By Denis Angeri
Project Support, Alternatives to Imprisonment in East Africa
Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI)
The Ugandan Government ratified
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African
Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child in the years 1990 and 1994 respectively.
By signing this treaty, Uganda is
obligated to enact legislation and provide policy framework that is aimed at
protecting the rights of the child and providing guidance on interventions
focusing on children. While the legal and policy framework with regard to child
rights in Uganda has improved tremendously with coming into force of the
Children’s Act in 2005, which domesticated the provisions of the United Nations
Convention on Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and
Welfare of the Child, more still needs to be done to improve the juvenile
justice system.
One major area is the
implementation of Diversion, which is the channeling of children from the
criminal justice system into programmes that make them accountable for their
actions. Children who are in conflict with the law and those at risk of coming
in conflict with the law may be diverted to some of the following programmes;
placement under a supervision and guidance order placing the child under the
supervision and guidance of a mentor or peer role model; the issue of
compulsory school attendance; the issue of positive peer association; the issue
of a good behaviour order requiring a child to abide by an agreement made
between the child and his parents to comply with certain standards of behavior;
compulsory attendance at a specified centre or place for a specified vocational
or educational purpose for a period; restitution of a specified object to a
victim; referral to appear at victim-offender mediation or other restorative
justice involving family members; referral to a counseling or therapeutic
intervention and from prohibition orders against the child visiting,
frequenting or appearing at a specified place
In selecting a specific diversion
option for a particular child at a police station or court, consideration
should be given to the child’s cultural, religious and linguistic
background; the child’s educational level, cognitive ability, domestic
and environmental circumstances.
In addition, it is important that
proportionality of the option recommended or selected to the offence is taken
into account in balancing the same with the interests of the society, the
child’s age and developmental needs and any other peculiar circumstances
relating to the child including whether the child is a repeat offender.
Diversion programmes focus on the child and not the offence so as to help the
child be accountable and to reform. The goal is rehabilitation of the offender
and prevention of further offences by addressing factors that contribute to
criminal behaviour.
An example of diversion project
was conducted in Mbale district by Children Justice Initiative (CJI) in
partnership with Mbale diocese. As a result, many children were diverted from
the formal criminal justice system and many children related cases were handled
at the family level. This project promoted counseling and caution as best ways
to correct children rather than the formal criminal justice system. This
diversion pilot scheme used specially trained advocates as mediators to
establish a community based alternatives project in Mbale. Government should
therefore partner with the Civil Society Organizations to promote diversion and
other forms of alternatives to the criminal justice system for children
What is required urgently are standardized
guidelines and procedures for protection of children in the juvenile justice
system, and amendments to the Children’s Act to entrench Diversion to shield
the child offender from a generally punitive and adversarial criminal justice
system. This also ensures that criminal charges are withdrawn and no criminal
records are maintained on children, thus facilitating rehabilitation and
reintegration. The Constitution provides that every child has a right not to be
detained, except as a measure of last resort, and when detained, to be held for
the shortest appropriate period of time; and separate from adults and in
conditions that take account of the child’s sex and age.
It is frustrating that the proposed amendments to the Children’s Act barely entrench Diversion in the juvenile justice system
It is frustrating that the proposed amendments to the Children’s Act barely entrench Diversion in the juvenile justice system
