Breaking the Circle was an EU-funded project managed by the Metropolitan City of Milan with a group of organisations from Italy, Cyprus, Romania and Spain: Codici Ricerca e Intervento, Associazione Comunità Nuova and Dotdotdot from Milan; Association SUYAE and the Universidad Autonoma of Madrid; Ahead Association from Romania; EuroSuccess Consulting from Cyprus.

The main objectives of the project were: 1) to raise children’s and young people’s awareness of their rights in civil, administrative and criminal judicial proceedings; 2) to increase the understanding of professionals working in juvenile justice and the educational system on the need for a child-friendly approach; 3) to strengthen the practices of child-friendly justice in all EU member states.

The project started with a participatory research process aimed at consulting young people and professionals about their experiences and views on the functioning of the justice system. The process involved more than 100 children and 60 justice system professionals in Italy, Cyprus, Romania and Spain. The document we produced for the European Commission is Guidelines Integration Document.

The results of the research and consultation process are freely downloadable. All materials were produced through participatory activities involving young people who had experience of judicial proceedings and professionals in juvenile justice. We carried out them in the countries of the project partners.

The objective of the Toolkit was to raise awareness of young people’s rights in legal proceedings and increase the skills of professionals working with them in formal and non-formal settings, such as high schools, vocational schools, training centres, and youth centres. The toolkit is available for download in two languages (Italian and English).

All material is downloadable for two main reasons:
– To set up different types of workshops addressed to class groups or informal groups to raise students and young people’s awareness about their rights in judicial proceedings in connection with the Principles contained in the Guidelines on Child-Friendly Justice;
– To get in-depth information about the Principles in the Guidelines by browsing the platform to improve the understanding of the Guidelines and children’s rights in judicial proceedings.

The toolkit focused on two main targets: young people between 12 and 18 years old, as the workshops’ target; Professionals working in any educational context (formal and informal) as platform users.

The project also implemented more than 80 Awareness Raising Campaigns, with young people aged 12-18, in formal and informal educational contexts, in all cities and districts involved in the project (Nicosia, Milan, Brasov, Madrid).