‘Street children should be educated, not jailed’

MANILA, Philippines -  Children, especially those living on the streets, must be educated and not imprisoned at a very young age if the government wants them to become responsible individuals and avoid committing crimes.

There must also be character development, and not just education, among young people in general to keep them away from conflict and corruption.

Gerney Flores, social worker at street education group Child Hope Philippines, said a stricter measure against children in conflict with the law (CICL), particularly the lowering of the minimum age of criminal responsibility, would not help save them from involvement in crimes.

“We need to teach them about their rights and nurture them,” she told The STAR in Filipino.

Child Hope Philippines organizes street education and takes in its care street children around Metro Manila, and would eventually establish links with other groups for the children’s education to be sponsored.

Flores enumerated the three kinds of street children: children of street families or those whose families are also living on the streets; community-based street children or those who go home to their families or communities but spend most of their time on the streets; and street-based children or those who live on the streets.

“Of these three types, we consider only five percent of those we take care of as CICL,” she said.

Based on her experience, Flores said social workers would often find it difficult to make CICL admit the crimes they committed, which include theft, rape and even murder.

“We observed that most of them were following orders from someone older than them, hence they are vulnerable to outside influence and eventually abuse,” she said.

Some of the CICL would be detained for a maximum of five days.

Flores added social workers would call on a dialogue with law enforcers, especially the police, to discuss how CICL should be treated once arrested.

They would stress that CICL should not be put inside a cell as risk of abuse becomes more apparent, she said.

“They know that there are laws protecting children from police detention,” Flores noted, referring to Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006. “But oftentimes, they would just nod at us.”

“Law enforcers must understand that these children need to survive …that is why they need to be educated,” she said.

Child Hope, along with other children’s groups, brought around a hundred children at the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) along Taft Avenue in Manila yesterday to join a prayer vigil that would call on opposition to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility.

Rev. Dionisio Cabillas of the IFI called on legislators to create laws that would protect, not punish, children.

He stressed that children are still innocent and could be taught to avoid doing something wrong.

Eule Rico Bonganay, spokesman for the Unity of Child Rights Advocates against Inhumane Treatment and Neglect of Children (UNCHAIN Children), also stressed “the proposal to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility creates an even stronger statement that the government is more than willing to completely abandon its responsibility to Filipino children, making them outcasts left to fend for themselves and with no chance of redemption.

“We fear that such move increases the vulnerability of children, as young as nine, to abuse since they would permanently be under the watch of law enforcers,” Bonganay said.

Meanwhile, ending criminality should not mean ending the lives of children and their families, said Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns secretary-general Kharlo Felipe Manano.

He called on lawmakers not to play blind to the root cause of why Filipino children and youth are forced into anti-social and criminal activities.

“As long as a majority of Filipino families are mired in poverty due to lack of decent jobs, low wages and landlessness, acts of criminality, whether by adults or children, will continue to proliferate,” Manano said.

Lawmakers filed a bill that would lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 15 years old as provided by RA 9344 to nine years old. The proposal said “while the iCharacter-building

Meanwhile, James Flynn, president of the Global Peace Foundation, said knowledge building is not enough in preparing the youth to become responsible people, but character development.

“The best way to equip and empower young people is through education, but knowledge is not enough. You have to have character. You have to have a mindset, a skills set and also build a character base that allows you to be yourself, to have confidence and live your life with integrity,” Flynn said.

Flynn was one of the organizers of the Global Youth Summit at the Mall of Asia Arena that aims to engage and inspire future world leaders by using their talents, knowledge and networks to address the most urgent issues of today.

The year’s Global Youth Summit, co-organized by SM Cares, gathered more than 10,000 youths from 35 countries and 185 universities from around the world.

– With Robertzon Ramirez