Police move to improve juvenile justice system

The Uganda Police Force (UPF) has initiated a review of its Children Diversion Guidelines as part of efforts to improve the juvenile justice system.

The Children Diversion Guidelines act as a criterion to guide police officers on how to handle children in conflict with the law who commit petty offences. These guidelines provide parameters for the exercise of discretion by police officers in accordance with section 89 (1) of the Children Act.

The review, according to senior UPF commissioner Dr John Kamaya, the move will also ensure that the rights and welfare of children in conflict with the law are upheld and put in the right correctional facilities rather than being imprisoned which makes them become criminals.

Kyamya, who is in charge of curriculum and doctrine development in the force, explained that the initial principles of 2014 comprised short timeframes and were outdated after 10 years but under the review of the Police’s curriculum, this would be given attention and more time as well.

“The Uganda police curriculum, which is our living document, is outdated with small timeframes but under the review, we are giving it a longer time and new principles whereby children officers from training schools come out aware that children must be treated differently from adults,” he said.

Kamya explained that in 2018, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) came on board to support them in reviewing the guidelines which he said were endorsed by then Inspector General of Police Martins Okoth Ochola.

Officiating at the opening of a two-day training on the application of children diversion guidelines and data collection tools targeting child and family protection officers (CFPOs) and CIDs at the Civil Service college in Jinja city on Friday, December 6, 2024, Kamya said 90% of their officers were adamant with the children diversion guidelines.

Deborah Gasana, a child protection officer with UNICEF and senior UPF commissioner Dr John Kamaya having a light moment at the training of child and family protection officers and CIDs in Jinja city on Friday.

The participants were drawn from Busoga sub-region and Buikwe district in Baganda.

Kamaya said the review was driven by concerns over the rising number of children entering the criminal justice system and the need for a more rehabilitative approach to dealing with juvenile offenders other than being detained in police cells and imprisoned.

The new guidelines would bring every officer on board including new Police constables and cadets aimed at improving children treatment and reduction of criminalities among these categories.

“If the justice system doesn’t handle them as children then we are going to have more crimes. In society, they should be counselled, rehabilitated through community services with the help of area leaders,” he said.

According to the law, children from the age of 12 years are not supposed to face justice but instead to be taken to rehabilitation homes and reformatory schools which was not the case.

Lack of rehabilitation homes

Kamya said it was not the role of the Police to accommodate children offenders and urged local governments in every district and cities to work closely with the gender ministry to construct rehabilitation and reformatory homes to cater for children found in conflict with the law instead of being arrested and imprisoned.

Kamya noted that the lack of such facilities makes justice for children delayed.

If put in place, he said these facilities would also save the Government from incurring costs of driving children to Kampiligisa for rehabilitation.

“If a child steals a sugarcane of sh1,000 they are taken to Kampiligisa Children's Home we spend millions on their rehabilitation coupled with change of environment which affects their development,” he said.

Deborah Gasana, a child protection officer with UNICEF, decried the lack of knowledge about Children Diversion Guidelines among stakeholders in the chain of implementing it.

She said Police officers were critical stakeholders in promoting children's rights.

Gasana cited poor parenting and lack of education as some of the causes leading children onto the streets.

Charles Nsaba, the Kiira region Police commander said the training aimed at addressing child diversion, data application, children’s rights and justice among participants.