APPENDIX A

Selected Articles from the Child Law and its Executive Statute
(Translation from Arabic by Human Rights Watch)

The Child Law (Law 12 of 1996)
Article 96

A child shall be considered vulnerable to delinquency in any of the following cases:

1) if he is found begging, with begging activities to include offering products or services of little value, performing acrobatic shows or other such acts that do not constitute a serious source of income;
2) if he practices collecting cigarette butts or other leftovers or rubbish;
3) if he practices activities connected with prostitution, debauchery, corruption of morals, gambling, drugs, or other similar conduct or works for those who practice such conduct;
4) if he lacks a stable place of residence or habitually sleeps in the street or other places unsuitable for residence or sleeping;
5) if he associates with persons vulnerable to delinquency or suspect persons or those known for bad behavior;
6) if habitually absent from educational or training institutions;
7) if he is badly behaved and deviating from the authority of his father or guardian or curator or from his mother's authority in case of the death, absence, or legal incapacity of his guardian, and it is not permitted in this situation for any procedure to be taken against the child, even if it is an investigation procedure, except based on permission from his father or guardian or curator or his mother, depending on the circumstance;
8) if he lacks a legal means of income or a responsible supporter.

Article 97

A child whose age is less than seven shall be considered vulnerable to delinquency if one of the cases specified in the previous article applies of if he commits an act constituting a felony or a misdemeanor.

Article 98

If a child is apprehended in one of the situations of vulnerability to delinquency specified in items 1 through 6 of articles 96 and 97 of this law, the prosecution office for juveniles shall warn the child's guardian in writing to supervise his good behavior and conduct in the future. This warning may be contested before the Juvenile Court within ten days of its receipt. The established procedure for contesting criminal warrants shall be followed in considering and making a decision in this contestation, and the ruling shall be final.

If the child is found in one of the situations of vulnerability to delinquency referred to in the previous paragraph after the warning has become final, or is found in one of the two situations specified in items 7 and 8 of article 96, one of the measures specified in article 101 of this law shall be taken. If the child has not reached seven years of age, then no measure shall be taken except the measure of handing over [to a guardian] or placement in one of the specialized hospitals.

Article 99

A child shall be considered vulnerable to delinquency if he has a mental or psychological illness or mental weakness that is established through observation, in accordance with the relevant procedures and provisions of the law, that he has lost all or part of his ability to perceive or choose so that there will be fears for his own safety or the safety of others, and in this case he shall be placed in one of the specialized hospitals or specialized institutions in accordance with the procedures specified in the law.

Article 101

The child whose age has not reached fifteen years, if he commits a crime, shall be sentenced to one of the following measures:

1) Reprimand
2) Handing over [the child to a parent, guardian, relative, or someone who temporarily takes custody]
3) Enrollment in vocational training
4) Obligation to perform specified duties
5) Judicial probation
6) Placement in one of the social welfare institutions
7) Placement in one of the specialized hospitals

With the exception of confiscation and closure of places, this child shall not be sentenced to any punishment or measure specified in any other law.

Article 107

Placement of the child shall be in one of the social welfare institutions for juveniles affiliated to the Ministry of Social Affairs or recognized by it. If the child is disabled the placement shall be in an appropriate institute for his rehabilitation and the court shall not specify the period of the placement in its ruling.

The period of placement must not exceed ten years in felonies, five years in misdemeanors, and three years in cases of vulnerability to delinquency, and the institution in which the child is placed must present to the court a report on his situation and conduct each six months at the longest in order for the court to decide its opinion of his situation.

Article 113

Whomever neglects supervision of the child after [having received] a warning in accordance with the first paragraph of article 98 of this law, and as a result of that the child was vulnerable to delinquency in one of the situations referred to in articles 96 and 97 of this law, shall be punished with a fine not exceeding 100LE.

Article 114

Whomever the child is turned over to and neglects to provide one of his duties [toward the child], if that results in the child's commission of a crime or vulnerability to delinquency in one of the situations specified in this law, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding 200LE.

Article 116

Without prejudice to any other harsher punishment specified in law, whomever exposes a child to delinquency or to one of the situations referred to in article 96 of this law, or prepared him for that or helped him or incited him to such behavior or facilitated such behavior in any way, even if the situation of vulnerability to delinquency was not realized in actuality, shall be punished by imprisonment.

The punishment of imprisonment shall be for a period not less than three months if the perpetrator uses coercive or threatening means against the child, or was the child's relative or someone responsible for his upbringing or for watching him, or if the child was placed in his custody in accordance with the law.

In all these cases if the crime involves more than one child, even if at separate times, the punishment shall be imprisonment for a period not less than six months and not more than five years.

And it shall be assumed that the perpetrator knew the age of the child unless he proves that it was not possible for him to determine the child's real age.

Prime Ministerial Decree 3452 of 1997
Article 203

The child is considered to be vulnerable to danger if found in a state that threatens the sound rearing he requires, and especially in any of the following circumstances:

1) if his security, morals, health or life are in danger;
2) if the conditions of his upbringing within the environment surrounding him by their nature exposes him to danger;
3) if the person responsible for his support abandons him;
4) if the child's educational future is in danger of not being fulfilled;
5) if the child is exposed to incitement to illicit use of drugs, alcohol, violence or immoral acts.