CHILDREN’S RIGHTS The criminalization of children continued to be of concern in several countries. In both Australia and New Zealand, children as young as 10 years old could still be detained and youth detention facilities in both were also found to endanger children. In Thailand, nearly 300 children were among those criminally charged for their participation in the largely peaceful protests over recent years. They included a young man who was sentenced to one year’s prison sentence, suspended for two years, for participating in a mock fashion show in 2020 – when he was 16 years old – satirizing the monarch. In North Korea, reports of the widespread use of forced labour including by children continued. Governments must never arrest or detain children for exercising their rights, including to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression. Governments should raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 years or above and must ensure children in conflict with the law are treated in accordance with the principles of child justice, including by strictly limiting the use of detention. The State of the World’s Human Rights 49