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No to lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility in the Philippines

News Feb 22, 2019: 56.903 haben unterschrieben.

Here, we want to highlight more facts:

According to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), based on their jail visitations from 2013 to 2018, 409 children aged 10 to 17 have been found in regular adult prisons – 39% were found in PNP lock-up cells, 28% in city jails, and 16% in provincial jails. Even if the current law, Republic Act (RA) No. 9344 also known as the Juvenile Justice Welfare Act (JJWA), as amended by RA No. 10630, explicitly states how children should undergo community-based intervention or be brought to juvenile rehabilitation centers, these data reveal that children fall through the cracks of our justice system. No child will be jailed, Mr. Panelo? They already are.

Data from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology corroborate with those from the CHR, with their report showing that about 86 children remain in their custody as of September 2018.

Open your eyes, Mr. Panelo. Lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 9 or 12 translates to millions of Filipino children who will become vulnerable to the poor implementation of the current law.

Likewise, children are actually kept in facilities during the duration of their trial – as such, for all intents and purposes, detained. Add to that the fact that despite the JJWA’s requirement for the country to have 114 Bahay Pag-asa facilities, only 58 are operational, 3 of which are even run by non-government organizations. Of this number, only 8 are accredited by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

We dare Mr. Panelo to visit these juvenile rehabilitation facilities, and realize how closer these juvenile rehabilitation facilities are to prisons than to being actual youth homes. Instead of continuing this pointless grandstanding, he and his cohorts should realize how decrepit our facilities are. Even the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council, the government agency tasked to monitor the implementation of the law, said that some facilities are ‘worse than prisons.’

All these figures discount the claim that there is an urgent need to lower the MACR. We repeat our stand: stop this dangerous and unscientific move and commit to fully implementing the JJWA. Instead of gambling the future of Filipino children by pushing for laws that are patently inimical for their rights, we should focus on strengthening the sound foundations for child protection, just as what Catriona emphasizes. ###

Neuigkeiten: 
40.077 haben unterschrieben.  Jan 24th, 2019 :-)

NEUIGKEIT ZUR PETITION
NOT 9, NOT 12: House vote to lower MACR against the best interest of Filipino children

Child Rights Network and Philippine Action for Youth Offenders
23. JAN. 2019 — 

NOT 9, NOT 12: House vote to lower minimum age of criminal responsibility against the best interest of Filipino children

23 January 2019 - Today, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly and hastily approved a bill that lowers that minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) from 15 to 12 years old, amending the current Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 (JJWA). Senate is expected to also approve of its version soon. The bill is yet another attempt of Congress, under the leadership of Gloria Arroyo and Tito Sotto, and the Duterte Administration to revert all the positive gains under the JJWA and to trample on the rights of the children, the very sector it vows to protect.

Proponents of the bill claim that the proposed law aims to address the problem of children being used by criminal and drug syndicates to carry out criminal activities. Under this bill, children from ages 12 to 18 who commit serious crimes like murder, homicide, rape and violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 will be sent to reformative institutions called "Bahay Pag-asa."

International and local groups and organizations advocating for the rights of the children have already expressed their disappointment and fierce opposition to the proposed law, calling it an act of violence against children. Advocates have also expressed their concern on the severe conditions of youth care facilities around the country and their doubt that these could adequately and effectively cater to the needs of the children in conflict with the law (CICL).

The Child Rights Network (CRN) firmly believes that lowering the MACR goes against the best interest of Filipino children. It is not the solution to both the problems of children being involved in and children being used for criminal activities. This proposed measure is anti-poor, anti-human rights, and anti-children. Apart from being plainly absurd, this measure is also unfounded, misguided, and uncalled for. Data from the Philippine National Police show that only 1.72% of reported crimes are committed by children. Furthermore, subjecting these children to the country’s flawed justice system and to the arduous judicial process is utterly inhumane and would traumatize them for the rest of their lives. These children are already victims of the harsh environment and society that they live in. Approving this proposed law will just further victimize them as they would be dehumanized and stigmatized, impeding their rights to survival and development opportunities.

A great deal of studies have shown that criminalizing children leads to recidivism. Detention and/or incarceration of children have also been linked to adverse effects on a child’s mental, physical and emotional development, as they are likely to be subjected to discrimination and abuse while detained. Furthermore, jailing children deny them of opportunities for advancement through education, and future employment. The proposals to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility also ignore scientific evidence that a child’s brain is still structurally and functionally immature and reaches full maturity at the age of 25.

The Child Rights Network, together with other child’s rights advocacy groups, vehemently opposes the bill and reiterates its call to retain the current MACR. Rather than lowering it, the government should instead focus on strengthening the implementation of the JJWA and on improving the facilities for children in conflict with the law. CRN further believes that rehabilitation is still the more effective and sound solution to the increasing number of child offenders. Evidence shows that these measures are effective in restoring and reintegrating children to the community, as documented by child rights advocates.

CRN also calls on all legislators to address the root causes of the problem instead of targeting the children.

Finally, CRN enjoins everyone to remain vigilant with all the development in the proposed law and to strongly resist all attacks against the rights of the children.

Children are not criminals. The real criminals are those who use and exploit the children to engage in criminal activities. The real criminals are those in the government who blatantly disregard and step on the rights of children in exchange of political gains. These are the real criminals that should be punished and be put in jail.

#ChildrenNotCriminals
#NoToLoweringOfMACR
#Not9Not12

About Child Rights Network

Child Rights Network (CRN) is the largest alliance of organizations and agencies pushing for children’s rights legislation in the Philippines. CRN has a membership of 46 organizations across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

For more information: crnphilippines@gmail.com

UPDATE - LOWERING THE MINIMUM AGE OF CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY

September 2016
Heruntersetzung des MindestAlters -  bei Kriminellen Handlungen 
eine Attacke gegen die HUMAN RIGHTS!
Position Paper of the
PHILIPPINE JESUIT PRISON SERVICE FOUNDATION, INC.
on LOWERING THE MINIMUM AGE OF CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY

PHILIPPINE JESUIT PRISON SERVIC E
FOUNDATION, INC.
Ina ng A wa P a rish Com p ou n d, New Bili bid P riso n Rese rv ati on , Mu nti nlu pa Ci ty 17 76 , Philip pin es
Tel. (63 2) 710-1837 • Fax (63 2) 659-0513 •
Email: jesuitprisonservice@gmail.com
Many organizations and human rights advocates are once again challenged as the proposals to lower
the age of criminal responsibility is being considered in Congress. As of August 2016, constitutional
amendments to Republic Act No. 9344 have been filed lowering the minimum age of criminal
responsibility (MACR) from 15 years old to 9 years old.
We ask questions: Is this bill a reaction to criminal groups using children as their pawns in the enactment
of a crime? Is the bill to lower the age of criminal liability aimed at dissuading criminals to use children?
What is the purpose of this bill?
Lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility will have not deter criminal minds from using or
forcing children to do the criminal acts. Lowering the minimum age of criminal liability will not increase
security among citizens. Lowering the minimum age of criminal liability will just embolden or taunt
criminals as they do not have any concern for the innocent young minds.
Let us be aware that children as low as 9 years old as still being formed. They are still being taught
about what is right and wrong, about the complexity of society, about their rights and responsibilities.
Even though they are being taught, the fact is people use them for their innocence; the fact is the
children are being misguided and forced to do criminal things by people who should know better. Why
imprison the children? Prisons are not places for children. To lock them up in adult prisons is to
condemn them to torture, sexual violence and solitude. 1 What does this intend to do? Is it not our
responsibility as adults to form our children and not judge them, to love them and not to hate them, and
to care for them and not to penalize them?
As we can see clearly that the criminal justice system in the Philippines, characterized by very poor and
inadequate facilities, inhumane conditions, inefficient handling and resolution of cases, among others,
has often failed for adult offenders and more so for children who have come into conflict with the law
(CICL). These children, who are likely to have experienced abuse and neglect in their own homes and in
their immediate environments, are now forced into harsh and dehumanizing situations within the adult
criminal justice system that expose them to further abuse and tarnish any hope for them to be
reintegrated into their families and communities and become responsible and productive citizens. 2
Even before arrest (Amnesty 2003), children who come into conflict with the law tend to represent the
most disadvantaged and marginalized sectors of society. Many are fleeing difficult home situations,
often exacerbated by abuse and poverty and resulting in an interrupted education.
We need to stop making children criminals. We need to assert the rights of every human being below
the age of 18 years. Criminalizing children causes persisting harm not only to the overall development of
1 Child Rights International Network. (2012). Brazil: Proposal To Lower Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility Back in Congress. Retrieved from
https://www.crin.org/en/library/news-archive/brazil-proposal-lower-minimum-age-criminal-responsibility-back-congresss
2 Save the Children UK. (2004). Breaking Rules: Children in Conflict with the Law and the Juvenile Justice Process, The Experience in the Philippines
(2004), retrieved from http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/sites/default/files/documents/3235.pdf
PHILIPPINE JESUIT PRISON SERVIC E
FOUNDATION, INC.
Ina ng A wa P a rish Com p ou n d, New Bili bid P riso n Rese rv ati on , Mu nti nlu pa Ci ty 17 76 , Philip pin es
Tel. (63 2) 710-1837 • Fax (63 2) 659-0513 •
Email: jesuitprisonservice@gmail.com • Website: www.jesuitprisonservice.org
DSWD- NCR RL 000094-2012 • SEC Reg. No. CN200718546 • TIN No. 006-927-154-000
many children but also of human societies. It encourages a spiral downwards by children into further
offending and increasingly violent offending which often extends into adulthood. It prevents societies
moving on by upholding lingering beliefs in original sin and the need to beat the devil out of children.3
The Philippine Jesuit Prison Service Foundation, Inc. (PJPSFI) opposes the proposal to lowering the
MACR. Instead, we strongly call for the strengthening the 4pillars of justice system and develop support
systems for children that will facilitate the reintegration of former CICL and prevention of offending or
re-offending.
This comes in the form of peer support groups—former CICL trained to become peer facilitators who
can reach out to other children at risk of offending in the communities. Adult volunteers from the
different communities provide the children with another level of support—monitoring of the progress of
former CICL who have been reintegrated into their families and communities, and awareness-raising
activities among parents and other significant adults on child rights and children’s justice issues.
Children’s justice committees composed of barangay officials, members of the lupong tagapamayapa
(village justice committee), community volunteers and other stakeholders conduct mediation sessions
and diversion.
In all decisions taken within the context of the administration of juvenile justice, the best interests of the
child should be a primary consideration. Children differ from adults in their physical and psychological
development, and their emotional and educational needs. Such differences constitute the basis for the
lesser culpability of children in conflict with the law. These and other differences are the reasons for a
separate juvenile justice system and require a different treatment for children. The protection of the
best interests of the child means, for instance, that the traditional objectives of criminal justice, such as
repression/retribution, must give way to rehabilitation and restorative justice objectives in dealing with
child offenders. This can be done in concert with attention to effective public safety.5
3 Child Rights International Network. Making Children Criminals: https://www.crin.org/en/docs/Stop_Making_Children_Criminals.pdf
4 Save the Children UK. (2004). Breaking Rules: Children in Conflict with the Law and the Juvenile Justice Process, The Experience in the Philippines
(2004), retrieved from http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/sites/default/files/documents/3235.pdf
5
Committee on the Rights, General Comment No. 10, Children’s Rights in Juvenile Justice, 2007, para. 10