesi, İstiklal Caddesi No: 142, 34430 Beyoğlu, İstanbul, Türkiye
🔗 All participants to the Roundtable are invited to attend:
Background
This 2026 Workshop session will build on the OECD Recommendation on Access to Justice and PeopleCentred Justice Systems, the OECD Child-Friendly Justice Framework and discussions from previous Roundtables.
It will reinforce the normative foundations for child-centred justice, which call on OECD members to develop comprehensive, integrated child-friendly justice systems.
Discussions will focus on how whole-of-government approaches and integration across justice, social services, health and education are achieved in practice: the institutional arrangements, coordination mechanisms and shared data that make them work, and the conditions under which they have been sustained.
Purpose and Objectives
This pre-conference workshop will frame child-friendly justice within a whole-of-government approach, and generate substantive, grounded dialogue on child justice across different legal traditions, resource contexts, and political environments. It seeks to identify the learning that has emerged from experiences of implementing what has worked, where, and under what conditions, and to bring these discussion insights into the conversation of the Ministerial Roundtable.
Participants will also be informed about two upcoming developments:
The OECD Whole-of-Government Model for Integrated Child and Youth Service Delivery
The Child Justice Accelerator
Expected Outcomes
Participants will exchange learning on justice responses to children (under age 18), particularly children who have experienced violence, abuse - in particular sexual abuse, exploitation, or other rights violations. The session will yield a clear understanding of how whole-of-government approaches can better enable rights-based, effective responses for children, with discussions grounded in the realities of reform rather than in principle alone. It will strengthen working connections among across OECD member and partner countries who share a commitment to governments' leadership of justice systems that serve children.
Contact
Professor Jennifer Davidson | Executive Director, Institute for Inspiring Children's Futures, University of Strathclyde iicf-hello@strath.ac.uk
We look forward to seeing you there!