New York, Oct 24 2008 1:10PM
Two United Nations agencies are providing clothing, transport and food
allowances to more than 100 teenagers released this week from prison
in the self-declared autonomous region of Somaliland in north-western
Somalia as part of efforts to help the children reintegrate into their
communities.
Under the Justice for Children Project, a joint effort of the UN
Children's Fund
(<"http://www.unicef.org/media/media_46134.html">UNICEF) and the UN
Development Programme (<"http://www.undp.org/">UNDP), the released
inmates are also being given individual counselling and berths in
vocational programmes.
On Tuesday the 104 children, all aged between 15 and 18, were released
from eight prisons into the care of their local communities after a
presidential decree pardon. Many had been jailed on such charges as
truancy, vagrancy or disobedience to parents.
UNICEF said in a press release issued today that the project includes
efforts to ensure that local communities offer a protective
environment so that the children do not feel stigmatized when they
return.
Christian Balslev-Olesen, the agency's representative for Somalia,
welcomed the decree and other recent initiatives by authorities in
Somaliland.
"These actions will ensure a fair justice… system for children and
build greater awareness of child rights and the need for children to
be protected when they come in contact with the law," he said.
UNDP programme manager Alejandro Bendaña said the project was helping
to strengthen the judiciary, law enforcement and human rights in
Somaliland.
"The new juvenile justice law takes precedence over all other laws
relating to children in conflict with the law and we expect its
provisions – such as community mechanisms to address juvenile
misbehaviour – to be used more frequently to prevent the imprisonment
of children," he said.
Two of the children, whose names were not released to protect their
identities, said they were hoping to build better lives.
A 17-year-old boy imprisoned for causing a disturbance at a wedding
recounted being sent to jail: "While in prison most of the discussions
with the inmates related to the advanced ways of committing crimes. I
hope I will not go back to prison."
A 15-year-old boy said he was very scared during his stint in prison:
"There are lice in our bodies and we don't get proper education. Older
people tell us all kinds of horrible stories and the guy who murdered
his father is in the same cell as us. However, I wish for a day I
could be educated and lead a law-abiding life."
No comments:
Post a Comment