Submitted by crinadmin on
Finally, there has been a victory in getting the juvenile justice bill passed in all stages of the upper and lower houses of congress and then signed by the president after nine years of effort by many children's rights organisations in the Philippines and abroad. Preda has been very active in lobbying for this through media and with Jubilee Action of the UK, worked with ITV and Chris Rogers the researcher and presenter, to bring the story of children behind bars to the public. The two reports, last August 2005 and this February 2006, exposed the subhuman conditions in Philippines jails and were shown all over the world on CNN. There was a strong reaction from the international community.
The new law forbids children to be put in a jail cell and children under 15 years old cannot be charged. They will be sent to a home. Children older than that can be charged but diversionary and restorative justice will be applied and they too will be sent to youth homes. That means here at Preda, we can expect many more youngsters to be sent here rather than suffer in jail.