ZAMBIA SHOULD INVEST IN THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM

One of the special objectives that the Zambian National Child policy 2015 in safeguarding child protection rights is to promote and ensure a child-friendly justice system. In Zambia, the government has established the juvenile justice act that elaborates the legal guidelines with regards to children who are found in conflict with the law. According to the 2010 Zambia Human Rights Commission Annual Report, most police stations and prisons lack separate holding facilities for children who come into contact and are in conflict with the law resulting in child offenders being mixed with adults.

Civil Society organizations have laboured tirelessly trying their level best to support children in the justice system. The call to have trained staff in the administration of juvenile justice should be taken into consideration.

As a country, we have had poor record-keeping of child cases. We can take advantage of the birth registration of children. The Electronic style of storing data will validate the information about the children who are in the prisons.

The demand of building separate spaces for children will enhance the psychosocial counselling among the children who need to be given proper mentorship in their journey of life. They are not supposed to undergo the suffering the discrimination which they encounter in society.