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To the
government of the Democratic Republic of Congo
- Protect street children during the
electoral period. The government should remind political parties of
their obligations under the national code of conduct and prohibit them
from using children in activities that expose them to danger. Working with
national and international child protection agencies, the government
should use existing urban networks to approach street children and warn
them of the risks involved in participating in political protests.
- Ensure that law enforcement personnel, when
policing political demonstrations, respect the right to peaceful protest.
If required by the situation to resort to force, the police and military
should apply non-violent means before resorting to the use of weapons,
including firearms and, if such resort is necessary, restrict such force
to the absolute minimum necessary. Particular care should be used to
protect children from injury and harm. Law enforcement officers should
abide by international standards governing police conduct as set forth in
the United Nations (U.N.) Basic Principles on the Use of Force and
Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials and the U.N. Code of Conduct for Law
Enforcement Officials.
- Train and educate all police on issues
affecting street children. Sensitize police to the special needs of
children to ensure that rights accorded to children are enforced. Special
attention must be placed on the protection of street children from adults
who physically and sexually abuse them.
- End the practice of arbitrary arrest and
roundups of street children. The government should amend or repeal
colonial-era juvenile delinquency laws that criminalize children for
vagrancy and begging. Instead, the government should promote family
reintegration and assistance to vulnerable children.
To United
Nations Agencies working in the DRC including the U.N. Mission in the DRC
(MONUC)
- Work with the government to protect street
children during the electoral period. Building on some initial success
in preventing street children from political abuse during the events of
June 2005, and using existing urban networks, work with the government and
Congolese nongovernmental organizations to ensure that street children are
not manipulated or abused in the electoral process.
To Donor
Governments to the DRC
-
Raise concern over the DRCs treatment of street children and
related abuses. In bilateral meetings with Congolese authorities, donors
should specifically stress to the government and to leaders of political
parties the need to protect street children during the electoral process. They
should use their influence with the government to seek accountability for law
enforcement personnel who abuse children including by extortion and physical
and sexual abuse.
-
Emphasize the protection of street children in police
training. In donor funded training programs for law enforcement personnel
in crowd control and general policing, ensure that protection of children is
included.
To the
government of the Democratic Republic of Congo
-
Together with international child protection agencies, launch
a national awareness campaign that addresses violence and abuse against
children accused of sorcery. Programs should stress the important role that
parents and guardians can play in protecting children and remind them that
abandonment, abuse and accusations of sorcery are punishable by law.
-
Launch an HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness campaign that
specifically refutes the belief that sorcery is a vehicle for transmission of
the virus. Working together with U.N. agencies and international and
national nongovernmental organizations, HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns and
messages should address the mistakenly held view that HIV/AIDS is transmitted
through sorcery. Prevention messages should provide accurate information on
how the disease is transmitted and comprehensive information on how people,
including young people, can protect themselves from the virus.
-
Create a government task force, led by senior government
officials, that focuses on issues of street children. The task force should
serve as a focal point to coordinate awareness campaigns, promote street child
protection, and monitor law enforcement practices. The government should
solicit international funding for the creation of the task force which should
include individuals from national and international nongovernmental
organizations.
-
Finalize and enact the draft code of child protection
currently under review. As a matter of priority, the government should
complete the redraft of the Childrens Code which provides protection and
guarantees against many of the human rights violations related to street
children highlighted in this report.
- End arbitrary arrests and roundups of
street children. Building on efforts by the transitional government,
the newly elected government should amend or repeal colonial-era juvenile
delinquency laws that criminalize children for vagrancy and begging. Instead,
the government should promote family reintegration and assistance to
vulnerable children.
- Enforce the prohibition on physical or
sexual abuse of children by police and military personnel. The
government should prosecute any official found guilty of such abuse to the
full extent of the law. Prompt investigations of complaints concerning the
use and abuse of street children should be conducted, and disciplinary
measures and criminal procedures ordered where appropriate.
- Expand special child protection units of
the police to all major cities. Recognizing the positive role in
eastern DRC that officers from child protection units play in expediting
cases involving children, limiting their abuse, and promoting their
reconciliation with family members, the government should create these
units in other urban areas of the country.
- Ensure that every child deprived of liberty
is held separately from adults. Children should be afforded prompt
access to legal assistance and the right to challenge the legality of the
deprivation of liberty. Arrest, detention, or imprisonment of children
should always be a measure of last resort and then only for the shortest
possible time. Children should be protected from all forms of torture and
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by police, officials and other
government employees, and by other detainees.
- Rehabilitate centers for children in
trouble with the law as an alternative to prison. Ten of the twelve
centers created to house juvenile delinquents have fallen into disrepair
and misuse. The state should refurbish and reopen these centers to provide
alternatives for children in trouble with the law and ensure that the
centers promote rehabilitation and provide appropriate education and
health care.
-
Immediately launch investigations into churches that practice
abusive child deliverance ceremonies. Pastors or prophets who physically or
sexually abuse children should be arrested, charged, and promptly tried in an
impartial court of law. The accused should be punished to the maximum extent of
the law as stipulated in the newly ratified and adopted constitution that
prohibits accusations of child sorcery, abandonment and abuse.
-
Investigate cases of child abuse in homes where parents or
guardians are reported to physically or sexually abuse children. Specific
attention should be placed on cases of abuse related to child sorcery and
abandonment as prohibited in Article 41 under the newly ratified constitution.
Cases should be immediately referred to the appropriate judicial or social
affairs personnel.
-
Prioritize primary education for every child in the DRC. Recognizing
the link between lack of educational opportunity and the number of children
living and working on the streets, the government should ensure that all
children enjoy their right to free primary education. The government should
formulate and put in place a national strategy to progressively reduce and
eliminate school fees and other related costs of education that prevent
children in the DRC from going to school.
To United
Nations Agencies working in the DRC including MONUC
- Assist the government in promoting relevant
sections of the new constitution that protect children. Together with
the government, launch awareness campaigns that address violence and
specifically the abuses against children accused of sorcery. Programs
should stress the important role that parents and guardians can play in
protecting children and remind parents that abandonment, abuse and
accusations of sorcery are punishable by law.
-
Promote national HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns that address the
belief that the virus can be transmitted through sorcery. Prevention
messages should refute the view that HIV/AIDS is transmitted through sorcery
and should address other local beliefs and practices that may fuel the epidemic
and increase abuses against children. National campaigns should provide
accurate information on how the disease is contracted and comprehensive
information on how people, including young people, can protect themselves from
the virus.
To Donor
Governments to the DRC
-
Support comprehensive HIV/AIDS programs. Donors should
fund programs that:
o
provide treatment and care for persons living with AIDS;
o
strengthen legal protections for property inheritance;
o
raise general HIV/AIDS awareness refuting myths and fighting
stigma and discrimination;
o
support children orphaned by AIDS; and,
o
launch prevention interventions that provide not only
comprehensive and accurate information but also information that reduces the
vulnerability of youth to the disease.
-
Work with the government to promote childrens rights. Donors
to the DRC should consider earmarking assistance for:
o
training for police and law enforcement personnel on the rights
of the child and the handing of juvenile cases;
o
creation of a senior government task force that coordinates
government action on issues concerning street children;
o
improving conditions in all detention facilities where children
are held including the rehabilitation of centers that can provide alternatives
to adult prisons for children in trouble with the law;
o
programs that identify and provide assistance to street children
and that facilitate the reunification of street children with their families;
and,
o
education to help the government admit every child to
schoolfunds should be targeted to assist the government in any shortfall
arising from the elimination of school fees and other related costs to parents
or guardians for primary education.
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