Juvenile Justice in Nepal
With a Reference to CWIN's Experience Working
on Children in Conflict with the Laws

By Gauri Pradhan

Introduction:

With lots of efforts and movements in different sections of the society, voices for the rights of the child are being risen in both national and international arenas these days. Though we regard children the " foundation stone of the nation", we generally do not behave children well in practice. Children have been entitled as the" future stars" and the " rising sun" in most of the societies since the time immortal, however, children in the world are facing many problems regarding their rights to development, survival and protection. Children's right to participation in the social and creative works and in the decision which affect their lives directly are still an ideal thing in most of the society.

Children were used to be neglected and their issues were undermined in most of our societies. Whenever, children's issues had been taken into consider, it was guided by the principle of charity and welfare. For many years, the issues of children remained as an welfare areas and the rights of the children were hardly discussed in the public life. The rights of the children had been raised often in different historical perspective in our world, however, the issues related to their problem could not become a political agenda till the "Convention on the Rights of the Child" (UN-CRC) was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989. Since then the rights of the child have been emerged as a powerful political agenda in national, regional and international level.

While working in the areas of the rights of the children, we should not forget at any moment that we are dealing with the successor of the future. But, a large number of the world child population is living and working in the most difficult circumstances. Statistics regarding the plight of children revealed the fact that there are 250 million child labour, 100 million street children, 1.0 million children in prostitution, 35.00 million refugee women and children who are victimized by wars and 10.0 million women and child victims of domestic violence in the world. Besides, there are a large number of children are survived in the circumstances where they are in conflict with the law.

This paper is mainly focused on the situation and problem of juvenile justice system in Nepal, with a special reference to CWIN's working experiences with children who are in conflict with the law as it is mentioned in the title. In this paper, I have tried my best to share some of our experiences we gained by our work while working with children involved in different forms of crime or delinquencies. Besides, this will also give you an idea of the CWIN approaches which have been applied in its programme for children who are living and working in the most difficult circumstances. This is an example which tells you the importance of socialization process of children in an informal sector, where children, involved in delinquencies are not only socialized and re-educated but the formal juvenile justice system is also intervened through different researches and advocacy in action for the best interest of the child.

Realities and Challenges regarding Juvenile Justice:

2.1: Legal Definition of Children:

The " Children's Act, 1992 " defines, " Child" means every human being below the age of 16 years. But, the Labour Act, 1992 puts the age limit of the child at 14 years whereas the Nepal Citizenship Act, 1963 considers a person below 16 years of age as minor. Similarly, the Civil Code (Muluki Ain), 1963 consider the legal age of marriage for boys at 18 years and for girls at 16 years with parents consent and 21 years for boys and 18 years for girls respectively with no consent of parents.

Law and Juvenile Justice:

Nepal has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In fact, it was among the first batch of nations to ratify this convention to protect and safeguard children's rights.

The article 40 of the Convention on "Administration of Juvenile Justice" prescribes:

"The rights of children alleged or recognised as having committed an offence to respect for their human rights and, in particular, to benefit from all aspects of the due process of law, including legal or other assistance in preparing and presenting their defence. The principle that recourse to judicial proceedings and institutional placements should be avoided wherever possible and appropriate."

The ratification of the Convention was followed by the adoption of the first children's law in the country - Child's Act 2048 which was enforced in 1992. This Act makes several provisions for the children in conflict with law.

2.2.1 Age of Complete Innocence:

The "Children's Act, 1992" states in its Article No. 11 that children below 10 years of age are not subject to any legal punishment and are pardoned for their acts against the law as they are innocent.

2.2.2 Age of Quasi Liability:

If similar rather illegal action is done by children among 10 to 14 years of age they are subject to imprison for the period of 6 months maximum or are persuaded to reform their behaviour.

But in the case of children between age of 14 to 16 years, they are subject to partial or half of the punishment to the adult criminals.

2.2.3 Age of Complete Responsibility:

Children who attended 16 year and above are regarded as the state of full responsibility and must face the consequence of his/her delinquency.

Article No. 15 of the "Children's Act, 1992" also states, no child shall be treated inhumanely such as; they should not be chained, handcuffed and shackled nor they should be put into isolation or with the adult prisoners.

Magnitude and Problem of Juvenile Justice:

Children in conflict with laws is one of the serious problems in the society. The nature and magnitude of the problem have been changing according to the change in the society, however, it exists from time immortal. Since the beginning of the conception of the rights of the child, children in conflict with laws has been regarded as the children of the especially difficult circumstances and they are protected by the laws. Even in the old days, children involved in the crime are treated as innocent criminals in all kinds of religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Muslim, Taoism, etc. . Officially, Nepal is regarded as only one Hindu Kingdom of the World, however, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal has granted every Nepali citizen the right to religion. Hence, Hinduism and Buddhism are the main religions in the country though, other religions such as Muslim and Christianity are also officially recognized in Nepal.

Nepali society is primarily influenced by the philosophy of Hinduism and Buddhism in its every day life. Our life style, culture, customs and traditions are guided by Hindu Jurisdiction and so is the case of juvenile justice. The principle of juvenile justice is that the child should not be considered as a criminal but a person who needs special love, care and treatment for resolution of his/her problem. This principle is based on the socialization and reformation philosophy. Therefore, children who are involved in conflict with laws should not be exposed to the trials of usual criminals. In the juvenile justice system, children are brought to both institutional and non-institutional treatments to prevent and control the children in conflict with laws.

At present, Nepal is undergoing through a painful process of social change. After the restoration of democracy in 1989, we have been trying our best to exercise every sort of experiment in all sphere of life such as economic development, social and political change and human rights. After the ratification of the UN-CRC, Nepal introduced the "Children’s Act 1992", which was the first comprehensive children’s rights act in Nepal. This act has covered a wide range of areas to ensure the basic rights of the children and has made different provisions for the juvenile justice, too. Unfortunately, though the " Children’s Act, 1992 " was put into enforcement long time before, it is one of the most inactive acts in the history of " democratic Nepal ". So far the implementation of juvenile justice is concerned, I think we are lost some where. On the one hand, we are forgetting the positive parts of the traditional way of juvenile justice and on the other hand we are also not able to translate the modern jurisdiction system for children. In fact, we are no where.

Children in Nepal are regarded as a " gift of the god " and they are entitled to the " future of the country ", but children in general are living and working in the most difficult circumstances in this country. If we look at the statistics of UNICEF, of every 1,000 children born in Nepal, seven die on their first day of life, an additional 16 by the end of the first week, another 30 by the end of the first month and another 54 by the end of the first year. About 192 death occurs every day, predominantly of causes that are preventable or mainly manageable. The statistic of CBS/HMG/Nepal also shows that out of the 7,256,367 children under 14, 37.26% children of the age group 0 - 4, 35.26% of the age group 5 - 9 and 27.48% children of the age group 10 - 14. Above 90% children of Nepal reside in the rural areas and about 8% live in the urban areas and rest inhabitant in the densely populated southern terai. The available data on the children under 14 shows that the total number of boy is 3,226,012 and that of the girl is 2,984,960. According to the population projection of CBS/HMG, the total child population under 14 year has reached 90,98,558 (as on 22 June 1996). According to the National Nutrition Status Survey 1975, the 65% of the children suffer from the general malnutrition and 5% from the acute malnutrition. The recent record shows that there is no encouraging progress on this since then and still over 50% (1995) of the total children of Nepal suffer from malnutrition. Similarly, educational status of Nepali children is also very poor. More than 60% of the school aged children still do not have an access to school education. Those who are fortunate to go to schools are also subject to the common drop outs. In brief, Children in Nepal are facing a serious problem to preserve and protect their right to survival, protection, development and participation in their every day life.

Many researches and survey studies have revealed the fact that children in conflict with laws is the consequence of economic, social, cultural and psychological problems of the society. Many criminologists and juvenile justice experts have also proved that child delinquency is also a bi-product of social and family atmosphere and it can be a family hereditary. In our country, children are so easily exposed to many areas which are not in favour of the child development. Social problems such as child marriage, child labour, children in debt bondage, child migration and other socio-cultural exploitation of children are very common in this country. In the urban areas, there is uncontrolled growth of population and expansion of the city is so random and hit-or-miss. This has also caused a casual growth of slums and shanty towns in most of the urban areas in Nepal.

Comparatively, Nepal has a very small scale of children in conflict with laws problem in the SAARC region. In the rural areas, children are involved in petty crimes such as stealing, kleptomania, running away, sexual offense etc. . But in the urban areas, children’s involvement in different types of crime is increasing so rapidly. Most of the children in urban areas are found involved in different types of crimes such as: thieving, pick-pocketing, robbery, sexual abuse, child prostitution, drug abuse, arson and public offense. A survey study undertaken by CWIN in 1996 has exposed that the children of 12-13 age group are the one who have involved most in different forms of delinquencies. Out of 100 street children involved in crime surveyed by CWIN, the interrelation between children in conflict with laws and their age is 38.57% by 15-16 years of age group, 28.58% by 14-15 years of age group, 25.71% by 12-13 years of age group, 05.71% by 10-11 years of age group and 01.43% by 08-09 years of age group respectively. Regarding the treatment of Police to the children involved in crimes, 81.43% children were arrested and detained in police custody and they were maltreated and tortured there. According to the survey report, 35.71% were beaten during interrogation, 11.43 were beaten and forced to labour, 07.14% were threatened and abused, 02.86% were kept starving, 21.43% were deported to the city border and 02.86% were sent to adult prisons.

Though there is new law for the administration of juvenile justice in Nepal, most of the cases are either unreported or resolved in the local and community level. Some of the community approach for the prevention and control of child delinquency and juvenile justice is still very appropriate, however, there are also so many examples of community or local justice system which violate the rights of the child. Need of present time is to inspire the positive parts and discourage the negative parts of the traditional justice system, so that we can strengthen the juvenile justice system in an appropriate way in this country.

The first civil code in Nepal was introduced in 1853 AD and was amended in 1955 AD. In 1963 AD, the then partyless Panchayat system introduced the "New Civil Code" (Naya Muluki Ain) which was regarded as rather a progressive step in the movement for the social liberation. From the inception of the first civil code, the child in conflict with laws had been divided into three different categories viz. age of complete innocence, age of quasi responsibility and age of complete responsibility. The present juvenile justice system is also based on the same principle though there has been so many new provisions arranged for the protection of the rights of the child. As mentioned before, the "Children’s Act, 1992" is the first extensive children’s law in Nepal, however, the effectiveness of its enforcement in action is questionable. Because, so many provisions regarding the administration of juvenile justice are still locked up within the book of law. No one knows when it will come out and will be translated into an action.

Illegal Detention of Children:

Though the issue of rights of the child has been gradually converted into a political agenda these days, the level of social awareness in this regard is yet very conventional. People working in the field of administration of juvenile justice system are also not free from this and because of their constraints in understanding the rights of the child, many children suffer in a difficult circumstance.

The Children’s Act, 1992 prohibits for illegal detention, torture and any form of bad treatment which hampers to the child development, however the law enforcing agencies do not seem serious in this regard. Reports and survey studies have revealed the fact that there are many children who are the victims of illegal arrest, illegal detention, imprisoned with adult prisoners, physical-mental and psychological torture. Legally speaking, there are very rare cases of children who are brought into the criminal justice, however, many under aged children are found detained and imprisoned in a "legal-illegal way". Unofficially, most of the police officers admit that they have to take action against serious cases in an "legal-illegal way" due to lack of facilities for children in conflict with law.

In 1996, there were reportedly 174 cases of children in custody and jail, including a four-year old boy Pawan Kumar Magar who was impriosoned in Sindhuili jail. A large number of young children arrested from schools and homes in relation to the murder of a policeman on February 1, 1996 in Kuvinde Village Development Committee (VDC) of Sindhupalchok district. Among the arrested children were class III students Durga Pd. Sapkota 9, Uddhav Sapkota age 10, class VII student Khil Pd. Nepal 11, class VIII student Samunder Sapkota 15 and so on. Similarly a class III student Gopal Sunuwar 9, Morbang School, of Rukum district and Bir Bahadur 13 also from the same district was arrested and imprisoned. During their detention they were tortured and inhumanely treated in the police custody. This is just a tip of the iceberg. There are so many such problems exist in our society which are neither recorded nor reported for public knowledge.

In the first week of August 1997, a group of 15 street based working children were arrested from the airport area in Kathmandu. They were tried at the Kathmandu District Court and send to the Central Prison. The children in the age group 10-15 were arrested on charge of creating public nuisance and prosecuted under the Public Nuisance Act. Their offense warranted a penalty of up to Rs. 2,500 which they needed to pay. Failing to do so, they were required to stay in prison for at least 6 months.

The children were just rounded up while working or walking on the street, accused of creating nuisance and public trouble. After arrest, they were kept in the Hanumadhoka Custody for five days before being send up to the Central Jail which is the jail for seasoned adult criminals.

It has been learnt that most of the imprisoned children are migrated from the rural areas and do not have contact with their families. A few children, who had their parents/guardians in Kathmandu were visited by them. Three children were lucky to get free when their parents were able to pay the bail. For the rest of the street children either homeless or runaways and who made a meager living by ragpicking or begging, it is unthinkable to be able to pay the bail money. As a result, they are languishing in prison along with the adult criminals.

The Challenges of Juvenile Justice:

On the one hand, country like Nepal is advocating for the rights of the child, and on the other, violations of the rights of the child by the state are increasing the day by day. This is not only contradictory thing to each other but also conflicting reality of the rights of the child movement. This sort of problem is also found in the areas of juvenile justice. As the state party of the UN CRC and a number of international human rights instruments, HMG/Nepal has got many commitments and obligation to ensure the rights of the children. This is also the same in the case of national and regional commitments and obligations of the HMG/Nepal on the rights of the child. The juvenile justice system is an essential mechanism to ensure and protect the rights of the children, however, this has been also going through a system of "systemless", where there is not only a lack of vision but also lack of political commitment in action.

As mentioned above, there are lots of problems and challenge of juvenile justice in Nepal. This is a part of overall socio-political situation and problem of this country. We need to think seriously and work accordingly if we are sincerely committed for the cause of the rights of the child. For this, we need to perceive the magnitude of the problem and the challenges ahead in the road to juvenile justice. In the conclusion based on the CWIN experiences working with the children at risk, the following are some of the major problems of juvenile justice in Nepal:

2.5.1 Lack of enough social awareness

Lack of enough social awareness of the people in the areas of the rights of the child and child development is a major problem in the society. A majority of Nepali people are guided by conventional and conservative socio-ploitical outlook which are not in favour of the rights of the child in general. The existing outlook towards children is based on charity and welfare approach than empowerment approach. This has led to the Nepali society always depending upon others.

2.5.2 Lack of understanding to children

Children are the most vulnerable community of the human society. They can be ripped-off and suffered even by a small mistake of adults wherever it is. Though we love and care our children the most, our understanding towards children is very poor in all family, community, school, child care centre and even in the juvenile justice system. Unless we can understand children in their own way, we can not resolve the problems of children in a real sense. In this connection, we should not forget that working for children is just not charity it is action for social change.

2.5.3 "System of systemless"

As mentioned above, Nepal is going through a painful process of social transition these days. Our rural areas are still ruled by the social conservatism whereas the cities have been adopted into the so-called modernization. The situation is also the same in the case of "juvenile justice" system in Nepal. We have adopted the new ideas and new system to tackle the problem related to children, but, unfortunately neither we could give up the old tradition nor could we adopt the new system. Therefore, the present stage is regarded as the system of systemless.

2.5.4 Lack of facilities and training

The modern juvenile justice system requires a lot of facilities and programmes for the "best interest" of the child and this can not be understood without proper training and education. One of the major reasons for ineffective enforcement of the juvenile justice system in Nepal is the lack of facilities and training for the people working in the law enforcing agencies. Provisions such as juvenile court, child welfare home, child reformation centre, free legal aid etc. are stated in the law but there is no such facilities available in practice. Moreover, people working in the law enforcement agency also seem not well aware and trained to conduct such system.

2.5.5 Lack of political commitment in action

Transparency and public accountability are the main thrust of democracy, but the politics in Nepal is governed by money power and muscle power than the political belief and principle. In such a situation there is no meaning of political commitment to strengthen democracy. Political commitments have become an attractive dream selling scheme for the politicians and political parties in Nepal. This is the same in the case of the rights of the child and human rights in Nepal. HMG/Nepal had adopted the Children’s Act 1992 to exhibit its commitment on the rights of the child. There are five different Governments who have ruled the country in last seven years. But their political commitment is just fake dream. Over 80% of the provisions of the Children's Act, 1992 are without use in practice. In the consequence, many innocent children are living and working in the most difficult circumstances without any reason.

CWIN Experiences in Working with Children in Conflict with Laws:

About CWIN Work:

To hold the torch to forward the child's rights movement, however, there was a complete dearth of appropriate philosophy and vision. Children, the neglected majority, did not have much standing on the adult dominated society. The works for the children were merely viewed as charity and had conservative approaches of social service. In such a given circumstance, CWIN was established. The activists of CWIN wanted to change that perception owing to their knowledge of the international declarations and convention on the rights of the child which recognized the Child as an integral component of the society with their inherent rights to survival, well being, protection and freedom. Children are to be nurtured with the best the mankind has to offer and need special treatment because of their vulnerable disposition.

Established in 1987, CWIN is the first rights of the child organization in the Nepali society. In last 10 years, CWIN has been developed into a national organization on the rights of the child from the very point of a small voice for children. It has been organizing a number of activities for promotion and protection of the rights of the child and for the socialization and rehabilitation of children living and working in the most difficult circumstances. One of the major areas of CWIN works is children at risk which covers child labour, street children, children in prostitution, trafficking and selling of children, child marriage and children in conflict with the law.

Being a member country of the least developed world; poverty, social injustice and economic exploitation are very common in the Nepali society. About 71% of the total population are living in a miserable condition of absolute poverty with 30% annual unemployment rate. Being an agricultural country; landlessness, food shortage and marginalisation in the rural areas are more than common in this country. 46% of total agricultural land are held by 09% of the population consist of a handful of feudal and rich ones and remaining people are engaged in subsistence farming. A typical poor hill farming family consists of seven people in average and owns about half a hectare of land, which produces about enough to feed the family for three to six months of the year. Because of the dual ownership system of the land, almost half of the crop will go in payment of rent to landlord. And for the substantial part of the year, they live either on debt or leave the village to become day labourers for the family subsistence. Such situation has pushed generations of village youths to leave their native places and migrate somewhere else in search of jobs for living. In fact, child labour, street children and other children at risk are the consequences of such circumstances. And, CWIN, from its inception, have been closely working with these children for the protection promotion of their rights through socialization and rehabilitation process.

Some Examples of Children in Conflict with Laws Which were dealt by CWIN

3.2.1 Case No. 1:

In may 1994, a group of street children nearby CWIN Socialization Centre haunted a domestic duck of a neighbor and celebrated a picnic in the bank of river. But they were caught by the duck owner and brought to CWIN Socialization Centre to report against their crime.

This problem was jointly discussed between CWIN social workers, duck-owner and children and found the solution. The solution of the problem was to compensate the cost of the duck to the owner by CWIN and CWIN will recover it within three months from their deposits collected at the Safe Locker Programme in the CWIN Socialization Centre.

3.2.2 Case No. 2:

In one nice spring evening of 1995 , a middle age mother like lady was sexually offended by a 12 year old street child who is living on rag picking. He held the breast of the lady when she was walking with her husband in her way back to home. He was caught by them and brought to CWIN for action against his crime. They were really angered by his way of offence to the woman. During our investigation, it was learnt that he was involved in such cases more than three times before. He admitted his mistakes and told that he had learnt such things from movies he had seen before.

Fortunately, both husband and wife were teachers in the School and they could understand the kind of delinquency that a street child may commit in the society. However, it was a serious sexual offence against woman. But, both of them agreed not to report this case in the police and CWIN was urged to find a viable solution to help reform the boy.

3.2.3 Case No. 3:

In August 17, 1996, two young boys of age between 12 to 14 offended a young girl in Kathmandu with sexual intention and one of them run away and another arrested by police. He was badly treated by police in the custody centre for his guilty. After few days of his detention in the custody centre, police released him and handed over to CWIN for the socialization purpose.

A similar case was held on May 20, 1997 when a group of young street kids pick - pocketed a wallet worth Rs. 8,000 of a street walker in Kathmandu. The man noticed that he was pick-pocketed. He ran away after the boy and the boy was arrested with the help of other passers on the street. The boy was severely beaten by the people on the street and was handed over to the local police station for further action. After the basic interrogation with the child, police handed over him to the CWIN Socialization Centre for morale reformation and socialization.

There are many such cases these days that are handed over to CWIN by police for their socialization and reformation because of lack of children's reformation centre in Nepal. In some cases, we have also under taken a joint investigation with police in order to find out the consequences of the crime connected with children. But these are just a new beginning. Situation is not the same every where.

3.2.4 Case No. 4:

In 1995, at a locality in down town Kathmandu, a group of children broke out a house of one of the CWIN's friends and stole money and jwellery worth Rs. 40,000. This was reported to police but could not find out any information about the incident. On the basis of some information, CWIN staff also involved in the investigation to help police to find out the criminals. Some old street boys who have been working as the field workers in the CWIN Socialization Centre also co-operated this mission and the criminals were arrested in another small town called Hetaunda within 48 hours of the incident. In this case, CWIN not only helped police to find out the truth but also helped the family to recover their stolen cash and jwellery. Similarly, CWIN has extended necessary support for the socialization of these detained children both in detention centre and after their release.

3.2.5 Case No. 5:

On 22 May 1997, two children while walking on the street to sell some drugs to the foreigners were arrested by the police in Thamel, the tourist centre in Kathmandu. They were detained in the custody centre for about a week and were sent to CWIN for socialization programme.

A majority of street children are involved in the delinquencies that are conflicting with the laws. Thieving, pick-pocketing, sexual offence and begging are quite common among the street children in Nepal.

CWIN Socialization and Rehabilitation Programme for Children at Risk:

CWIN has been undertaking different types of activities for children under three major programmes. They are; Advocacy in Action on the Rights of the Child, Child Development and; Socialization and Rehabilitation Programme for Children at Risk Condition. Since 1989, CWIN has been directly working with children at risk through its popular programme called CWIN Socialization Centre. In last 10 years, CWIN has developed some new programmes of action in order to effectively conduct the socialization and rehabilitation programme of children who are living and working in the most difficult circumstances. For this purpose, CWIN has been undertaking the following programmes:

CWIN Socialization Centre (Common Room)/Kathmandu

Established in 1989, the CWIN Socialization Centre is the first contact centre or drop-in centre dedicated for the rights, welfare and dignity of street children in Nepal. It has a number of programmes consists of non-formal education, health/hygiene, play, counselling, excursion, field visits, family reunion, sick room/health clinic, mid day meal, kitchen club, saving locker, creative works, reading room, etc. .

CWIN Children's Home

Established in 1994, CWIN Children's Home is an extended phase of the CWIN Socialization Centre, but different in nature and character. This is a transit centre where the children are accommodated temporarily while working towards a long term solution for their final rehabilitation.

3.3.3 CWIN Transit Home

Established in 1995, CWIN Transit Home is a half way home for migrant and street children at risk. The centre aims to protect and rehabilitate migrant child workers at risk through temporary residential care, family reunion, community rehabilitation and capacity building programme. Community awareness on the rights of the child is one of the major activities of this programme.

CWIN Balika Home (Girl's Home)

Established in 1995, CWIN Balika Home is the emergency shelter and rehabilitation centre for the girl children at risk such as street girls, homeless, destitute, orphaned and bonded girls, girl child workers, victims of physical abuse and exploitation, victims of child marriage, girl trafficking and prostitution and all those considered to be at risk.

3.3.5 CWIN Clinic & Sick Room

Operated since 1989 in form of first-aid treatment and hospitalization, the CWIN health Clinic is an well equipped Clinic and a four-bed Sick Room in order to provide better and proper medical care to street children and children at risk. Within the period of 1991-May 1996, CWIN Clinic has treated altogether 15554 cases while the Sick Room admitted 545 children for the recuperation of their health.

3.3.6 CWIN Education Support Programme (CWIN ESP)

Operated since 1992, CWIN's Education Programme (CWIN-ESP) aims to be committed to the cause of establishing the rights to education for street children, child workers and other children living at difficult circumstances. The main programme of CWIN-ESP are its literacy and awareness programmes for children and young girls, educational support and sponsorship in schools, children's libraries and training for literacy facilitators.

3.3.7 Skill Education & Training Programme (CWIN SKILL)

Undertaken since 1995, the CWIN Skill is an alternative programme for capacity building and better livelihood opportunities for street children and children at risk. This programme is designed for street youths above the age of 14 for their capacity build up, self reliance and subsequent rehabilitation.

3.3.8 CWIN Socialization Centre/Pokhara

Undertaken since the beginning of 1996, the CWIN Socialization Centre in Pokhara aims to provide support to street children, slum and squatter children and child workers in risk. The centre aims to expand its activities further in line of CWIN's other programmes that include family reunions, education support and skill training and job placement.

3.3.9 Street Children's Forum

As guided by the UN-CRC, CWIN has been working with children as they are the major partner of the rights of the child movement since its inception in 1987. In order to respect the children right to participation in creative works and matters related to their well being, CWIN has been undertaking Children’s Rights Forum both in Schools and working areas in different parts of the country . We have also initiated a similar programme with the street children, which is known as the "Street Children’s Forum". The main objective of this forum is to work with children to support and socialize children and to prevent and control children’s involvement in crime.

3.3.10 Family Reunionisation and Community Conscientisation

Over the last seven years (1989-1996), altogether 1702 children at risk have been brought into the different relief, socialization and rehabilitation activities of CWIN. Among them 679 were rehabilitated through family reunions, children care home referral, school sponsorship, skill training and job placement, etc. causing a considerable and visible decline of children in the streets of Kathmandu.

CWIN has been able to reach 58 districts out of 75 districts of Nepal with the message of child's rights during family reunions and community connection. This has provided a solid background and base for CWIN to enter the different communities to develop and strengthen child's rights movement in Nepal.

There has been a visible positive change in the socio-psychology and behaviour of street children coming in contact of CWIN centres and going through different socialization processes. This is visible in the different qualities they have developed such as self respect, leadership, self esteem, dignity, emotional stability, ability to think of future, skill, good relations with people, responsibility, awareness, inclination for health and hygiene, less violence, dislike for street life and interest for more secure lifestyle.

CWIN Approaches towards the Juvenile Justice:

CWIN recognizes the Child as an inherent component of society deserving the best that it has to offer. CWIN believes that every child has an inherent right to justice, peace and freedom, and deserves access to all fundamental human rights including education, health care, love, respect, security and protection. CWIN recognizes child labour as a form of socio-economic exploitation of children covering the denial of basic education, long working hours, under or no payment, forced labour, and health hazardous working conditions.

Since the beginning of the CWIN movement for the rights of the child, it has been closely working with different patterns of problems of children in Nepal. One of the major areas of such problem is children conflicting with the laws of land. Internationally, there are many provisions and instruments for the protection of the rights of children through the administration of juvenile justice. However, most of the countries in the world are not so successful to effectively implement the juvenile justice system and in the country like ours there are no such mechanism exists for the prevention and control of children in conflict with lawsf.

Children's Justice is, of course, a part and partial of the formal justice system. But, there is no such successful modality in the world where the child delinquency problem could be resolved only through the criminal justice system. Juvenile Court, Child Reformation Centre or Child Correction Home, Children’s Act and Child Welfare Board are very important and integral parts of the juvenile justice system. However, lack of proper vision of the rights of the child, lack of knowledge and understanding of working with children, lack of enough facilities and mechanism are some major problems of the administration of juvenile justice in Nepal. As a part of the international community and as the state party of a number of international conventions and legal instruments, Nepal is obliged to respect its commitment for the rights of the child. However, in absence of strong political will, the commitments of HMG/Nepal are hardly translated into a reality. This is one of the reasons why the HMG/Nepal is criticized for not being able to protect and promote the rights of the child in this country. Similarly, HMG/Nepal is also not working hard to look at the strong part of the traditional justice system concerning children in conflict with laws.

CWIN believes that socialization is the best process for the prevention and control of children in conflict with laws. Children are the most vulnerable group in human society. They can be easily a victim of the circumstances where they are living and working in their every day life. As mentioned above, children in conflict with laws is caused by many things; and domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, criminal background of the family, and circumstances of the child are some the of major reasons for causing child delinquency in our society. With the growth of urban migration, child labour, street children and urban poor areas, we have observed that the magnitude of children in conflict with laws problem has been increasing with every passing year. Though there is increasing social awareness on the rights of the child, there is not enough preparation both in HMG/Nepal and NGOs in order to tackle the problem of child delinquency. Despite the existence of progressive laws on the rights of the child, the treatment with children in general and children in conflict with laws in general is rather very conservative and reactive. In order to bring changes in such attitudes of people, CWIN as the first socialization centre or the crisis centre had initiated to work with such problems through socialization and reformation process. In last 10 years, CWIN experienced different types of problems and worked with such kids for a better solution of their problem. While working with such children, CWIN has come across with a number of problems connected with our social attitude, community response and legal constraints. There are more than 100 serious cases of child delinquency which ultimately brought into CWIN by the law enforcing agencies; such as police, local administration and other groups like teachers, community and family members. This has given an wonderful opportunity to CWIN to understand the level of people’s consciousness on the rights of the child in general and juvenile justice system in particular.

CWIN is essentially working for the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, moreover it believes on working with children. From the very beginning, we have regarded children as an important partner of our movement. This is one of the reasons why our plans of action are not an expert’s outcome rather an opinion of children who are living and working in the most difficult circumstances. We listen to them carefully, we try to understand their problem, we become friend to each other and then we work together for the resolution of the problem. Together with children, we develop our programme and ultimately we develop our approaches for socialization process of children in conflict with the laws. Our approaches in this regard are as follows:

About the Socialization Process:

CWIN believes on the principle of socialization of children who are the victims of children in conflict with laws. Socialization is based on the theory of reformation and correction procedures. Perhaps there is no such child in the world who does not have some kind of delinquent problem more or less. And they are reformed in course of time. Therefore, whatever the degree of child delinquency problem, it can be resolved through the socialization process in course of time. Socialization of children is consist of psycho-social counselling, play, creative works, interactions and group dynamics, etc.

About Institutional and Non-institutional Programme:

The modern juvenile justice system recommends both institutional and non-institutional methods for the prevention and control of children’s involvement in crime. Its effectiveness is based on the atmosphere of the child and dealing methods of the family and institution. One of the major constraints of our dealing with children is to understand the child and his/her bahaviour. Without doing so any recommendation whether it is non-institutional or institutional can make any positive change on child.

Formerly, there is no official institutional programme for children with delinquent problem in Nepal. Recently, HMG/Nepal has made an announcement for the establishment of the first Child Reformation Centre. But, any institution or house will be easily converted into a detention centre if there is no appropriate atmosphere for the best interest of the child. Similarly, the role of understanding children who are living and working in difficult circumstances is very substantial without which children with delinquent problem will be in rather more difficult situation.

About the Traditional Juvenile Justice System

Traditionally, there are very few children involved in crime. But, due to increasing population, massive poverty, unemployment, urbanization and migration trend; children’s involvement in crime is increasing the day by day. Hence, prevention and control of juvenile in conflict with laws have become a big challenge for the juvenile justice system in Nepal and elsewhere.

In the old days, many problems related to crime and community conflicts were used to be resolved by the community or village court. In many remote areas and among the indigenous groups, the system of local court is still in practice even today. Because of the existence of such community courts or village courts, so many serious problems are resolved and are prevented from the involvement of modern criminal justice system. This is it in the case of juvenile justice.

CWIN believes that children should not be unnecessarily exposed to criminal justice system if the problems can be resolved within the local understanding or family, community and institutional level. Because, such exposition of children might bring more harms to children if there is not enough facilities and understanding available for the best interest of children. Involvement of police to arrest children, detention of children in the custody, imprisonment of children with adult prisoners, exposition of children in newspapers might disturb the psychology of children. Therefore, CWIN believes that if the existing traditional jurisdiction is in favour of the child, we should strengthen and promote such system and should minimize the exposition of children to criminal justice system.

About the Detention of Children:

In urban areas like Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, involvement of children in serious types of crime is increasing in a speedy way. If we are not serious about this trend today, we might face a very difficult problem in future.

The CWIN survey-research have lain open that most of the children who are involved in the serious crime today are the children who had been arrested and detained many times in past in course of criminal investigation process. During their detention in the custody centres, they used to come across with different types of criminals and police personnel where they were rather neglected and exposed for public knowledge. This type of situation hurts children a lot more and they find no-where to go for their survival and ultimately follow the same road where they find rather convenient way of life.

Therefore, CWIN views that detention of children for juvenile justice has many negative impacts for child development. This is the same thing so far as the formal detention by police or informal detention at the house or in the School.

Pro-active Attitudes:

Children are an integral part of the human society. We even can not imagine the existence of our society in absence of children as such. Because, children are the true successor of our future as people have been saying since time immortal. They have also their conscience and understanding of the society, but as they are the vulnerable section of the society they can be disturbed and victimized by any kind of ill-treatment. Thus, we need to be careful and serious while dealing with children. For this, we need to be pro-active rather than reactive with children in conflict with the laws.

The principle objective of juvenile justice is to help children to understand their role in the society as they are the future star of the country. They should be helped to realize their mistakes which violate the land of law and inspired them to reform their character and trend for a better future. While doing so, children should not be abused, neglected and ill-treated and every adult dealing with them should be co-operative to the child. Sometimes, children might commit a serious crime; and adults and people in law enforcing agencies might be very reactive to the child. In fact, it is wrong. While working with the such children, we should never forget that we are dealing with one of the best people of next generation.

The Way Ahead:

Children are the creation of human society, so children in conflcit with laws is also a reflection of the socio-economic and cultural circumstances. We wish our children be grown up in a peaceful manner without any conflict and controversy. But, all our wishes are not translated into practice in a real life due to several reasons. One of such area is children in conflict with the laws. In essence, no parents wish their children be involved in the situation that conflict with the law of land. However, lots of children in the world are involved into various types of delinquencies in a real life. The delinquencies they posses are not the creation of their own mind but a reflection of their circumstances where they are living and working.

If we look at the history of the crime, we see that involvement of children in conflict with laws is there from the very inception. In the criminal justice system, different types of approaches for the juvenile justice were initiated in different historical period in different countries. One important thing is that children have been treated as an especially vulnerable group of the society from the time everlasting, and the basic conception is the same even today. Today, the world has carried out a number of international instruments to make sure that the rights of the child will be protected and promoted in a real sense. The UN-CRC, The Beijing Rules (UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice), The Riyadh Guidelines (UN Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency) and UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles deprived of their Liberty, 1990 are some major examples in this regard. Country like Nepal is a state party of such international conventions. There are many more conventions in regional and international level and HMG/Nepal has made so many national, regional and international commitments about the protection of the rights of the child.

The right of the child has been brought into lime light as a strong political agenda, now-a-days. However, this can not be realized and materialized in absence of political will and commitment of the Government. So far juvenile justice are concerned, its prevention and control are not possible without respecting the rights of the child in a true sense. Because, the essence of juvenile justice is to protect children from any kind of harm and help them to restore their childhood through the socialization process.

Today, we are practicing modern criminal justice system in most of our countries. But we should not forget that this is the continuity of the good traditions we have in our old days. Because, every new invention is the result of past investment. There are many good examples of traditional and indigenous justice system in the world, which we need to continue for the prosperity of the future. In the same way, there are also many negative examples of our old justice system in our world, we need to end such things and promote the progressive justice system which helps protect our children from every sort of harm and risk. There are also many good examples of juvenile justice system, today. Socialization, reformation, re-education, training, psycho-social counselling, friendship and partnership are the main force of the modern juvenile justice system. It believes on minimization of exposition of children into the criminal justice system and promotes both institutional and non-institutional methods for the socialization and reformation of children in in conflcit with laws.

This is a positive trend that we are discussing about the justice system in public forum, these days. This was not possible in country like Nepal till the restoration of democracy. With a continuos effort in the areas of human rights and democracy, we are converting the non-issue of our social life into the political agenda. Issues like the rights of the child and juvenile justice have created an enormous interest in the public life these days. Perhaps, this is the one of the successful efforts of the movement for the rights of the child and human. This has to be continued. Because, working for the juvenile justice is also an investment for a just society without any exploitation.

A country's well being can be judged by the state of its children. A bunch of kids put behind the bars in name of easing public nuisance and cleaning street is not a nice picture. We have already failed our children so many times. But how long we continue to do so? On the eve of 33rd Children's Day, act of child's rights violation like this is shocking in a democratic country.