– as teen relives horrors of juvenile detention

THE provision of legal aid to children in Guyana must and will become a reality through the progression of the Juvenile Justice Bill, which will work in the interest of hundreds of youngsters in financially challenged situations.

This is according to Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan who made these comments on Thursday at a press conference held at the Public Security Ministry.
Present at the briefing was 19-year-old Eon Henry who, for almost seven years, was in State detention on remand, after being charged with murder back in 2011.
Just recently, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ‘nol prossed’ the matter, and Henry, who was 13 when incarcerated, was released for want of substantial evidence.

Invited to tell his story, Henry told the media that while at the Sophia Juvenile Holding Centre, he endured prolonged “horrible experiences” simply because he hadn’t the finances to pay for legal representation.

SHATTERED DREAMS
“During this process, I was denied my right to an education. My dreams have been snatched away from me; my whole future has been jeopardised by the system,” the youngster told reporters at the press conference.
Present, too, was Rights of the Child Commission (RCC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Amar Panday who referred to the incident as “a gross violation of all the international minimum standards for prisoners on remand.”
The RCC met Henry in 2015 after commencing youth empowerment and personal development sessions with residents of the Juvenile Holding Centre.
During that period, Panday says that over 95 per cent of the children there were denied their right to legal representation.
Faced with this dilemma, Panday said the RCC approached the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) through which funding was provided to the Guyana Legal Aid Clinic (GLAC) commencing legal representation for several children.
Many of these youngsters were housed at the Sophia Centre, the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) and the New Amsterdam and Timehri Prisons.

TIMELY INTERVENTION
“Had it not been for that diagnosis and the intervention of UNICEF and the Guyana Legal Aid Clinic,” Panday said, “this gentleman could still have been in State dentition, because the matter would still have been locked away from the attention of the key stakeholders.”
He then expressed his eagerness for the realisation of the Juvenile Justice Bill, which was passed last month in the National Assembly after being piloted by Minister Ramjattan.
Addressing the matter, Minister Ramjattan said that though stagnant for many years, the Bill resumed progress with the change of government, and will soon become an Act, once approved by President David Granger.
The Bill, the minister said, seeks to amend and consolidate the law in relation to criminal justice for juveniles and general reforms of the local juvenile justice system by providing for the custody, education and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders.
He said that it is due to cases such as Henry’s that work is being done to fast-track the reality of the bill to address these matters which pose major challenges to the judiciary system.

“Poverty, impoverishment or because of a lack of the resources, coming from an interior area [and] not knowing the people, can make long detention periods for young kids,” Minister Ramjattan said, adding:
“That is why, to a large extent, we are, with this new Juvenile Justice Bill, seeking to repeal that kind of regime from our legal system.”

RIGHT TO COUNSEL
Noting that young people deserve a right to counsel and legal aid, he said what the Bill is also about is raising the age of criminal responsibility from ten to 14.
Said he: “I do not want a jail-house nation for our children, and that is why we’re going to abolish a number of offences [such as] wandering, truancy and runaways, minor offences all because of your socio-economic circumstance.”

Plans are also in train, he said, to build half-way houses, employ professional staff, and provide free legal aid for those in need.

He, however, pointed out that all these developments will come at a price, which is why the government has begun right-sizing in areas such as the sugar industry to cater for the needs of other affected sectors.

“We are on the cusp of another revenue stream in a couple of years; that is important, but when you have a number of the sectors not doing as well, you’re going to have all of these being pushed back to the back burner,” Minister Ramjattan said.
“That is why we have to make strong decisions to right-size our sugar industry so that we can release some more funding for things like this,” he added.
Making brief remarks, too, was UNICEF Representative, Sylvie Fouet who agreed with previous remarks, stating that detention should be the last resort, which is why the Juvenile Justice Bill is very important.

The Bill’s passage repeals the archaic Juvenile Offenders Act of 1931, and will now allow the country to conform to several international conventions to which it is a signatory.