The Child-friendly justice – the Application of the International Standards in the Civil Court Cases

Abstract

The paper analyses the international standards concerning the child`s process rights, the referent comparable legal solutions and the legal system of the Republic of Serbia, especially the possibility for children to take part in the court cases in different process roles. The problems have been recognized which in practice are conditioned by the circumstance that our Family Law does not allow, by its general norm, for the child to be a party in all the process which refer to his / her rights and interests. Although there is a number of situations in which children are explicitly acknowledged the process legitimation, and those where this right can be indirectly concluded, it does not mean that, starting from the international standards, the children`s process rights are accepted and recognized at the highest level. As especially serious, the problem of independent undertaking of process activities by children of certain age and equal understanding capability / capacity, which is particularly analyzed in this paper. In the context of so called evolving children`s capacity to recognize the participation rights as the prerequisite of participation in the case in any role. Thus the specificity of these rights and standards which are established for them on the international level (by obligating but also referring acts) are given the necessary attention. The analysis outcome of the abovementioned problems are the suggestions of changes or amendments to the Family Law by which the court procedures, especially civil ones, were to a great extent adapted for children, and the children`s rights protection has reached a higher level.