75% of children in NOC for wandering, says UNICEF Rep.

Sep 14, 2015 News

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Country Representative for Guyana and Suriname, Marianne Flach, has approached the government with proposals seeking to reform the justice system for children in conflict with the law.
Flach, along with UNICEF’s Learning and Development Officer Audrey Michele Rodrigues and Child Protection Officer Pat Gittens, met with Attorney General (AG), Basil Williams on Friday at his Carmichael Street, Georgetown office to discuss issues pertaining to children.
With offices in 190 countries, UNICEF is a United Nations (UN) programme that works for children’s rights, survival, development and protection.
On Friday, it brought proposals to the government for the Juvenile Justice Bill, revamping the approach of correctional facility, and for children’s rights to be represented in legal education at the level of the Masters of Law (LLM), among other things.
Flach told members of the media that focus was given to the Bill, the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) as well as the Family Court.
“The NOC in itself, we think at UNICEF, is a good institution. It’s an open institution. It provides education to children. It is a correctional facility; it’s not a prison and we shouldn’t regard the students there as prisoners,” expressed the Child Rights Advocate.
“What we are concerned about for instance is that 75 percent, more or less, of the young people who are there are being locked up there for wandering and we think that should not be the case. There should be other correctional facilities for that type of children and they should be much closer to the family institution,” expressed Flach.
The New Opportunity Corp (NOC) is a juvenile correction and rehabilitation facility which houses over 100 children.
The Onderneeming, Essequibo Coast facility is a co-educational institution, which means that the students are trained in a number of skills areas, and they are also enrolled in the education system in Essequibo.
The UNICEF Country Representative underscored the need for solutions within the administrative regions across Guyana to house youth offenders who commit minor offences closer to their relatives.
She added, “You would have a much reduced number of children in the NOC then we can also pay much better attention to their special needs and help them to reintegrate into society.”

AG Basil Williams, in discussion with UNICEF Country Representative Marianne Flach (Far Left), UNICEF’s Learning and Development Officer Audrey Michele Rodrigues and Child Protection Officer Pat Gittens

According to Flach, there is a draft Bill that UNICEF representatives have been engaging the various Ministries and stakeholders on for their support. “We hope that it will be introduced to Cabinet very soon,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General said the Juvenile Justice Bill is one which would have to be revamped when criminal capacity and responsibility of a child as well as issues of sentencing come under focus.
The Juvenile Justice Bill is set to deal with issues of sentencing pertaining to youths. At present, children from the age ten (10) who come in contact with the law can be charged and made to face the court of law.
If convicted, they can be sent to the New Opportunity Corps (NOC).
The Attorney General divulged that the talks also centered on Private International Law and Family Rights.
“As a cross-border country, we have Brazil, Venezuela, Suriname and even countries further afield like the United States and England, where our citizens go, they marry and make children then they come back home with their children,” he said.
As such, issues of child abduction, adoption, maintenance, custody will be dealt with keeping in line with the law and international conventions. According to Williams, the Ministry of Public Security will be piloting this Bill.
For years, UNICEF has been working to develop strategies to aid children caught in the system. According to the UNICEF Guyana website, in order to ensure compliance with international human rights instruments in relation to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Riyadh Guidelines and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a package of legislation was being developed.
These include the Children’s Bill and a revised legislation to address the administration of juvenile justice.
“The Children’s Bill is a comprehensive package of legislation with five Bills: Adoption of Children; Child Care and Development Services; Custody, Access, Guardianship and Maintenance Bill; Status of Children, Protection of Children Bill,” the website directed.
Further, it said that a recent review had raised questions as to whether the current legislation on Juvenile Justice in Guyana, the Juvenile Offenders Act and Training School Act need to be revised.
A national consultation hosted in early 2006 to address the report on Juvenile Justice made several recommendations which point to revision of the existing legislation and institutional strengthening so that the judiciary, social workers and all who engage children in conflict with the law use the detention facilities for children as last resort, the website noted.
“Improved access to legal aid for adolescents in conflict with the law, community based mediation and alternative dispute resolution are all components of this process.
“Additionally the capacity of caregivers and support to community for the reintegration of adolescents in conflict with the law into their families and communities is also being addressed,” it said.
Current Initiatives
The Ministry of Public Security currently has a project being conducted in conjunction with the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Clergy and the Faith-Based Community in Guyana which focuses on youth offenders.
Called Cops and Faith Community Network (CFCN), the project is being used as a crime prevention measure intended to deal with youths who come into conflict with the law on a first time basis for minor offences.
Under the programme, heads of religious organisations are engaged to deal with the young offenders, as a first measure rather than having them pass through the criminal justice system.
Since its launch in September 2013, the programme has made over 100 interventions involving males and females between the ages of 10 and 17. Some were detained for offences such as: assault, assault causing actual bodily harm, throwing missiles, simple larceny, wandering, use of indecent language and threatening behaviour.
In cases, the youth were counseled by the religious leaders, and following the involvement of their parents/guardians, were warned and sent away. However, charges were made in some instances and in most cases the matters were dismissed.
The project, intended to be a significant crime prevention effort, has its origins in the COPS and Clergy Network of Red Lands California, USA.
(Sunita Samaroo)