Detained Children Suffer Abuse and Torture

INTRODUCTION

A report launched by PREDA Social Development Foundation uncovers the horrific conditions in Philippine children’s detention centers, police cells where youths and minors are suffering abuse and even torture. The children, guilty of no crime other than homelessness and begging or sniffing industrial glue, are even detained for weeks in some holding cells of the government social services. This well-documented report is based on sound research and the eyewitness testimony of Filipino social workers, paralegal officers and international human rights researchers and lawyers and the testimony of child victims of human rights abuses. The text is supported by graphic photographs from inside the jails covering decades of abuse and the hand-drawn pictures of the children themselves. The full report is available on www.preda.org and the ITV/CNN video, that first revealed the horror of children in prison to the world, is on Youtube.

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The various detention cells all over Metro Manila and parts of Central Luzon reveal where children have been incarcerated frequently in violation of their human rights, and contrary to Philippine laws and international conventions and protocols to which the Philippines is a signatory. It is also based on court documents and field reports and the personal testimonies of the children and youth after they were released from detention.

These detention centers are closed to the media and the public and even researchers and human rights workers are told to get clearance from the highest authorities. The PREDA demands that the government close these centers and establish progressive non-punishment value formation educational homes open to the public that Filipinos can be proud of. And asks: If there is nothing to hide then why close the centers to the NGOs working to help the children in conflict with the law?

Since the passing into law of the Comprehensive Juvenile Justice Welfare Bill in 2006 (R.A.9344) and the approval of the implementing Rules and Regulations, there have been significant positive changes in the way children in conflict with the law are treated by some police knowledgeable about the new laws. They turn over the minors in-conflict with the law to the DSWD or call a NGO or the parents to take custody. But more officials violate the law and detain children some as young as 11 and 12 years old in detention cells unfit for humans, sometimes with adults even though it is contrary to law. Those 15 and above are held with adults and not charged within the legally specified time of 8 hours. The rights of the child to legal council, legal rights to a medical check-up, their parents to be informed, separated from adults are frequently violated.

PREDA operates a home for children in conflict with the law; it is an open center, no guards, gates, walls or punishment. It is a human development and value formation center based on respect, dignity, and affirming and empowering the children and youth. The center’s legal office has succeeded in having 80% of the cases against the children dismissed and has a 90% successful retention rate of the children that are referred by the courts and social workers. This is a happy home in comparison with those held in municipal detention centers and CRADLE and suffer abuse by the guards that amounts in some cases to torture and degrading inhuman treatment.

The younger inmates are also physically and sexually assaulted by older detainees.

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