Uganda's Juvenile Justice System in Urgent need of Reforms

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