Incarceration of kids disturbs children`s law advocacy team

BY SUBIRA KASWAGA

Children in the country are still being detained together with adults in prisons and remand custody despite the concerted efforts by the international community to safeguard children’s rights.

This has been revealed in a report compiled by the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) last year after visiting some prisons, in tandem with the Tanganyika Law Society (TLS).

The report says children detained together with adults have been subjected to psychological torture, touching off another cycle of their being gradually converted into delinquent tendencies.

Among other things being assessed was how children’s rights were safeguarded in detention units, since the laws governing rights of such a group of people in any society requires that they be separated from adults.

The report state that in prison children are treated as adults and engage in manual labour similar to adults, and there are no privileges given to children in prison.

Among the prisons in which children are detained with adults are Mahenge, Pangani, Kasulu, Manyoni, Tarime and Rwamulumba in Kagera, the report states in part.

Yussuf Abdul, a lawyer from the Tanzania Women Lawyers Association (TAWLA) said that shortage of juvenile courts and lack of seriousness by the government in law enforcement are the main problems that hinder observance of children’s rights.

He said the government has enacted laws to safeguard the rights of children when they are in conflict with law but failed to implement it and make it an active piece of legislation.

The country has only one juvenile court in Kisutu in Dar es Salaam, full of equipments needed in a children’s court while the rest of the courts have not been built that way.

“In the Kisutu juvenile court there is a department for social welfare and the building has a friendly environment for children. The rest courts are not,” the advocate noted.

The law provides that a policeman who arrests a child should not be wearing his or her uniform and be friendly to the child. “However this is not practiced by police officers,” he declared.

Sometimes even in the Kisutu juvenile court you may see a police officer arrest a child putting on his uniform, which contravenes the law, he elaborated.

In most cases that involve children the case is conducted in a chamber instead of a juvenile court as it should be. At times the social welfare officer who is supposed to attend the case is absent, he further noted.

“I have attended various children cases,” he said, noting that for example in Temeke municipality there is no social welfare officer who will be leading the kid in speaking. “According to the law the case should not be conducted in his absence but this is not followed in many courts,” he stated.

There is similarly no specific prison for children, he said, pointing out that when children are detained with adults their character is further impaired and they become chronic in crime. “They are psychologically affected after being set free,” he affirmed, specifying that many start smoking and drinking.

“If you detain children in adult prisons they learn nothing and many harden in their crime attitudes. Some are raped and become psychologically affected hence the problem increases,” the advocate lamented.

Some of the law enforcers handling children in prison have poor legal knowledge on how to live with children in prison and their responsibilities, he said.

“We have a project to help children and women with babies who are in prison to make sure that they their rights are observed. But through our project and research we found that most prison officers do not have legal knowledge on how to deal and live with children who are in prison,” he reiterated.

As people are currently seeking to raise their voice towards the formation of a new constitution they should also suggest the establishment of children prisons and courts so that children obtain their rights while in prison, he added.

SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY (23/09/2012): http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=46114