The African Child deserves a fair justice system

OPINION

As Uganda joins the rest of the continent to commemorate the Day of the African Child on June 16, it is time to bring to the front line a discussion about children that may be at risk of being left behind.  

This day finds us in precarious times as immediate effects of COVID-19 are already being felt, especially on the economy and social services. As the cases rise so do the negative effects. People's livelihoods have been diminished with long-term impacts.

 The World Bank projects recessions for all economies in 2020, pushing about 40 to 60 million people into extreme poverty and contraction in economic growth of 2.8% for sub-Saharan Africa.  

About 56% of children in Uganda experience multi-dimensional poverty, according to the Government and (UNICEF 2019) report on child poverty. This situation is expected to worsen due to the impact of COVID-19. 

The Government is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) and went on to domesticate these legal instruments. In 2016, Uganda amended the Children Act strengthening the legislation and is developing regulations to operationalise it. 

At the onset of the government-imposed lockdown to slow down the spread of COVID-19, the gender ministry developed and disseminated the social sector COVID-19 intervention plan. Alongside this were specific standard operating procedures for institutions. These are indeed great strides in the right direction, but bottlenecks remain in the realisation of a child-friendly justice system.   

UNICEF defines child-friendly justice as "justice systems which guarantee the respect and the effective implementation of all children's rights. It is justice that is accessible, age-appropriate, speedy, diligent, adapted to and focused on the needs and rights of the child". Children come into contact or conflict with the law through criminal cases or civil cases regarding adoption, family separation or administrative matters on the management of properties of deceased parents and carers. 

The 2019 Uganda Police annual crime report highlights that 4.9% of cases reported were child-related offences with domestic violence and defilement being among the most prominent crimes. The media is also awash with sad tales of increasing similar cases. 

COVID-19 is exacerbating this impact on the economy and the social fabric of our country. Effects on the family are evident in terms of limited food intake, hunger, violence and limited access to basic social services and they continue to bite. Children are out of school with most of them facing stress and anxiety. All these are precursors to domestic violence and violence against children. It is projected that this situation will worsen. As the cases increase, concerns arise regarding the preparedness of the formal justice system to take on such cases in a child-friendly manner. 

The Government COVID-19 response plan did not consider the Judiciary or the probation and social welfare officers as essential workers which has resulted in a big gap in preventing and responding to such cases. Whereas institutionalisation of children should be the last resort, it is inevitable that some cases will still end up in the formal justice system. 

The justice system in Uganda was initially designed for adults, is expensive and in many cases puts the burden of proof on the complainant. Age determination for children, especially for borderline cases at 17 years is difficult in the absence of birth certificates as only 11% of children in Uganda have a birth certificate, UNICEF 2019. 

Since the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be here longer than anticipated, the Government should make long-term considerations to strengthen both the formal and informal child justice system. The Police Annual report 2019 attributed the decrease in crime rate to the Government's investment in anti-crime infrastructure and community engagement. Such an investment needs to be replicated in the justice and social development sectors to establish a lasting child-friendly justice system. 

As the war to defeat COVID-19 rages on, the Day of the African Child reminds us that there is another war to win in order to achieve a child-rights based approach to delivering justice to children. 

The writer is a child protection specialist at ChildFund Uganda