Justice for Children
Justice for Children:
Background
26 years, since 1991 we have been a leading actor in the justice sector and have significantly contributed to all justice sector reform processes after the civil war that ended in 2000. Throughout these years, we contribute to specific child justice policies and strategies as well as to ensure that child rights and child justice issues are prominently embedded in all justice reforms, frameworks and strategies. In 2024, following the expiration of the Sierra Leone’s Justice Sector Reform Strategy and Investment Plan IV (JSRSIP 2018-2023), the government of Sierra Leone developed the Justice Sector Reform Strategy (2024 -2030) to build upon the achievement of the JSRISP as well as efforts towards Sierra Leone’s attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal 16’s targets for peace, justice and inclusion (SDG16+) by 2030.
Unfortunately, despite this tremendous progress, access to justice remains problematic, especially for children in vulnerable situations and from deprived communities.
More boys than girls got in conflict with the law in both 2023 and 2024 and on the average over three quarter of them were detained by the police either given open detention or locked up in the cells mostly together with adults. Unfortunately, it was common to see a child detained in a police cell for more than 5 days, which violates both local (72 hours) and international standards (24 hours) even for non-felonious crimes like larceny.The Sierra Leone Constitution allows longer police detention of suspects up to 10 days only for cases that fall under capital offences (example homicide) and offences punishable by life imprisonment. In some cases children arrested and taken to the police were taken to the police cell without interrogation and it took more than a day before they were taken out and interviewed and then continued to stay in detention.
Generally, police handling of children was appalling from arrest, to interrogation and detention in cells under horrible conditions. The rights of children in conflict with the law have been violated by police officers mostly of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) most of whom have undergone no child rights training. Though section 57 of the Child Rights Act 2007 mandates the Family Support Unit of the Sierra Leone Police to investigate all matters concerning children whether as victims or in conflict with the law, in practice, the CID usually usurps this responsibility from the FSU. The FSU are relatively better in handling children and the police officers within the FSU should work alongside social workers from the Ministry of Social Welfare. Common violations and unlawful practices documented at the police include:
o Interviewing children without their parents/guardian or social workero Undue and prolonged detention including detention of children in cells in the midst of adults who bullied them o Torture (being threatened to confess) including allowing complainants to get access to children in police custody and threaten them. This was reported by children at the Remand Home in Freetown who experienced this when they were in police custody
o Lack of adequate hygiene and food supplies
o Subjectively giving ages to children
o Subjecting children under the age of criminal responsibility (14 years) through criminal investigation as well as detaining them
In 2023 and 2024, 171 children and 122 children respectively were detained at the three penal institutions in Sierra Leone. On the average, about 15 to 25 children are usually detained at the Remand Home in Freetown and Bo respectively awaiting trial. The Bo Remand Home also serves children from Kenema, Pujehun and Moyamba districts due to lack of any child detention facilities in these districts. However, children who are usually brought from Pujehun, Kenema and Moyamba and kept in Remand Home in Bo would hardly be taken back to those places to attend court trials due to lack of transportation service and they often get stocked in the system. They are usually abandoned at the Remand Home until their court files get missing and their problems become more complicated. In Makeni, children on trial are usually detained at police cells. This is also practiced in Kenema and other places in the provinces and the practice is unlawful.
Unfortunately, some children have been tried in open courts with no respect to their right to privacy either because they were jointly charged and tried with adult(s) or were given adult ages by the police. Wrong and inconsistent methods of age verification were observed in both 2023 and 2024. During pretrial investigations, the police officers usually use their discretion to record the age of a child whenever the child fails to present her/his birth certificate or other identity documentation and children who have bigger physical looks stand at higher chances of being given adult age and treated at adult until the case gets to the court where it might be challenged by a lawyer if the child is represented by a legal aid lawyer. Even worse is the prosecution and trial of children below the age of criminal responsibility (14 years), which contravenes both international laws and the Sierra Leone Child Rights Act 2007. However, the Sexual Offences Act amended 2019 allows children under 14 years accused of crimes that fall under sexual offences to be brought before the law for investigation and trial.
Interventions
We held direct advocacy and lobby meeting with the Attorney General and Minister or Deputy Minister of Justice; presented issues at high level inter agency meetings like the Child Welfare Committee meeting hosted by the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs and the Child Justice Taskforce meeting hosted by the Justice Sector Coordinating Office; organised media programs including issuing press release, organize press conference and carryout television and radio discussions; mobilised other CSOs through the Child Rights Coalition to engage public authorities and decision makers concerned; and communicated issues with influential partners like UNICEF that can support government’s reform programs.Our Achievements:
o On a daily basis, our trained field officers, paralegals and social workers visit law enforcement and judicial institutions – police stations, courts and detention facilities across Freetown, Bo, Kenema and Makeni to monitor and document the situations of children in conflict and/or in contact with the law and how are treated or cases progressed, giving consideration to both national and international minimum standards provided in the legal instruments. During monitoring visits, we interrogate both children in the custody of the law enforcement and judicial officials, the officials themselves and observe everything and record findings to prepare advocacy messages, targeting different stakeholders and decision makers, the media and also meeting platforms to trigger policy and practice change in the interest of children in conflict and in contact with the law. The following, indicates children in conflict with the law detained by the police (both FSU and CID) for both 2023 and 2024: Children in conflict with the law detained by the police (both FSU and CID)
| Area | Male | Female | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| Freetown | 913 | 1034 | 41 | 52 | 954 | 1075 |
| Bo | 512 | 578 | 17 | 25 | 529 | 603 |
| Makeni | 371 | 398 | 15 | 19 | 386 | 417 |
| Kenema | 412 | 398 | 18 | 19 | 430 | 417 |
| Total | 2208 | 2408 | 91 | 115 | 2299 | 2512 |
o Expansion of courts- more courts have been established in Freetown, Bo and Kenema and other places with more magistrates, judges and state counsels recruited. Though the addition is not enough, it will help in reducing workload of existing courts and improve period of adjudication of matters
o Review of the Child Rights Act to address legal gaps concerning child justice and other issues. The new Child Rights bill is more comprehensive with new provisions that meet minimum international standards, which if passed into law will address major gaps in existing laws on child justice
o The rate of detention of children at police stations has significantly reduced despite the fact that major problems regarding treatment of children in police hands still prevail. The police is also now more approachable in negotiating for the release of children in conflict with the law as well as resorting to alternative dispute resolution practices compared to before. This is due to an increase in monitoring and accountability mechanisms.
