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Spotlight:
World Congress on Justice for Children
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Over 850 experts and young people came together in Paris at the World Congress on Justice for Children, co-organised by PRI's office in the Middle East and North Africa. Highlights included the workshop Children in a war zone: the case of Yemen, in which experts held important discussions on protecting children's rights. In addition, more than 120 participants took part in the workshop Ending Violent Extremism: Lessons learned from Algeria, organised by PRI and supported by the UK Embassy in Algeria. The Congress was a great success, with representatives of 97 countries exchanging good policy and practice and discussing solutions to key challenges. A key theme of the Congress was keeping children at the heart of the criminal justice system so that their voices can be heard; young people actively participated in the Congress, contributing their views and experience. The final declaration from the conference will be published soon.
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Event: UK Launch of Global Prison Trends 2018
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Resource: ICRC publications on ageing and prison planning
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Blog: Life imprisonment: A practice in desperate need of reform
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Despite the rising number of people given life sentences, the last international assessment of the use and implementation of life imprisonment was over 20 years ago. At the 2018 UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Olivia Rope, PRI's Policy and Programme Manager, called on the UN and its member states to support a review and rethink of life imprisonment. PRI's new blog discusses the current crisis, its human rights ramifications and PRI's recommendations for change made in its new policy briefing, jointly published with the University of Nottingham last month.
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Resource: Additional Factsheet for Detention Monitoring Tool
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Deaths and serious injuries of persons in custody, disappearances of individuals, and allegations or indications of torture and other forms of ill-treatment are all incidents that could constitute a violation of fundamental human rights. This Factsheet from PRI and the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) provides important guidance for detention monitoring bodies on assessing whether prison authorities have fulfilled all their obligations in cases of serious incidents. It forms part of the existing Detention Monitoring Tool.
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News: Burkina Faso abolishes the death penalty
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Another country joined the abolitionist movement this month when Burkina Faso's parliament adopted a new Criminal Code abolishing the death penalty. The last known execution in the country was in 1988, but this new legislation removes the death penalty from the possible list of sentences in Burkina Faso. Justice Minister, Rene Bagoro, commented that the new code will pave the way for 'more credible, equitable, accessible and effective justice in the application of criminal law'.
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News: Penitentiary System Reform project in Yemen
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As part of a Penitentiary System Reform project in Yemen, PRI's Middle East and North Africa Office launched an electronic filing management system at the Sanaa Juvenile Care Centre. The Director of the Centre, Mohammed Alarafy, praised the system for enabling 'the quick extraction of reports, and better access to well organised information'. The project also resulted in the renovation of the Al Amal Center (Care Center for Girls) in Sanaa, with a solar power system, new water tanks and an iron fence installed. Repainting and repairing of the kitchen, bathroom and other facilities also took place.
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