This leaflet explains, in simple steps, the ENSURE project, which we became part in 2025, together with international partners we admire.
The project’s overall objective is to enhance access to justice for child victims with disabilities by improving coordination and cooperation among specialized roles. It targets criminal justice professionals, protection professionals, judicial authorities, and EU policymakers, ultimately benefiting disabled children in the justice system. Specific objectives include developing the roles of intermediaries, enhancing the skills of legal professionals, improving multidisciplinary cooperation, and raising awareness of the importance of specialized support for disabled child victims.
Intermediaries are specialized independent professionals who support the courts in overcoming communication barriers. They constitute a professional category that originated in the United Kingdom and is now embedded in international human rights standards.
They are not support persons per se, but their role consists of facilitating effective communication and ensuring that the person with disabilities and justice actors understand each other’s questions and information.
According to the research Diagnosis of People with Disabilities in Romania, conducted by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / World Bank in 2021, “Courts in Romania are, for the most part, physically, informationally, and communicationally inaccessible. Among the Romanian courts (district courts, tribunals, and courts of appeal), none are fully physically accessible for persons with disabilities. Informational accessibility — meaning the way in which information about the courts, including websites, is made accessible through the use of alternative and augmentative means such as Braille, pictograms, easy-to-read language, and audio-video formats — is almost non-existent in 99% of courts. Effective protection of rights is essential to ensuring equal access to justice. Portal Just — the Romanian court website containing information on cases and hearings — is not accessible. At the same time, 75% of courts are not communicationally accessible, meaning they do not offer sign language interpretation services and do not appoint staff to assist persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities.”
By implementing these activities, the ENSURE project aims to make legal proceedings more accessible, inclusive, and supportive for children with disabilities, fostering systemic change in child protection and justice systems across Europe.
The project is financed between March 2025 and February 2027 through the European Union`s CERV-2024-DAPHNE programme.
Project Partners working with Terre des Hommes (TdH) – Romania:
• International Commission of Jurists – European Institutions (ICJ-EI)
• Validity Foundation (Validity) – International
• Child Rights Centre (CRC) – Serbia
• Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI-GMR) – Austria
