The 2016 Palestinian Juvenile Protection Law: A Quest for Further Reform

Abstract

The State of Palestine became party to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989 (CRC) on 2 April 2014. Less than two years later, on 4 February 2016, President Mahmoud Abbas enacted Decree-Law No. 4 Concerning Juvenile Protection (hereinafter "Juvenile Protection Law" or "the Law"), which set forth the rights of children in conflict with the law and reformed the entire child justice system. The Law incorporated the international standards relating to children as enshrined in the CRC and other soft law rules. The question remains: would the legal texts, as manifested by the accession to the Convention and by the aforesaid Law, be materialized at the institutional and practical levels?