ECHR 70 - Rights & Children: Using convention rights in youth justice cases

This webinar will explore how the ECHR has been used to protect the rights of child defendants in criminal cases. 

This webinar will examine the protection of victims of trafficking and exploitation in domestic courts and the jurisprudence of the Court of Appeal. Our esteemed panel Henry Blaxland QC, Joanne Cecil & Fatima Jichi will look at a case study in the youth court and how the Modern Slavery Act and protections work in practice for children groomed into country lines gangs. The speakers will provide an overview of the protections that have been clarified and established using ECHR rights, including protections against strip searches of children, entitlement to an appropriate adult at the police station and anonymity and reporting restrictions in criminal cases. To conclude, the speakers will discuss where certain areas of youth justice law and practice might be susceptible to challenge and where child rights are not being adequately protected.

The webinar will be chaired by Kate Aubrey-Johnson, a youth justice specialist barrister and mediator at Garden Court Chambers.
 

Recording

Speakers

Kate Aubrey-Johnson, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers (Chair)
Kate is a youth justice specialist barrister at Garden Court Chambers with experience as a criminal defence practitioner and public lawyer. Kate was formerly Director of the Youth Justice Legal Centre at Just for Kids Law. She helped establish the Youth Justice Legal Centre, a national organisation which provides expert legal advice and guidance on children’s rights in the criminal justice system. In this role she developed and delivered a national training programme for lawyers on youth justice law. Kate is co-author of the leading textbook Youth Justice Law and Practice (LAG, 2019). She is a youth justice expert and is regularly called upon to give lectures and deliver training. She chairs the Ministry of Justice’s Youth Justice Working Group on Quality of Advocacy and she sits on the Justice Working Party on BAME Disproportionality, the Howard League’s Making Sure Black Lives Matter and Young Adults Advisory Boards. Kate is working closely with the Law Society, the Criminal Bar Association and the Inns of Court College of Advocacy to ensure lawyers have the specialist skills, knowledge and expertise to represent children.

Kate has an extensive knowledge of children’s rights law and also works as a SEND mediator. She is the author of Making Mediation Work For You (LAG, June 2012) and is a member of Garden Court’s Mediation team.

Henry Blaxland QC, Garden Court Chambers 
Widely recognised as a leading criminal silk, Henry Blaxland QC's practice encompasses fraud, terrorism, homicide and sexual offences. He is often instructed in appellate matters. Henry is a Master of the Bench of the Middle Temple. Henry is ranked as Star Individual in Chambers and Partners 2021, London (Bar), Crime and as a Leading Silk in the Legal 500 2021. He was shortlisted for Crime Silk of the Year at Chambers UK Bar Awards 2017 and is the winner of Crime Silk of the Year for Legal 500 Awards 2019.

Henry has practised in criminal defence work for his entire career at the Bar. He has appeared in many high-profile homicide trials at the Old Bailey. His principal areas of work now comprise fraud, with a specialism in confiscation, and terrorist cases with an international dimension. He is widely known for his appellate practice, acting in cases referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). He also appears for appellants in extradition cases.

Joanne Cecil, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Jo combines a mixed serious crime and public law practice with criminal justice-related judicial review and civil litigation in the civil liberties sphere. She has a strong appellate practice both domestically and internationally, appearing at all levels including the Supreme Court and is ranked as a leading junior in crime and civil liberties and human rights

Jo has a wealth of experience in representing children. She is renowned for having been instructed in many test cases relating to children in the criminal justice system which have resulted in significant changes in the law. Most recently, Jo acted in a Just for Kids Law’s case R v TI, a leading High Court case on intermediaries for children. Prior to working as a barrister in the UK, Jo was instrumental in the fight against the use of the death penalty for under-18s in the US which culminated in the case of Roper v Simmons which abolished the death penalty for those who were children at the time they committed an offence.

Jo was shortlisted by Legal 500 for Crime Junior of the Year 2018, awarded the Rising Star in Youth Justice Award in 2018 and was the winner of the Legal Aid Barrister of the Year category of the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards (LALYs) 2019.  She is a Board Member of Just for Kids Law, the Standing Committee for Youth Justice and formerly of ROLE UK and was appointed as an independent commissioner on the ‘Bach’ Access to Justice Commission.  She is a lead facilitator for the Advocacy and the Vulnerable, sits on the Ministry of Justice’s Working Group on Youth Advocacy and is currently devising a youth advocacy course with the ICCA for national roll out.  

Fatima Jichi, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Fatima has a broad civil and crime practice, with a focus on state accountability and youth justice. Fatima regularly represents children in the youth court, including vulnerable children with complex mental health issues and victims of trafficking. Fatima is also building a practice in protest law. She is a founding member of Black Protest Legal Support which provides legal advice and support to Black Lives Matter protesters and is part of the group’s strategic litigation team. 

Prior to joining the Bar, Fatima worked as a senior medical statistician at UCL and KCL, with an expertise in mental health research. She later worked with the former Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, Max Hill QC, to scrutinise the operation of the Terrorism Acts as well as their impact on individual and community rights.