Africa-Press – Botswana. There is need to review the Children’s Act of 2009 to include new issues and challenges facing children, Chairperson of National Children’s Consultative Forum,
Unaludo Issac, has pleaded with government.
Speaking during the just ended Child Friendly Justice symposium in Gaborone recently, she said the justice system needed to be reimaged, noting that they needed a system that was supportive and sensitive to the developmental stages of children.
Unaludo, a Form 4 student at Lobatse Secondary School, delivered a report representing the views of children across Botswana said among other things that needed to be reviewed included issues such as cyber bulling and online child sexual exploitation.
She pointed out that they desire a system that regarded children as first priority in all circumstances. She urged the justice system to consider a one-stop-centre with nurses, police and social workers in one place saying that in that way, children would not have to travel from one place to the other after experiencing trauma.
She called for children’s cases to be prioritized in courts, adding they should not be processed like adult cases. She raised concern of few social workers, police officers and magistrates as the reason children cases take long to be processed.
“Some children are defiled at a young age, only to be reminded of the trauma many years later,”she said.
Unaludo also called for the bail conditions involving children to be revised, adding that children urge for stiffer sentences to be introduced to discourage the other would-be perpetrators.
She called for an introduction of witness protection programmes to protect children from being re-traumatized by perpetrators after getting bail.
“Facing perpetrators at court is intimidating therefore we advocate that we as children, be protected so that we should not come into contact at court,” she said.
She highlighted that it was important that children be prepared before taken to court.
Unaludo also called for free representation and assistance in regard to legal matters be available to all children in all circumstance arguing that in cases where parents were not able to pay for legal representative cases die a natural death while the perpetrator walks free.
She said the justice system had many issues that needed to be re-imaged for children and that a collective effort was needed from different stakeholders to be met.
United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Representative, Dr Joan Matji, said UNICEF was working closely with government to create a protective and nurturing environment that would help children to realize their full potential, adding it was important to listen and act on the rights of children to build a better Botswana.
She acknowledged the British High Commission and Embassy of Japan for their support to address issues of priority on children across Botswana. She said their support has been instrumental in facilitating child friendly initiatives and were now actively exploring a child friendly justice system.
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