Recommendation
(A/HRC/16/52/Add.3)
(q) Establish clear guidelines
concerning punishments at children‘s
homes, places of safety and
correctional facilities, and ensure
that its use is recorded in the register;
Situation during the visit
(A/HRC/16/52/Add.3)
There was a poor completion of complaint
entries in the police registers.
Information received in the reporting period
Non-governmental sources: Reportedly, even when the police
attempts to have officers from the Child Development Agency
(CDA) retrieve children who have been detained, the CDA
fails to do so. Reportedly, this thereby ―forces‖ the police to
keep them housed with adults in contravention of national
legislation. In addition, there continue to be inadequate
facilities available for children who are in the State‘s care and
custody. Too often children who are in conflict with the law
and children who are in need of care and protection, are
detained in the same facilities.
Government: The imposition of corporal punishment as part
of a sentence is no longer legal. The Courts prohibit its use as
part of a sentence for a commission of a crime. Legislative
provisions ban its use in early childhood education facilities
and places of safety. The Child Care and Protection Act
(CCPA) outlaws the use of corporal punishment within a
Children‘s Home, a Place of Safety or by a Fit Person. This is
further underscored by the Child Care and Protection
(Children‘s Homes) Regulations, 2007 in Paragraph 19
Sections 1 and 2 which states that ―No licensee or member of
staff of any children‘s home shall strike, cuff, slap or use any
other form of physical violence towards any child who resides,
or is, at the home. No child at a children‘s home shall be
permitted to administer any form of punishment upon any
other child.‖ Should any such act occur it is classified and
reported to the Child Development Agency‘s Monitoring
Officers as a Critical Incident, and is thereafter investigated
and acted upon as is required by law.
143
A/HRC/19/61/Add.3
The CDA continues to stress alternate methods of punishment
which do not compromise the safety, well-being and dignity of
any child. In an effort to promote the use of alternate methods
of punishment, the Agency has developed a protocol ―Child
Abuse Prevention & Control within Residential Child Care
Facilities (RCCF) Handbook‖ and is making final preparation
for its dissemination and staff sensitization.
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