THE United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) has made a last-ditch appeal to lawmakers not to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility, as the proposal championed by the Duterte administration is seen to be revived when Congress resumes sessions on Monday (May 20).
“Today, the Senate will debate the proposal to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility,” Unicef led off with its statement at the weekend, adding that it “supports the call of the Council for the Welfare of Children, civil-society organizations, professional associations, child-protection experts, well-meaning citizens, parents and the youth not to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility. Congress must support the full implementation of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act.”
Children in conflict with the law, it pointed out, “are already victims of circumstance, mostly because of poverty and exploitation by adults. Children need access to rehabilitation services because they deserve a second chance. They need to be protected and not further penalized.”
Calls to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 15 to as low as nine had gained currency among many lawmakers in the 17th Congress owing to claims that criminal syndicates had increasingly resorted to recruiting children to commit crimes for them, knowing these minors will not go to prison. The House of Representatives majority settled for lowering the age to 12.
Unicef lamented recent efforts “to undermine the impact of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act by proposing to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility. Using misleading information, there are those who claim that the law has failed. But this is not a fact. The law cannot fail if it is fully and effectively implemented. Lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility is not the answer. Putting children in prison or detaining them will only cause more harm to the child and to the community.”
Unicef noted that Monday is the 13th anniversary of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act—and reiterated its “commitment to promote the rights of all children, including children in conflict with the law and children-at-risk. As we celebrate this milestone, let us be reminded that all children must be treated with dignity and accorded their inalienable rights with utmost respect and protection.”
Adopted on May 20, 2006, and amended in 2013, RA 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (JJWA) promotes the creation of a child-friendly justice system focused on rehabilitation and restoration rather than punishment, said the UN agency. “It upholds the basic principle that a child must not be treated as an adult as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [CRC] signed and ratified by the Philippines: “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before, as well as after birth.”
The law makes it clear, stressed Unicef, “that there is a need for a separate juvenile justice system where detention is the last resort.”
The erring child, it added, “must be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society if the child must take responsibility for his or her action and mend the broken relationship with the community and the victim.
It asserted that “the proper implementation of JJWA has led to many success stories proving that children in conflict of the law can be rehabilitated without resorting to imprisonment or detention.”