• Juvenile justice

Juvenile justice

There has been increasing attention by the government of Afghanistan and civil society to juvenile justice reform in Afghanistan in recent years. Yet, there remain gaps between the Juvenile Code and the international standards and norms on children in conflict with the law. This document outlines a study that was initiated in order to assist the Government of Afghanistan in fulfilling their duties towards children in conflict with law and also to urge for full implementation of the Juvenile Code.

The study shows that children in detention face various rights violations, including maltreatment, lack of access to education and health services. Also, lack of due process in juvenile justice system appears to be a serious concern. A punitive and retributive approach to juvenile justice seems to be still predominant in Afghanistan. The authors strongly advocate for measures to prevent and reduce detention or imprisonment of children and prevention programmes involving vulnerable families, communities and children at risk. The recommend that further investment is needed to prevent children coming into conflict with the law than just to assist children already in detention. Additional recommendations include:

• review and upgrade the juvenile code, develop rules and regulations for juvenile rehabilitation
• programmes and guidelines for social service providers of juvenile rehabilitation programmes
• establish juvenile prosecution offices and juvenile special courts in all provinces
• establish national support network for administration of juvenile justice
• establish specialised police units for juvenile justice
• develop child friendly notice of rights and entitlements for children in conflict with the law
• increase external monitoring of police custody and juvenile facilities.
  
  
  

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