Pulse.ng : KDSG, UNICEF train lawyers, others on handling children in contact with law

By Sani Idris

The Kaduna State Government (KDSG), in collaboration with UNICEF and the European Union (EU), has trained lawyers and other stakeholders in the legal system on representing children in contact or in conflict with the law.

At the opening of the two-day training on Friday in Kaduna, UNICEF’s Child Protection Specialist, Dr. Wilfred Mamah, said the training was to bring lawyers and other stakeholders to form a group to be known as the ‘multi-tier legal aid group’.

He said UNICEF is collaborating with the Kaduna Ministry of Justice, to train the group on the elementary parts of the Child Welfare and Protection Law so that children could get representation by lawyers when they come in conflict or contact with the law.

Mamah, however, lamented that representation of children by lawyers is not easy because they are not paid, making it difficult for children to get legal representation.

He, therefore, said UNICEF felt the need to train lawyers who are passionate about justice for children on the rudiments of the law and to create a forum that would enable them represent the children either in conflict or contact with the law.

Describing the Child Welfare and Protection Law as special, Mamah said ithe subject was not taught in any law school.

He said it was a new law and is five years old in Kaduna state.

“Lawyers need to understand the underlying philosophy of care inherent in the law. They need to know that even when children commit offences they need care/therapy and not punishment.

“No matter how serious their offence is, the lawyers need to apply the principles of the best interest of the child and ask the underlying questions of why they committed the offence, where were his/her parents and what is needed to be done to recapture the child.

“There are children who are also victims of abuses especially rape whose parents are shut down by the perpetrators because of their influence or wealth, we want the lawyers to also stand up for such families and ensure justice,” he said.

Speaking further, Mamah said such type of children representation is not for profit making, but probono or done for the society where the need for the group of lawyers arose to stand for the children.

He lamented that a lot of children are in prison and other institutions of punishment where the law says they should not be.

“The law said detention should be a measure of last resort. They are therefore in prison because they don’t have anybody to stand for them. We are hopeful that this training will change the narrative and on our part we will support them financially in doing that,” he said.

Earlier, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Kaduna, Sule Shuaibu, said that at the Federal level, the child rights acts exist and were domesticated in all the states of the Federation.

He said the Childs Right Act in Kaduna was domesticated after a long process and signed as a law with the name Child Welfare and Protection Law with the same content as the Federal version of the law

Sule added that, importantly, courts were designated to take care of offences committed by children in Kaduna state.

He, therefore, said the training was important to those lawyers who are expected to take part in either prosecution or defence of cases involving children.

Speaking further, the Commissioner said “Children are always children, when it comes to offences they commit, the law always want to give them protection because of their state of mind, level, age and of course what matters in crime is the intent.

“In most situations, the children maybe engaged in crime or offences without actually knowing the intent or result of what ever they committed will result in.

“This is where the childs welfare and protection law comes in to give them a kind of protection in such a way that even if they have to go through the process of the law, the end result will be to get them reformed and back into the society better than they were at time the offences were committed,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the participants cut across lawyers from the ministry of justice, private practice, social workers from the Ministry of Human Services and Social Development, among others. (NAN)