Foundation calls for laws to facilitate children’s justice

The Foundation called for the review of the Children’s Act 560 of 1998, which makes provisions for the establishment of quasi-judicial and judicial child adjudication procedures such as child panels at the district level.

It said aside the non-existence of formal child panels, the composition of the panel as stipulated by the Act does not make it feasible for districts to have them.

Mr Douglas Quartey, Programs Manager at YBF, said an attempt to build on the first phase of the project, YBF conducted a qualitative study on concerns raised in the first phase about the constitution and other issues related to child panels in the districts.

The Justice for Juveniles project started in 2014.

The forum was to discuss the findings and recommendations of its baseline study in the four project districts with stakeholders in the administration of justice

The study, which was funded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, was conducted in the New Juaben and Suhum municipalities in the Eastern Region and Agona West district and Cape Coast metropolitan in the Central region.

The study sought to find out the existence and constitution of Child Panels, and how the collaboration of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Police and the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) promoted access to justice for children and the challenges in the juvenile justice administration.

Mr Quartey said findings from the study showed that in most of the districts, there were no official child panels and that the existing panels did not also have the full complement of members as stipulated in the Children’s Act.

According to Act 560, child panels must comprise the Chairman of the Social Services sub-committee of the district assembly who shall be the chairman, a member of a women’s organisation, a representative of the Traditional Council, the district social worker, who shall be the secretary; a member of the Justice and Security Sub-Committee of the District Assembly; and two other citizens from the community of high moral character and proven integrity one of whom shall be an educationalist.

He noted that postponement of the 2014 district assembly elections and subsequent dissolution of all district assemblies have meant that there were no legally recognised child panels in the country at the moment.

Mr Quartey therefore recommended that the review of the legislation be made to allow persons other than the Chairman of the Social Services sub-committee of the district assembly to head the panels and for the constitution of the panels to use community leaders and members at the community level.

He also called for commitment to providing the necessary logistics for the activities of child panels since they were an integral part of promoting juvenile justice.

Mrs Comfort Asare, Acting Director of the Department of Social Welfare, said the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, has begun a work on the Justice for Children policy to address the shortfalls in the existing laws on children.

She noted that the DSW would coordinate cases involving children and collate data on such cases for easy access for policy makers and for planning purposes.

Mrs Asare said the policy would also address the composition of the child panels and funding of the panels, which was vested in the district assemblies.

The new policy, she said, would bring the child panels to the community level where community leaders and other members would sit on the panel and be the first port of call for cases involving children.

GNAAccra, July 12, GNA - The YouthBridge Foundation (YBF) has launched the second phase of its Justice for Juveniles project, with a call on government to speed up the review of legislations on children to facilitate their access to justice.

The Foundation called for the review of the Children’s Act 560 of 1998, which makes provisions for the establishment of quasi-judicial and judicial child adjudication procedures such as child panels at the district level.

It said aside the non-existence of formal child panels, the composition of the panel as stipulated by the Act does not make it feasible for districts to have them.

Mr Douglas Quartey, Programs Manager at YBF, said an attempt to build on the first phase of the project, YBF conducted a qualitative study on concerns raised in the first phase about the constitution and other issues related to child panels in the districts.

The Justice for Juveniles project started in 2014.

The forum was to discuss the findings and recommendations of its baseline study in the four project districts with stakeholders in the administration of justice

The study, which was funded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, was conducted in the New Juaben and Suhum municipalities in the Eastern Region and Agona West district and Cape Coast metropolitan in the Central region.

The study sought to find out the existence and constitution of Child Panels, and how the collaboration of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Police and the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) promoted access to justice for children and the challenges in the juvenile justice administration.

Mr Quartey said findings from the study showed that in most of the districts, there were no official child panels and that the existing panels did not also have the full complement of members as stipulated in the Children’s Act.

According to Act 560, child panels must comprise the Chairman of the Social Services sub-committee of the district assembly who shall be the chairman, a member of a women’s organisation, a representative of the Traditional Council, the district social worker, who shall be the secretary; a member of the Justice and Security Sub-Committee of the District Assembly; and two other citizens from the community of high moral character and proven integrity one of whom shall be an educationalist.

He noted that postponement of the 2014 district assembly elections and subsequent dissolution of all district assemblies have meant that there were no legally recognised child panels in the country at the moment.

Mr Quartey therefore recommended that the review of the legislation be made to allow persons other than the Chairman of the Social Services sub-committee of the district assembly to head the panels and for the constitution of the panels to use community leaders and members at the community level.

He also called for commitment to providing the necessary logistics for the activities of child panels since they were an integral part of promoting juvenile justice.

Mrs Comfort Asare, Acting Director of the Department of Social Welfare, said the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, has begun a work on the Justice for Children policy to address the shortfalls in the existing laws on children.

She noted that the DSW would coordinate cases involving children and collate data on such cases for easy access for policy makers and for planning purposes.

Mrs Asare said the policy would also address the composition of the child panels and funding of the panels, which was vested in the district assemblies.

The new policy, she said, would bring the child panels to the community level where community leaders and other members would sit on the panel and be the first port of call for cases involving children.