By Mabinty M. Kamara
In commemoration of the Day of the African Child, Defense for Children International (DCI) Sierra Leone has made a case for Sierra Leonean children in conflict with the law.
A press statement issued by the child rights campaign group, dated 16th June, 2020, highlights a number of issues that both children in conflict with the law and those seeking access to justice face in the country, including lack of fair trial due to limitation of services and inhumane condition in detention facilities.
“DCI –Sierra Leone would like to remind the government of Sierra Leone that Sierra Leone is one of the pathfinder countries for access to child friendly justice for children, yet the justice system is quite abusive and horrible to children in Sierra Leone,” the statement notes, adding: “Children in conflict with the law are still detained under terrible conditions at the Remand Homes in Bo and Freetown and at Approved School in Freetown.”
The Day of the African Child has been celebrated on June 16 every year since 1991, when it was first declared by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), now African Union (AU). It was declared in honor of school children who participated in the Soweto Uprising in 1976 on that same day.
The day has been celebrated on different themes, mainly highlighting the need to improve on the livelihood and welfare of the African child.
This year’s theme is: ‘Access to Child Friendly Justice’.
DCI, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, is an independent NGO that seeks to promote and protect children’s rights. It has been in existence since 1979.
The organization said in its statement that the justice system in Sierra Leone has not been child friendly, which posed many risks to the growth and development of children once they have judicial issues either as victims or as perpetrators.
The release notably highlights conditions in juvenile detention facilities, particularly at the Remand Homes, which are known locally as Approved School. It said conditions in the overcrowded facilities are unacceptable.
“The inmates of Remand Home in Freetown eat only twice a day, they lack personal hygiene substances, two to three inmates share a foam that is in bad condition and they lack basic health care services,” it notes. It adds that the situation for children in detention is even worse at the Bo Remand Home, noting that as a consequence, inmates now exhibit serious skin infections that require urgent medical treatment.
The campaigners further noted that delay in prosecution procedures, lack of access to free medical treatment in some parts of the country for rape victims, limited measures for protection of victims and witnesses, among other things, increase both financial and social costs that make access to justice for victims difficult.
DCI called on the government of Sierra Leone to address these issues bothering on the safety and welfare of the Sierra Leonean child. It specifically called for the review of the Child Rights Act of 2007 and the Children and Young Persons Act of 1945 and for the adoption of a new law that meet international standards and best practices in the realization of children’s rights in general and access to child friendly justice in particular.
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