Urgent Appeal for the Philippine Congress to pass
the Comprehensive Juvenile Justice Bill into Law 
By Coalition to Stop Child Detention
Through Restorative Justice
EVEN as the run-up to the May
polls heats up, and as politicians flash victory signs and captivating smiles,
thousands of children— beggars, laborers, prostituted girls, street kids, and
those suffering from mental disabilities—languish and get violated in hundreds
of police jails all over the country.
Without redress.
As Filipino political leaders
swing into the campaign mode—we urge them to immediately pass into law the
Comprehensive Juvenile Justice Bill to stop the assault upon the dignity and
humanity of thousands of children of the poorest of the poor.
The Comprehensive Juvenile
Justice Bill raises the age of criminal liability from nine to 12, as well as
provides for a system of diversion from the point of arrest to spare children
from the horrors, stigma, and trauma of incarceration and contact with the
criminal justice system.
More importantly, the bill puts
emphasis on preventive approaches to criminal behavior as well as the
non-recurrence of crime among our children and youth through the proactive
involvement of the family, community, school, and other institutions.
During the remaining days of its
session, we urge Congress to pass into law the Comprehensive Juvenile Justice
Bill to help stop the violence and atrocity committed against thousands of
children of the poorest of the poor.
We call on Philippine Congress
to heed the voice of humanity by passing into law the said bill that is meant to
provide an Ombudsman for Children who would oversee and centralize the
multifarious functions of dealing with children in conflict with the law based
on the restorative justice framework.
We call on Philippine Congress
to fulfill its duty to provide legislative remedies and redress to the unlawful
discrimination, torture, cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment and punishment
of the children of the poorest of the poor pursuant to its obligation under
Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
We call on our political leaders
to exorcise right at this moment—by passing into law the Comprehensive
Juvenile Justice Bill—this mark of shame before the generations of children of
the world who are yet to come….
Children prisoners mostly come
from families earning P2,000 (US$35.95) to P4,000 (US$71.9) a month, based on
the 1990-2002 findings of the Social Services Development Department of the
Quezon City local government, that runs the Molave Youth Home for children
detainees.
It is on account of their
extreme poverty and political powerlessness that the Philippine
government—through the Philippine National Police—commits, with impunity,
egregious forms of human rights violations such as rape and torture—as a part
of its own institutionalized, widespread, organized, and systematic practice of
unlawful discrimination— against children of the poorest of the poor in
violation of international customary law.
No less than the office of
Senator Francis Pangilinan disclosed that last year 20,000 children have been
arrested and detained. This means that 54 children get locked and mixed up with
adult prisoners everyday due to the said de facto state norm and practice as far
as children under arrest are concerned.
The Philippine Public
Attorney’s Office reported having served 13,300 children in conflict with the
law in 2002, which means that 36 children have been locked up with adult
prisoners during the period.
These are mostly 15 to 17 year
olds who get raped, tortured, tattooed, and brutalized by state agents and adult
prisoners on a day-to-day basis without any form of remedy and redress.
Yet, the government concealed
this barbarity in its second country report to the United Nations Committee on
the Rights of the Child recently.
These are the poorest of the
poor children whom the state deprives of access to medical, social,
psychological, and legal assistance and services during police custody in
cramped jails packed with adult prisoners over long periods.
This constitutes torture per se.
The widespread, organized, and systematic jailing of children prisoners in
cramped jails in the company of adults nationwide—bereft of adequate food,
sleeping provisions, ventilation, and sanitation facilities—and subjected to
indignities and atrocities, constitutes torture as well as inhumane, cruel, and
degrading treatment and punishment. This flagrantly violates not only the
Torture Convention but the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as well.
This constitutes a crime
against humanity.
As early as 1925, the League of
Nations enjoined all governments to render succor and assistance to all
defenseless and marginalized children. The Philippines however does the worst
thing possible on earth.
Not only does the state renege
on its own treaty obligation. It does exactly the opposite by terrorizing
children who live in the shadows through various forms of indignities
perpetrated by its own police who routinely subject them to unlawful
discrimination, torture and other forms of cruel, inhumane, and degrading
treatment and punishment on account of their being social outcasts.
Instead of fulfilling its
international human rights obligation to respect, protect, and fulfill the human
rights of children in conflict with the law, the state brutalizes and transform
these children into hardened criminals by dehumanizing and emasculating their
dignity and human rights, thereby worsening the peace and order concerns of the
people.
Subjecting children to prolonged
detention occasioned by protracted legal proceedings and retributive laws
administered by child insensitive players exacts long-term socio-economic and
political costs on the part of the nation.
For queries, please contact
Atty. Perfecto G. Caparas II
Coalition to Stop Child Detention Through Restorative Justice
Email address:
boyetcaparas@yahoo.com
perfectocaparas@icqmail.com
