Awaiting Trial: A Report on the Situation of Children in Albanian Police Stations and Pre-trial Detention Centres

Summary: This report describes the situation of
children and the exercising of their
rights based on the CRC in Police
stations and Pre-trial detention
centres in Albania.

This report describes the situation of children and the exercising of their rights based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in Police stations and Pre-trial detention centres in Albania. 2 AWAITING TRIAL AWAITING TRIAL A REPORT ON THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN IN ALBANIAN POLICE STATIONS AND PRE-TRIAL DETENTION CENTRES This report was made possible from the partnership between the Children’s Human Rights Centre of Albania - CRCA and Save the Children in Albania, SCiA MAY 2000. 3 Acknowledgements CRCA would like to extend a special thanks to Mr. Altin Hazizaj and Mr. S. Thornton Barkley for the carrying out of the fact-finding mission and also for the preparation and writing of this report. CRCA would like to thank Save the Children Albania and its staff for the support given to the fact-finding mission. CRCA would like to thank all the children who spoke freely to us about their life, problems, fears and concerns. CRCA would like to thank especially the Mr. Albert Dervishi, Head of Public Order Police in the Ministry of Public Order for the support during the fact-finding mission. CRCA would like to thank all the Police representatives in all the districts who spoke freely to us during the fact-finding mission. CRCA would like to thank Ms. Valli Corbanese, UNOPS Tirana (Project “promotion of the Socio-Economic Status of Women in Albania”), for reviewing on numerous occasions this report. CRCA would like to thank Mr. Krishna K. C. and Ms. Genta Malo, Save the Children in Albania for reviewing this report. CRCA would like to thank the various state bodies in each region who helped us greatly with their level of local knowledge and statistics. 4 CONTENTS 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ¨ Executive Summary ¨ Findings 2. INTRODUCTION 3. DEFINITON OF CHILD IN POLICE STATIONS AND PRE-TRIAL DETENTION CENTRES 4. OBJECTIVES 5. METHODOLOGY ¨ Methods ¨ Criteria ¨ Target 6. PEOPLE WHO WORK IN POLICE STATIONS 7. LEGAL REPRESENTATION AND THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD 8. ABUSES OF THE LAW ¨ References to the national and international standards ¨ Abuses of the law 9. VIOLENCE AND TORTURE IN POLICE STATIONS 10. CONDITIONS INSIDE THE POLICE STATIONS AND PRE-TRIAL DETENTION CENTRES ¨ Conditions in the cell ¨ Separation by offences ¨ Beds and bedding ¨ Ablution areas ¨ Ways of segregating prisoners 11. HOW THE CHILDREN ARE CARED FOR ¨ Clothing ¨ Diet and meals ¨ Medical treatment ¨ Recreation 12. CONTACT WITH FAMILES 13. HELP FROM THE OUTSIDE ¨ Medical help ¨ Educational help ¨ Psycho-social help 14. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 15. ANNEX 1 - CHILDREN TALK ABOUT THEMSELVES ¨ Interviews with children 16. CONTACTS 5 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1. Executive Summary This report describes the situation of children and the exercising of their rights based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in Police stations and Pre-trial detention centres in Albania. The preparation of this report started with the carrying out of a fact-finding mission in six Albanian districts: Gjirokastra, Vlora, Fier, Korça, Lezha and Shkodra. The fact-finding mission was carried out from 23 – 29 of March 2000. The Police stations and Pre-trial detention centres are two institutions under the administration of the Ministry of Public Order. Many police officers recommend that the Pre-trial detention centres should pass under the administration of Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for the administration of juvenile justice in Albania. The main objectives of the report are the situation of children in Police stations and Pre-trial detention centres; the application of CRC from the police officers in Police stations and Pre-trial detention centres and to find out the main violations of children’s rights. During the carrying out of the work we found and came to these conclusions: The results are as follows: a) Torture is widely used by the police officers in Police Stations as a means of forcing admission of offences committed by children Torture is totally prohibited by the national and international standards approved and ratified by the Albanian Parliament. The Albanian Constitution, the Criminal Code and other laws prohibit the use of torture in general and especially against children. In more than one case we have faced the same type of torture used against children such as beating the children on their feet with hard or plastic sticks, hanging of children upside down and putting their heads in water. Other forms of torture used are the beating the children with hard things such as chairs, plastic sticks on the head, back of the body, arms and legs. The torture is carried out during the holding and the arrest of children in public places and inside the police stations. The police officers use the torture as a means to find out the evidence of offences committed by children. All the thirteen children that we talked with said that the police officers have used violence and torture against them during the arrest and also inside the Police stations. There have been no proceedings against the police who use torture in police stations from any of the children, because they fear that the torture could be used against them again. On the other side the Officials of the Police stations say that there is no form of torture used in Police stations. b) Torture is used against children in cases when they haven’t committed any crime In more than one case torture has been used against children even when they haven’t committed any crime. In Vlora and Korça children have been victims of torture by the police officers and investigating officers in cases when there have been doubts that the children may have been the one to have committed an offence. In a later stage when there has been no legal ground for a criminal investigation the cases have been closed, while the children’s life has been threatened from those who have used torture against them. c) Physical and psychological violence is used against children from the police officers during their arrest in public or in police stations and Pre -trial detention centres The children interviewed during the fact-finding mission declared that physical and psychological violence is used against them in police stations and Pre-trial detention centres during the interviewing by the investigating officers or by the police officers. The physical violence includes repeated use of slaps, punches and kicks. While the psychological violence includes the use of threats such as “You’ll stay all your life in prison” or “I’ll kill you if you don’t say who did the crime”. d) During legal proceedings the best interest of the child is not taken into consideration from the local Prosecutors Office and Courts The children who have been arrested and detained in Pre-trial detention centres are being kept for a long time under investigation or trials procedures. Both, Courts and Prosecutor office in the legal proceedings involving children do not take into consideration “the best interest of the child”. Children are being kept in the same cells with the adults. This method can have dire effects on the best interest of the child. The children can be come conditioned by their peers and in many cases can continue to be offenders when they are released. In other cases the children have been under criminal investigation for 11 months and few trials have been going on during this time. The Albanian Criminal Procedure Code said that if the crime is not verified during a period of 12 months that person should be freed. The Justice system in Albanian does not have any specific Juvenile Courts. The same judges that deal with adults hear the offences committed by children. e) The living conditions in Police stations and Pre -trial detention centres denigrate the health and moral development of children Children in police stations and Pre-trial detention centres live in very difficult conditions. The children in Pre-trial detention centres are not divided in cells with other children, but most of them share the space with adults. Generally they are divided in cells based on similar offences committed by them or the adult inmates. The Pre-trial detention centres are crowded and the cells have double the number of people allowed. In the cells there is little air circulation, because of the damp on the walls and the windows are as small as 60 cm long by 20 cm high. The children spend their time in cells by smoking and talking to other inmates. Books, newspapers, TV, Radio and other forms of information and communication are not allowed, based on the Guidelines for the Security of the Detainees 1 adopted by the Ministry of Public Order. There were no fridge’s or washing machines in the Pre-trial detention centres. The children have to clean their clothes by themselves. f) Children in Pre-trial detention centres are not allowed to follow their education The children in Pre-trial detention centres are not allowed to follow any form of education formal or non-formal. Based on the Guidelines the list of officials and other people allowed to enter a Detention Centre does not include officials of the Ministry of Education or other local educational authorities or teachers. g) There are no trained police officers in Police stations and Pre - trial detention centres to deal with children and there are no psychologists or social workers working in these institutions The police officers receive their training either by studying at the Police Academy, or within the Police station structures. Police interviewed declare that non-of them have ever being trained on how to deal with children committing or being victims of offences. On the other side the psychologists and social workers are not part of the staff of Police stations and Pre-trial detention centres, since the structure approved by the Ministry of Public Order does not allow for the inclusion of these two positions. 7 h) Children in Albanian Pre-trial detention centres suffer by the lack of quantity and by the quality of the food The children in Pre-trial detention centres suffer because of the lack of quality and the quantity of the food. The menu in a Police station or Detention Centre includes tea and bread for breakfast; soup or beans and potatoes for lunch and soup or rice for dinner. The cooking utensils are made of aluminium and the detainees are not allowed to use spoons, forks etc. Most of the children complain about the quality and quantity of food and many receive food once every ten days from their families. 1.2. Findings a) Torture is widely used from the police officers in Police Stations as a means for finding out the evidences of offences committed by children. b) Torture is used against children in the cases when they haven’t committed any crime. c) Physical and psychological violence is used against children from the police officers during their arrest in public. d) During legal proceedings the best interest of the child is not taken into consideration from the local Prosecutors Office and Courts. e) The living conditions in Police stations and Pre-trial detention centres denigrate the health and moral development of children. f) Children in Pre-trial detention centres are not allowed to follow their education. g) There are no trained police officers in Police stations and Pre- trial detention centres to deal with children and there are no psychologists or social workers working in these institutions. h) Children in the Albanian Pre-trial detention centres suffer by the quantity and quality of the food.