COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONCLUDES DISCUSSION ON JUVENILE JUSTICE
Press Release
HR/4224
COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONCLUDES DISCUSSION ON JUVENILE JUSTICE
19951115 GENEVA, 13 November (UN Information Service) -- The Committee on the Rights of the Child this afternoon concluded its day-long debate on juvenile justice by hearing the views of the representatives of United Nations bodies, specialized institutions and non-governmental organizations. Individual experts also shared their experience in dealing with minors in conflict with the law.Several speakers emphasized the need for minimizing the crimes committed by minors. They advocated preventive and protective measures instead of punitive and corrective judicial steps. Some speakers stressed the role played by the mass media while regretting the dramatization of the crimes committed by children. The dehumanization by certain media of children involved in juvenile offences was also remarked on by some speakers.
Many members of the Committee, speaking in favour of juvenile justice, said that in certain cases children were scapegoats of the maladjusted social system of a society. They recommended a search for a positive replacement of traditional justice. The traditional extended family still retained ethical and traditional values towards juvenile justice which could not easily be replaced by modern systems, some experts noted. It should be given special attention.
The stigmatization of the child by legislative systems was discouraged by some speakers who took the floor. The protection and rehabilitation of the child had to be given priority as preventive measures, they said. New guidelines and new legislation that could ameliorate any legal situation were also called for by many speakers. The need for training of personnel, and the establishment of mechanisms for coordinating and monitoring were also recommended.
Among the participants in the discussion were representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Service for Crime Prevention and Penal Justice, Vienna, Terre des Hommes, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Japan Federation of Bar Associations, World Organization against Torture, International Association of Magistrates for Children and Family, Rädda Barnen, Human Rights Watch, Save the Children and World Health Organization (WHO).
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Discussion of Juvenile Justice
The representative of the International Association of Juvenile and Family Court Magistrates, speaking on the deprivation of liberty of minors before they were brought before the courts, expressed concern about the gap existing between national laws and their concrete application. The implementation of the provisions of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child was not considered. The length of time children were kept under police custody varied from one country to another. However, the long duration of keeping juvenile suspects in police stations was a cause for concern. In some instances, cases were transmitted to an appropriate judge, thus leaving children without a trace of their conflict with the law. There were also many cases of long preventive detention going up to two years.
The Regional Adviser on Child Rights, UNICEF Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, said every system of justice created, to some extent, a particular type of offender. Juvenile delinquency was a cyclical issue: it came and went from the political and social agenda with relative ease. The almost total lack of basic statistics on that problem largely explained the extent to which information was manipulated.
The representative of Save the Children Fund noted that the impact of traditional systems where children were in conflict with the law was much more significant in many developing countries than was generally recognized. The reality was that grievances were settled informally, outside the statuary sector, and solutions were mediated through village committees or traditional courts. With regard to corporal punishment, which was extensively used in many traditional systems, the Fund stood firmly behind the principle that children should not be subjected to that punishment.
Many aspects of traditional justice systems were compatible with the rights of the child. Their aim was largely to restore equilibrium within the community, through a process that caused little disruption in the child's life. Remoteness of courts, inadequate infrastructure, government impoverishment and the lack of empathy with the needs of children by criminal justice personnel rendered many centralized juvenile justice systems excessively punitive.
Other speakers recommended transparency in the juvenile justice administration and called for legislative reforms favouring respect for the rights of the child in that area. They also shared their experience acquired in dealing with the administration of juvenile justice. Many of them advocated effective preventive measures which could contribute to the decrease of conflicts of minors with the law.
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The representative of South Africa stressed that in developing a new juvenile justice system for that country, the international instruments were being used as an important source of wisdom. The representative of Defence for Children International, referring to the occupied territories, said that the Israeli legal system made no special provision whatsoever for the trial of juveniles and, when considered with the all-encompassing jurisdiction of the military courts, it violated the spirit and letter of international law relating to juvenile justice.
The representative of Terre des Hommes underlined the role it played in providing juridical assistance to India concerning juvenile justice. The speaker from the Japan Federation of Bar Associations observed that in Japan only a small portion of juveniles had been provided with full legal assistance in the hearings for juvenile cases.
The representative of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Penal Justice Service said that the Service had completed its elaboration of a manual for the administration of juvenile justice, but its distribution was hampered by the financial crisis. The representative of WHO said that a study had examined the correlation between violence on television and violence by juveniles.
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