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- Showing 4 posts filed under: Region: Africa [–] published between Apr 01, 2010 and Apr 30, 2010 [Show all]
Making sure no child offender is left behind
From the article by Glynnis Underhill in the Mail and Guardian Online:
South Africa had finally fallen in line with the trend of most other countries, including several in Africa, which, for many years, have had separate laws dealing with child offenders.
"The Child Justice Act is new. In South African law we have never previously had a separate law that sets out how to deal with child offenders," said Ann Skelton, director of the Centre for Child Law at the University of Pretoria and an authority on the subject.
"We have previously had to make do with the Criminal Procedure Act, which is the general criminal justice system for all offenders."
The Child Justice Act has established a criminal justice system for minors that expands on and entrenches the principles of restorative justice in the criminal justice system, Skelton said. It ensures children's responsibility and accountability for crimes they have committed. Skelton applauded the Act for placing an increased emphasis on the effective rehabilitation and reintegration of children to minimise the risk of them reoffending.
Apr 29, 2010 Juvenile, Government, Region: Africa, Country:South Africa
More on Restorative Justice at the UN Crime Congress
Day two at the 12th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice didn’t yield as many comments of restorative justice, but there were some interesting statements made especially by the delegates from South Africa and Peru. On 13 April, the Plenary continued its discussion on Children, Youth, and Crime with more member states as well as non-governmental organisations and independent experts.
Apr 14, 2010 Juvenile, Country:Peru, Country:South Africa, Region: Africa, Region: Latin America, Correspondent:Lynette Parker, United Nations
A safe place to call home: Securing the right of Rwandan genocide survivors to resettlement outside Rwanda
from Noam Schimmel's article in The Journal Of Humanitarian Assistance:
Genocide survivors in Rwanda have great difficulty receiving refugee status and right of asylum to allow them to settle outside of the country. The standard reply that they receive when making queries about the possibility of immigrating to Europe, Canada, or the United States is that there is no longer persecution on the basis of ethnicity in Rwanda, and thus there is no legal merit to their request.
It is true that there is no government sanctioned persecution on the basis of ethnicity in Rwanda today. However, social persecution, discrimination, marginalization, threats, and intimidation towards survivors of the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi prevail on a popular level amongst many Rwandans.
Genocide survivors are targeted for physical and psychological torture and have been attacked and killed in various parts of the country. Fifteen years after the genocide many lack physical and psychological security.
Apr 09, 2010 Country:Rwanda, Region: Africa, National Reconciliation
Restorative justice and the Rwandan genocide
from Lisa Rea's interview with Dan Van Ness in UNICRI's Freedom from Fear magazine:
Do you see healing occurring in the victims? And in the offenders as well? How does the community respond?
The healing process is a long and involved one. I think that Umuvumu Tree Project has helped in that process in several ways.
Apr 07, 2010 Country:Rwanda, Region: Africa, National Reconciliation, Correspondent:Lisa Rea
