ROMA – Worldwide, the rate of children in detention is, on average, 28 per 100,000. And according to an expert appointed by the UN, Manfred Nowak – there are over seven million in the world who live in detention centers for refugees, in places of custody such as police stations, in prisons or other places of detention. Nowak’s study – from a few years ago – also notes that every year 300,000 children enter migrant centers in 80 countries. Children deprived of liberty who become invisible to the vast majority of society and whose fate represents a serious violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. They are children who belong to vulnerable groups, discriminated against, excluded and forgotten in our contemporary societies. They come from the poorest levels of society, belong to ethnic and religious minorities, indigenous populations, migrant or refugee families, are children with mental or physical disabilities, often separated or abandoned by their parents and forced to live on the streets.
Entry into the judicial systems. Minors come into contact with the justice system in different ways: as victims, as witnesses or because they are in conflict with the law or as parties to civil or administrative trials. Their encounter with the justice system, together with information about the circumstances that shape the environment in which they live, is usually recorded by the authorities and service providers who are part of the justice sector. This is essential information for monitoring and evaluating the performance of the justice system and for understanding the profile of children who come into contact with it.
Global and regional estimates. While across the world, it is estimated that on average there are 28 children per 100,000 in detention, on any given day in 2023, North America has the highest rate of minors in prison: 72 per 100,000: in East Asia and the Pacific the rate rises to 20 per 100,000 children. The global estimate is based on 160 countries, with data relating to the decade 2013 – 2023, covering 80% of the global population of minors-adolescents. This is information that comes from database of UNICEF, based on United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Eurostat, database TransMonEE and registers of national criminal justice institutions.
The riots in the streets and the arrests of teenagers. Recently, the site of Blackness published an article – signed by Antonella Sinopoli – on a case in Nigeria which, if nothing else, had the merit of attracting the attention of the media (although not exactly all of them) on the very serious violation of international law regarding the treatment of minors in prison. The news reported by Blackness he was referring to the release of 29 teenagers – all between 14 and 17 years old – arrested during protests last August against the economic policies of the Abuja government. The street riots – both in the capital Abuja and in the very populous Lagos (16 million inhabitants) – were aimed against the Nigerian president Bola Ahmed Tinubu who, publicly, had adopted an attitude of openness towards the demonstrators, while, however, the police instead showed harsh face of repression, leading to a 24-hour curfew.
The reasons for the protests in Nigeria. The main regions of the protests were (and still are) linked to the difficult economic situation of Africa’s most populous country (230 million inhabitants) and the way in which the government tried to resolve it. In the last year the government has made reforms that have not improved the situation at all: in fact there are still 84 million Nigerians (i.e. 37% of the population) who live below the poverty line, according to data released by World Food Programme. It should also be remembered that Nigeria is ranked 158th in theHuman Development Index out of 188 countries examined
The situation of juvenile prisons worldwide. In many countries, often, boys and girls are kept in cells together with adults. This is truly alarming information, but it is almost impossible to report in greater detail precisely because it is very difficult to find official news on the matter. All the more reason to be suspicious of the way children and adolescents, in many countries around the world, are treated once they come into contact with the justice systems.
The figures concerning the US prison system. There is therefore only the last report of theUnicef That last year provided precisely the estimate of 28 children or adolescents imprisoned per 100,000 inhabitants, worldwide. According to information provided by theOffice of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Preventionnow almost 4 years ago, (in 2021) there were approximately 25 thousand children (both male and female) under the age of 18 in US prisons. Ten years earlier, in 2011, it seems there were 60 thousand. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the complaint by some NGOs for the defense of minors according to which up to 85% of detained children were (and perhaps still are) detained in adult prisons and that a very high percentage of young people behind bars it’s black.
The fate of detained African adolescents. However, the fate of African children and adolescents for whom fate reserves the experience of prison seems different. From the report ofUNICEF no data of any kind emerge in this regard, so – at the moment – it is legitimate to believe that the children for whom prison is reserved, in many African countries, seem destined to fall into a cesspool from which few of them will be able to escape. And, if they ever succeed, life will be even more difficult and impervious for them than their peers who have not had that experience. A report Of Human Rights Watch underlines how the judicial systems of the 54 African nations act arbitrarily, for example keeping minors in prison for periods of time that are absolutely disproportionate to the crimes being contested which would require very different treatments. In Zambia, for example, the lack of jurisprudence applied to juvenile justice means that children can wait months or even years for their cases to be concluded.
The “holes” in the registry system: children treated like adults. Another major problem in the management of public administration in many African nations is that of birth certification. In short, there are children who are not registered when they are born and therefore as soon as, for some reason, they cross the threshold of the criminal justice system, they are treated as if they were adults.
Detentions at all ages for “national security”. To all this another aggravating element must be added: that according to which many detentions are imposed for reasons of national security. The arrests made in Nigeria last August – recalled by the article by Blackness – I am among them. What’s more: the number of children and adolescents who, again in the name of national security, are kept in prison in Afghanistan, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Iraq, in Somalia, in Syria, on charges of belonging to to armed subversive groups.
Life sentences and death penalty for minors. In 73 states around the world – according to estimates from a few years ago – people have been sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes committed when they were under 18; another 49 states allowed sentences of 15 years or more and 90 states 10 years or more. As regards the death penalty, recent years have seen constant progress towards abolition in Africa: Chad (May 2020), Sierra Leone (July 2021), Central African Republic (May 2022), Equatorial Guinea (August 2022), Zambia (December 2022), Ghana (July 2023), Zimbabwe (last February).
Capital punishment figures. But there are countries in which it is still executed as well as being sentenced. Among these is Somalia. Second Amnesty International in 2023 there were 1,153 executions globally, a 31% increase compared to 883 in 2022. The countries with the highest number of executions are China (where the exact number remains a state secret) Iran, Saudi Arabia (with the highest numbers), Somalia and USA. At the end of 2023, there were at least 27,687 people on death row worldwide. And from 1990 to 2022, the NGO recorded 163 executions of children in 10 countries. These include the Democratic Republic of Congo (performed in 2020 on a 14-year-old boy), Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan.
Children imprisoned in the United States. The United States – it appears – is in first place in the industrialized world for the number and percentage of children locked up in juvenile detention institutions, with over 60,000 children in such facilities, according to data dating back to 2011. Data collected by Annie E. Casey Foundationwhich deals with juvenile justice and other children’s rights issues. The United States also sends an extraordinary number of children to adult prisons and jails, more than 95,000 in 2011, according to estimates Human Rights Watch and of theAmerican Civil Liberties Unionwith few meaningful education or rehabilitation opportunities.
Amnesty: the executions of minors. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, one of three collectively named international treaties International Charter of Human Rightsprovides that the death penalty “shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons under the age of eighteen years.” Despite this explicit requirement, several countries around the world continue to execute prisoners for crimes they are said to have committed before the age of eighteen.
Iran is the most prolific perpetrator of minors in the world. The UN Secretary-General’s August 2015 report on human rights in Iran expressed ongoing concern “over the frequency of executions, particularly for drug-related crimes and of juveniles.” The UN report said that although no official data was available to the public, 160 minors were reportedly sentenced to death in the country in 2014.
But it is not the only country that sends minors to their deaths. Amnesty International reports that military courts in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region continue to carry out child executions. Five boys, all aged between 14 and 17, were executed on 8 April 2017 for their alleged involvement in the killing of three senior government officials by the armed group Al-Shabaab. Michelle Kagari, Deputy Regional Director of Amnesty International for East Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes, said: “These five boys were executed following a fundamentally flawed trial in which they were tortured into confessing, denied access to a lawyer and the additional protections afforded to minors, and tried in a military court”.
And in Saudi Arabia… The human rights organization Reprieve reports that Saudi Arabia executed at least four minors in January 2016 during a mass execution of 47 people. Second Reprieveone of the four, Ali al-Ribh, had been arrested at school, tortured into falsely confessing his involvement in anti-government protests, and executed. The organization reports that three more Saudi minors, arrested following the 2012 pro-democracy protests, face execution after being “tortured into signing false ‘confessions,’ which were used in a secret anti-terrorism court to convict and sentence them to death.”
Here are the execution methods used in 2023
Decapitation
Hanging
Lethal injection
Shooting
#Children #prison #world #suffer #death #penalty
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How do educational and rehabilitation programs in juvenile detention centers vary internationally, and what are some of the most effective models that contribute to successful reintegration into society?
1. What are some of the most pressing issues faced by children in prison around the world, and how do these issues differ by region and country?
2. How are children treated in juvenile detention centers in different parts of the world, and what reforms have been proposed or implemented to improve their living conditions?
3. What role does race play in the incarceration of children and adolescents, particularly in the United States, and how does this intersect with socio-economic status?
4. How effective are international treaties and organizations like UNICEF in advocating for the rights of incarcerated children, and what more could be done to protect their well-being?
5. Why do some countries continue to impose life sentences and the death penalty on minors, and what are the long-term consequences of these practices on both the individual and society as a whole?
6. What are some of the most successful strategies for reducing the number of children in prison and improving their outcomes post-release?
7. How can authorities work towards preventing youths from entering the criminal justice system in the first place, particularly in areas with high rates of incarceration?
8. What role do human rights organizations like Amnesty International and local NGOs play in advocating for the rights of children in prison, and what more needs to be done to hold governments accountable for their treatment of these vulnerable individuals?
