A law to protect children’s rights and came into force yesterday.
Six months after its issuance and the completion of legislative, technical and procedural requirements for its implementation, the Law on Restorative Justice for Children and Their Protection from Maltreatment has come into effect, marking an outstanding milestone in the justice system in Bahrain.
It represents the culmination of the leadership’s efforts to uphold public rights and freedoms under the wise and humanitarian approach of His Majesty King Hamad.
A new success story in the human rights and development process under the leadership of His Majesty and the support of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, the law is the fruitful outcome of a civilised intellectual vision that crowns the kingdom’s legislative and institutional efforts to care for children and respect their rights in the present and the future, in accordance with the best international standards.
It also reflects the close co-operation between the executive and legislative branches, the Supreme Judicial Council, the Public Prosecution, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the United Kingdom, civil society and the National Institution for Human Rights.
The Restorative Justice Law uses restorative processes and seeks to achieve outcomes that promote the child’s rehabilitation and reintegration, as promoted by the UN.
It is a qualitative addition to modern criminal legislation that gives the child’s best interests priority in all judgments, decisions and procedures, regardless of the party that issues them or practices them.
It also provides firm guarantees to protect children’s rights, shields them from maltreatment, exploitation, or moral and physical neglect and affords them physical, emotional, health, educational and social care, in accordance with international human rights, especially the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, that Bahrain acceded to in 1991.
The attorney general has stressed that the law stipulates raising the criminal responsibility age to 18, involving children in national rehabilitation and educational programmes and subjecting them to measures aimed at reforming their conduct and reintegrating them into their families and society.
The law also approves the special treatment of delinquent children aged between 15 and 18, while ensuring their rights to privacy, to be heard, to have their demands understood, to have access to legal and judicial assistance and legal representation, as well as to health and social assistance.
The law also regulates the aspects of co-operation and co-ordination between the authorities and the parties concerned, and relies on studies of specialised experts, to ensure that verdicts and orders related to children are based on a comprehensive and clear vision of their social, health and psychological conditions, the attorney general said.
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