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III. OVERVIEW OF THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM

Egypt's juvenile justice system encompasses children who have committed crimes (munhirifin), children whom the law considers to be at risk of committing crimes, ("vulnerable to delinquency," or mu`aridin li inhiraf), and, since 1997, children in need of protection ("vulnerable to danger," or mu`aridin li khatar). Procedures and penalties for all these categories of children are set forth in Chapter Eight ("The Criminal Treatment of Children") of Child Law 12 of 1996 and its implementing regulations, Prime Ministerial Decree 3452 of 1997, which draw heavily from much-criticized earlier juvenile justice legislation.41 Measures for children "vulnerable to delinquency" and children under fifteen who commit crimes range from a rebuke to commitment to a social welfare institution or specialized hospital for up to three years; the penalty for children over sixteen who commit crimes punishable by death is a minimum of ten years imprisonment, or a minimum of seven years imprisonment for crimes punishable by permanent hard labor.42 The Child Law also allows for warnings and fines for guardians whose neglect results in a child becoming "vulnerable to delinquency," and for imprisonment for persons who facilitate a child becoming "vulnerable to delinquency."43 In the absence of specific provisions in the Child Law, relevant Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedures provisions apply.44

Under the terms of the Child Law, three ministries share responsibility for the treatment of children "vulnerable to delinquency": the Ministry of Interior, which makes arrests and operates the police lockups where children are detained; the Ministry of Justice, which supervises the public prosecutors and judges who determine the fate of arrested children and who are required by law to monitor police lockups, reformatories, and welfare institutions for children; and the Ministry of Insurance and Social Affairs, which operates these children's institutions and whose experts are required to evaluate the situation and needs of children appearing before the Public Prosecution Office and the court. Their roles are outlined below; the Child Law's provisions on children "vulnerable to delinquency" and children "vulnerable to danger" are discussed in detail in Chapter VI of this report.

Role of the Ministry of Interior
The Ministry of Interior is responsible for law enforcement, and its officers carry out the majority of arrests of children.45 The Ministry of Interior's policing functions are spread among twenty-seven security directorates, one for each of Egypt's governorates. The staff of each security directorate includes regular police as well as specialized juvenile police (shortat al ahdath) who also report to the General Administration for Juvenile Welfare Investigations (al idara al `amma li mabahith ri`ayat al ahdath). The general administration is responsible for investigations and arrests in all crimes committed by children and in all cases of adults charged with corrupting or exploiting children, and with arresting and investigating children who are "vulnerable to delinquency" and "vulnerable to danger." The general administration also has overarching responsibility for police policies toward children, and governorate police directorates report monthly to the general administration's director, a general with the rank of an assistant minister.46

Each governorate's security directorate has a Juvenile Welfare Administration (idarat ri`ayat al ahdath), staffed by two to three juvenile police officers and one or two female police social researchers (bahithat shorta). Each Juvenile Welfare Administration also maintains a police lockup for children; in Cairo this lockup is housed in a portion of an existing adult police station, and is known as the al Azbekiya Juvenile Welfare Facility. In addition to these facilities, the Ministry of Interior also operates the al Marg Penal Institution for Juveniles, a facility for convicted boys over age fifteen, jointly with the Ministry of Insurance and Social Affairs.47 No facility exists for convicted girls over fifteen.48

Role of the Ministry of Justice
The Ministry of Justice has three bodies responsible for juvenile justice issues: the Public Prosecution Office and the General Administration for the Legal Protection of Children, which are fully under the control of the Minister of Justice, and the Juvenile Court, which is subject to more limited oversight.49 The General Administration, created by a ministerial decree in 1997 to address shortcomings in the functioning of the Public Prosecution Office and the Juvenile Courts, is not yet fully functional.50

Egypt does not have a permanent staff of public prosecutors and judges specializing in children's cases, and in most governorates the regular staff of the Public Prosecution Office and the Court of First Instance fulfill both functions. The Cairo Governorate is a notable exception, with a standing Public Prosecution Office for Juveniles (al niyaba al `amma lil ahdath) and juvenile court (mahkamat al ahdath). However, these are not career positions, and judges and prosecutors typically serve one to two years in these posts before moving to other Public Prosecution Offices or courts.51 Trial judges are recruited from the ranks of public prosecutors, who in turn are increasingly recruited from graduates of the police academy, raising concerns in cases of police abuse about potential conflicts of interest that may impair judges and prosecutor's abilities to provide independent oversight. No women are currently serving as juvenile court judges.52

Where it exists, the Public Prosecution Office for Juveniles is a branch of the Public Prosecution Office (al niyaba al `amma). The juvenile office has both investigative and prosecutorial functions and is charged with representing the interests of the state and the general public. The attorney general (al na'ib al `amm) and, ultimately, the minister of justice supervise the office. The duties of the Public Prosecution Office for Juveniles include receiving complaints, investigating allegations of criminal activity, bringing prosecutions where the accused are juveniles, and conducting regular inspections of penal institutions and other places of detention where children are held. As with adult detainees, police are required to bring arrested children before the Public Prosecution Office within twenty-four hours, at which time the public prosecutor determines whether to release the child, order one of several corrective measures, or refer the child to the court.53

Structurally, the juvenile courts are a section of Egypt's Court of First Instance (mahkama ibtida'iya), and the Child Law provides for the creation of one or more juvenile courts in each of Egypt's twenty-seven governorates.54 In practice, only two standing juvenile courts have been created, one each in Alexandria and Cairo governorates; in twenty-one other governorates, judges from the Court of First Instance hear juvenile cases when necessary.55

With some significant exceptions, the Juvenile Court has jurisdiction over cases involving children under eighteen years of age at the time they are accused of committing a crime, or whom the juvenile prosecutor refers to the court on charges of being "vulnerable to delinquency" or "vulnerable to danger."56 Each court sits as a panel of three judges, assisted by two social welfare experts appointed jointly by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Insurance and Social Affairs. At least one of the experts must be a woman. The experts' attendance during trial procedures is mandatory, and the court cannot issue a ruling unless the experts have submitted their report on the child's situation, the reasons for the child's delinquency, and the expert's recommendations for the child's reform. Appeals of sentences issued by the Juvenile Court are heard by a panel of three judges of the Court of First Instance, of whom at least two must have the rank of court president, and this Appeal Court must provide for the same participation of social welfare experts as the Juvenile Court.57

Hearings are closed to the public, and only relatives, witnesses, social welfare experts, and lawyers may attend unless the court grants special permission. 58 Hearings and sentencing may take place in the child's absence if the child's guardian is present or the public prosecutor acts as guardian; the court also may order a child sent out of a hearing after questioning, or may order relatives, witnesses, social welfare experts, or lawyers sent out of a hearing.59 In felony cases where the child does not have a lawyer, the Public Prosecution Office or the court is required to appoint a defense lawyer, and the court may at its discretion appoint a defense lawyer in misdemeanor cases involving children age fifteen or over.60 The law does not provide for lawyers for children arrested for being "vulnerable to delinquency" or "vulnerable to danger."

The duties of the Juvenile Court also include monitoring conditions for children whom it orders institutionalized and reviewing prosecution office requests for preventative detention of children under fifteen years of age.61 Monitoring is to be accomplished by regular visits by the president of the Juvenile Court or his delegate from among the court's experts to observation houses (dur mulahitha), vocational educational centers (marakiz al tadrib al mihni), child social welfare institutions (mu'assasat al ri`aya al ijitima`iya), vocational rehabilitation institutions (ma`ahid al ta'hil al mihni), specialized hospitals (mustashfayat al mutakhassasa), "and other bodies that cooperate with the Juvenile Court and are within the court's jurisdiction," to take place at least once every three months.62

Role of the Ministry of Insurance and Social Affairs
The Ministry of Insurance and Social Welfare provides care and services to children accused or convicted of felonies and misdemeanors or of being "vulnerable to delinquency" or "vulnerable to danger," both through its own institutions and through nongovernmental organizations operating under its supervision.63 These services include a variety of short-term and longer-term residential facilities and observation homes (dur al mulahitha) where children are held pending trial.

The ministry also appoints a variety of social welfare experts who investigate cases of children charged with crimes or with being "vulnerable to delinquency" or "vulnerable to danger." Among these are social welfare experts attached to the Juvenile Court. These social welfare experts prepare the mandatory social inquiry reports on children going before the Public Prosecution Office and the court, serve as the mandatory experts in court proceedings, and serve as probation officers (muraqibin ijtima`in) who supervise many of the court's sentences and report back to the court.64 The probation officers are authorized to carry firearms and to make arrests in cases involving children "vulnerable to delinquency" or crimes committed by children.65

41 See Child Law 12 of 1996, Official Gazette no. 13 [adjunct], March 28, 1996 (in Arabic), articles 94-143; and Prime Ministerial Decree 3452 of 1997 enacting the Executive Statute of Child Law 12 of 1996, Official Gazette no. 48 [adjunct], November 27, 1997 (in Arabic), articles 200-240. For a critique of Juvenile Act 31 of 1974 and discussion of its similarities with Child Law 12 of 1996, see Dr. Adel Azer and Imam Bibars, Protecting Vulnerable Children: the Case of Juvenile Delinquents, Draft, (Cairo: UNICEF Egypt Country Office, 1998), pp. 4-11.

42 Child Law, articles 101-112. See Appendix A for the full list of measures that can be taken in cases involving children "vulnerable to delinquency" and children under fifteen who commit crimes. Children over fifteen but under sixteen years of age who commit crimes punishable by imprisonment or death may be sentenced to imprisonment, probation, or commitment to a social welfare institution for not less than one year at the court's discretion.

43 Child Law, articles 98, 113, 114, and 116.

44 Child Law, article 143.

45 Certain social welfare experts (muraqibin ijtima`in) appointed by the Ministry of Insurance and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Justice are also authorized to make arrests. The role of these experts is described in Chapter VII, below. See also Child Law, article 117, and more generally, Ministry of Insurance and Social Affairs Decree 130 of 1996.

46 Human Rights Watch interview with General Sayyed Mohammadayn, director, General Administration for Juvenile Welfare Investigation, Ministry of Interior, Cairo, Egypt, July 27, 2002.

47 Ibid. See also Dr. Nagwa Hafith et al., The al Marg Penal Institution for Juveniles: An Evaluation of the Conditions in the Institution in 1997 (Cairo: National Center for Social and Criminal Studies, 1999, in Arabic).

48 Egyptian officials denied that convicted girls over fifteen were imprisoned with adults, but did not provide Human Rights Watch with concrete information on what happened to these girls. One public prosecution official told us that when girls over fifteen are convicted "We go to the social experts and pressure them to deal with it." Human Rights Watch interview with Khaled Mohammad Khass, Chief of the Cairo Public Prosecution Office for Juveniles, Cairo, Egypt, July 3, 2002, and Human Rights Watch interview with General Sayyed Mohammadayn, director, General Administration for Juvenile Welfare Investigation, Ministry of Interior, Cairo, Egypt, July 27, 2002.

49 Although the Egyptian Constitution provides for an independent judiciary, the Judicial Authority Law grants the Minister of Justice significant oversight powers over courts and judges. See, for example, Judicial Authority Law 46 of 1972, Official Gazette no. 40, October 5, 1972, as amended (in Arabic) articles 58, 78 and 93; and Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt, as amended, articles 165, 166.

50 The General Administration for the Legal Protection of Children has responsibility, in coordination with other national bodies, for developing and implementing national strategy on juvenile justice issues, including compiling statistics on juvenile delinquency and providing legal assistance to children. Officials at the National Council For Childhood and Motherhood told Human Rights Watch that the Ministry of Justice had appointed an official to head the General Administration but had yet to appoint other staff. See Minister of Justice Decree 2235 of 1997; and Government of Egypt, Second Periodic Report of the Government of Egypt to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (New York: United Nations, September 18, 1998), CR/C/65/Add.9, paras. 12-15. Human Rights Watch interview with Judge Mohammad al Gindi, member of the Technical Committee of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, Heliopolis, Egypt, July 28, 2002; and Human Rights Watch interview with Ambassador Moushira Khattab, secretary general of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, Cairo, Egypt, July 28, 2002.

51 Human Rights Watch interviews with Chief Justice Ahmed Hussayn Mohammad Mi`ad, Cairo Juvenile Court, and Khaled Mohammad Khass.

52 See, Baudouin Dupret and Nathalie Bernard-Maugiron, "Introduction: A General Presentation of Law and Judicial Bodies," in Nathalie Bernard-Maugiron and Baudouin Dupret, eds., Egypt and Its Laws (New York: Kluwer Law International, 2002), p. xxxviii, and A. el Sawi, "Law Professionals," in Egypt and Its Laws, pp. 197-208.

53 Child Law, articles 98-101; Code of Criminal Procedures (Law 150 of 1950) [amended] (in Arabic), article 36.

54 Child Law, article 120.

55 In the Cairo governorate, which has two circuits of the Court of First Instance, the juvenile court consists of two panels of three judges each. E-mail message from Mohammad `Abd al Mon`im, director, the Association for Human Rights Legal Aid, Cairo, Egypt, to Human Rights Watch, September 10, 2002.

56 A child charged with participating in a felony committed by an adult is tried before an adult court if he or she was over fifteen years of age at the time of the crime. Depending on the nature of the felony, the court with jurisdiction would be either the Criminal Court (mahkamat al jinayat) or the Supreme State Security Court (mahkhamat amn al dawla al `uliya). Child Law, article 122.

57 Child Law, articles 121, 127.

58 Child Law, article 126.

59 Ibid. If the court orders the child to leave the hearing it may not also order the lawyer or social welfare expert to leave, and the court cannot convict the child until after it has explained to the child what took place in his or her absence.

60 Child Law, article 125.

61 While article 119 prohibits "preventative detention" of children under fifteen, it nevertheless allows for the public prosecutor to detain a child in an observation facility for up to one week, which can be extended by court order "in accordance with the rules for preventive detention specified in the Code of Criminal Procedures." The Code of Criminal Procedures allows for preventive custody in a number of circumstances, including cases where the suspect is accused of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment and "does not have a known regular place of residence in Egypt," which would apply to many cases involving children living on the street. Such orders generally expire after fifteen days, but can be renewed by an investigating judge for up to a total of forty-five days. Child Law, article 119; and Code of Criminal Procedures, articles 134, 142.

62 Child Law, article 134.

63 See also Abt Enterprises LLC, Rapid Situation Assessment of Street Children in Cairo and Alexandria: Final Report, March 29, 2001, Prepared for the U.N. Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, the World Food Program, and the U.N. International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), pp. 35-41; and Government of Egypt, Second Periodic Report of the Government of Egypt to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, paras. 199-207.

64 Child Law, article 135.

65 Child Law, article 117.

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