| Detained children ‘suffer abuse’ | Send to a friend |
| Sunday, 29 January 2012 11:56 |
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The Citizen Reporter Dar es Salaam. Concern is growing over the fate of about 1,400 children detained in Tanzania in the wake of revelations that they have become a subject of gross injustice, including sexual abuse. Parents and guardians of the children locked up in various detention facilities, like prisons initially hoped to see their children corrected and rejoin families with new habits. But now they have all the reasons to worry about their children’s future. A report on inspection of children in detention facilities conducted by the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRGG) reveals that they are actually doing more harm than good to the children’s behaviour. The report released last year says boys and girls mixed with adult prisoners have often fallen victims of sexual abuse from fellow children and even law enforcers. Of serious concern about this phenomenon is that the children, who were sent to detention facilities with the ultimate goal of rehabilitating them and finally being re-integrated into their respective communities, turn into notorious criminals.According to the study, detained children do not have access to meaningful activities and programmes to help their rehabilitation and integration. “Children have limited access to education, vocational training, psycho-social support and recreation to help their rehabilitation and there are very limited mechanisms or programmes to help children to reintegrate into the society on their release,” says the CHRGG report. It adds: “The situation is compounded in adult prisons by the fact that during their detention children are mixed with adult prisoners who have often committed heinous offences.” All detention officers interviewed conceded that it was extremely difficult for a child to be rehabilitated under the current set up and conditions in correctional homes and prisons, the report says. The CHRGG inspected 65 detention centres to assess the treatment and condition of children. It also assessed how rights and duties were adhered to in connection with laws, regulations and international standards. During the inspection visits, it was found out that a total of 591 children were detained in adult prisons. Unicef says the Tanzania government needs to do more to tackle the inhuman treatment and improve the care for detained children according to international standards. “International standards are clear that children must only be detained as a last resort; never mixed with adults and protected from violence and abuse,” says the world body in a statement sent to The Citizen on Sunday. It commends the government for acting on a number of commitments on improving child welfare, including working toward the establishment of community alternatives to detention so as to reduce the number of juvenile detainees and build the capacity of detention centres staff to prevent and respond to cases of abuse. The findings also established that the criteria for determining ages of children were grossly violated during arrest and detention in police stations. This has seen many children aged below ten years, who are not criminally liable in Tanzania for not being able to understand what they were doing was wrong, charged, convicted and jailed.“Police officers determine the age of suspects relying on information supplied by victims and on their own observation. This may not be an accurate process,” says the report. Many children interviewed during inspection visits complained about the use of torture, violence as well as inhumane and degrading treatment during arrest and in police stations. Activists of children’s rights say rampant abuse of the rights are likely to continue unless the juvenile justice system is overhauled and the Law of Child Act is robustly enforced.“The problem is lack of awareness on the child protection law by law enforcers,” says Mr Richard Shilamba, executive director of Children Education Society (Cheso), an NGO According to the report, children do not have access to lawyers during detention at police stations and are forced to spend excessive time in pre-trial detentions, sometime up to two years, pending hearing of their cases. Another finding of the report is that children are not held separately from adults in police stations where conditions are poor. This is contrary to section 102 of the Law of the Child Act, 2009 which stipulates that children should be held separately from adults while in police custody.“However, out of the 30 police stations visited, only four had a separate cell where children could be detained,” says the report. The mixing of children with adults is also rampant where children are held in adult prisons during the pre-trial detention. The study shows that 441 children were being held in the 29 adult prisons visited and are not separated from convicts. Of these, 407 were boys and 34 were girls.A third of the children interviewed complained of experiencing violence and abuse from other detainees. They made serious allegations of violence, abuse and sexual assault in prisons. “Interviews with children showed that they were most vulnerable to sexual abuse at night, especially in prisons where they are not separated from adults,” the report says. It recommends that prison authorities should ensure that children have sleeping quarters separated from adults and are regularly monitored at night. This state of affairs is likely to worsen as the report reveals that most staff working in detention centres lack training on children’s rights, child protection and rehabilitative methods. See Special Report on pages 8&9; editorial on Page 12 Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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