Abuse of children is closer to home than you may think 
The Universe
(March 19, 2006)
Last week another small frail child, nine-year-old Andy, was rescued from the jails of Metro Manila. He came to the Preda Home with the shaved head of a convict and nothing but a soiled T-shirt and shorts. He was barefooted, malnourished and had that dazed look of the child traumatized by abuse.
The good news is that the jailing of children might soon end. The campaign of Preda Foundation, the Juvenile Justice Network, UNICEF, Jubilee Action and other agencies has succeeded in helping to pass the Juvenile Justice Bill that will stop most of this abuse.
The exposé by Chris Rogers on ITV and CNN of the kids behind bars helped very much. Hundreds of people wrote to the Speaker of the Philippine Congress and that helped the Bill.
The law guarantees Restorative Justice rather than punishment (no physical punishment is allowed). A minor gets an automatic suspension of sentence and will not be branded as a criminal. A child must at all times be separated from adults and minors are exempted from prosecution for vagrancy, prostitution, begging and sniffing glue.
The new law says a child is exempt from criminal liability if 15 or younger and must never be put in a jail, handcuffed or verbally, physically or psychologically abused. However it will be another year before it is signed into law.
So for many youngsters, it is still prison or Preda. The latter is a hillside home, surrounded by fruit trees and with a view of Subic Bay. There are no fences or guards. The children receive encouragement and are treated with respect and dignity. They learn to be responsible and to care for each other.
There is legal help, school and vocational training, values formation and spiritual awakening. Sports, beach outings, singing and dancing are regular activities. There is no punishment other than extra cleaning duties or a deduction from their pocket money for misbehavior. Only three boys out of 141 have walked away since the programme started 2 years ago.
When the trusting relationship works so well, it is a shock to read the findings of physical and verbal abuses suffered by the children in the young offenders’ institutions, secure training centers and local authority homes in England and Wales. There are 2,800 children detained in these places (200 are girls). Physical restraint was used 15,512 times in a 21-month period.
All this is revealed in the report by Lord Carlile of Berriew to the Howard League for penal reform. An investigation was ordered when 15 year-old Gareth Myatt died after being restrained by three members of the staff of the Rainsbrook Center.
The investigating team was shocked for what they have found in other centers. Staff had permission to actually hurt children. The investigation found children with bloodied and broken noses. Evidence was found that the children were provoked to resist so that the staff could restrain them. The report hinted that there could even be worse going on.
So it is not only in the Philippines that abuses are rampant and it seems no detention center is safe for kids. That has to end and we can never rest until it does. [End]
