Legislative Documents

Here you will find charters, conventions and other documents that are relevant to the issue of children of imprisoned parents. Below are the specific articles relating to the rights of children, but we also provide links on each page to the full text version.

1977 UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners

The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (SMR) were adopted by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held at Geneva in 1955, and approved by the Economic and Social Council by its resolution 663 C (XXIV) of July 31, 1957 and 2076 (LXII) of May 13, 1977.

1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, the first legally binding code of child's rights, was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in November 20, 1989 and signed by all Member States. It entered into force in September 1990. Only the United States and Somalia have not ratified the convention.

European Prison Rules

On 11 January 2006, in its second recommendation of the year, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a new version of the European Prison Rules. The recommendation recognised that the previous 1987 Rules had been revised and updated substantively. Accordingly the 2006 Rules replace their predecessors in their entirety.