According to Luxembourg's commission on human rights, the country's youth protection laws need to be partially rewritten.
Even though they voiced criticism on the existing legislation, the commission's officials also underlined their appreciation of the work that has already been done. Progress has already been made but the texts still require fine-tuning, they explained.
The commission argued that youth protection laws are, above all, meant to be protective. In reality, officials lamented that the legal texts contain an excessive number of penal elements, raising the question whether the laws really put protection (rather than prosecution) in the foreground.
One particular issue, as outlined by the commission's president Gilbert Pregno, is that of prison. The state had signed a number of conventions, Pregno explained, and since the creation of UNISEC (a special security unit for minors in Dreiborn), teenagers no longer go to Schrassig's penitentiary centre if they've committed crimes. However, the legislation does not detail how long a minor would be in detention at the UNISEC unit.
The commission requires clear boundaries in the legislation. The commission demanded that these issues be openly debated - only then the right decisions can be taken.
