Monitoring government commitment to administration of juvenile justice
International project in Sierra Leone
Country: Sierra Leone
Contact person: Anne Bay Paludan
Partner: Prison Watch Sierra Leone (PW-SL)
Project description: The objective of the project
"Monitoring government commitment to administration of juvenile
justice in Sierra Leone" is to contribute to national judicial
reforms, particularly within the juvenile justice system. The
employees on this project investigate state participation in
torture and examine how children's and young people's rights are
administered at detention centres. The cooperation between
DIGNITY and PW-SL focuses particularly on the development of a
systematic method of documentation.
Partner presentation: The main focus of Prison
Watch Sierra Leone (PW-SL) is the investigation of human rights
infringements. Since 1996 the organisation has been involved in the
monitoring of detention centres. Such centres include prisons,
police stations and juvenile prisons. Volunteers carry out the work
of monitoring the detention centres for the organisation. Over the
years PW-SL's interventions have produced important results in the
form of reporting of human rights infringements, illegal detention
and occurrence of torture and inhuman treatment.
Context: Every day children in Sierra Leone get
caught in the judicial system. They are arrested and detained by
the police, brought before a judge and sent either to prison or to
a youth centre. Even though there are international, regional and
national rules for how to treat young people in the judicial
system, these rules are often ignored and the rights of the young
people are infringed.