SOCIETY AS LAWBREAKER

There are crimes which are committed by adults and crimes which are committed by children.  There is a legal term "juvenile delinquent." Should we really hold a child accountable for a crime or should we adopt a special approach to children's problems?  In Western countries, or rather, in the rest of the world, the answers to these questions were found long ago in the form of juvenile justice.  The gist of the idea is the realization that a crime committed by a child is the consequence of an adult's actions. And if we rephrase the expression "we are what we eat," we should conclude that children's actions are consequences of adults' actions. And the logical conclusion is that a criminal act perpetrated by a child should result in punishment, not for the "juvenile delinquent," but for the society in which he lives.

Luckily, the democratic development of Azerbaijan has led to the realization that the issue of criminal children and the institutions which ensure their re-socialization should be resolved in the form of juvenile justice. Our people began to understand that children should be within the jurisdiction of "children's" justice, with government-authorized judges and courts, not of criminal justice. The conference, 'Reforms to the Juvenile Justice System in Azerbaijan in 2006-2008', which was held in Baku upon the initiative of UNICEF's Baku office confirmed that. Let us note that the main role of juvenile justice is to promote the socialization of underage offenders and to ensure that they become law-abiding citizens in the future. In this case the state acts as custodian of the juveniles, protecting them from dangerous behaviour and harmful influences.

Work has begun

It was noted at the conference that work to introduce and promote juvenile justice has been conducted in Azerbaijan for three years now, both by government bodies and by international and non-governmental organizations. But the penal settlements for juveniles are still taking in underage convicts and the conditions in which they are kept leave much to be desired. This proves that we still do not have properly functioning and systematic cooperation between all the agencies. This is why, in order to extend the activity of those government bodies responsible for working with juvenile offenders and to improve juvenile justice law, the international and non-governmental organizations combined, with help from the appropriate government bodies, to pave the way for the development of juvenile justice in Azerbaijan. Nabil Saidov, chairman of the Azerbaijani NGO Alliance for Childrens' Rights, said that the introduction and development of a juvenile justice system in our country was recommended as early as 1997 by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Back then, the first report by the Azerbaijani Government on the situation of children in the country was discussed. "From 1997, the government began to take measures in this direction but, for many objective and subjective reasons, the work has never become full-scale. Back then, there were no government, non-government or international programmes focusing on these issues, nor any specialist groups," he said.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there are about 4,500 juvenile delinquents in Azerbaijan, in addition to those who have passed through the system of the Commission for Juvenile Crime. Sixty registered children are currently inmates of a penal settlement for juveniles and 30 to 40 children are awaiting verdicts at pre-trial detention centres. There are about 100 children at one of the custody centres and about 30 children in another. There are no accurate data today on the number of underage offenders serving their term or awaiting sentence. It is also not known what mistakes government bodies make when working with these children. To this day there are no specialized penal settlements for girls in our country. This is a major problem because, at present, they are kept at a correctional work facility with women. This prevents them from completing their education. There are several girls serving their terms at the facility now. There is no information on the number of girls being held at pre-trial centres.

Currently, all these problems are dealt with by the judiciary system, prosecutor's offices, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Education (specialized educational institutions for children who commit minor crimes), the penitentiary system (penal settlements for children) and commissions for juvenile delinquency. All these organizations would benefit from further reforms which should be conducted in consideration of Azerbaijan's international obligations.

Deputy Internal Affairs Minister Asqar Alakbarov noted that the Azerbaijani Government is doing its best to ensure compliance of the juvenile justice system with international standards.

There is a workgroup....

A workgroup, consisting of representatives of the government bodies and international and non-governmental organizations which are involved in reforms to the country's juvenile justice system, was created in line with a decision reached at the conference. The creation of the workgroup for reforms to the juvenile justice system was initiated by UNICEF's Baku office. Members of the group will monitor the work carried out in the field of juvenile justice, summarize the results of that work, and coordinate the activities of government, non-government and international organizations. The main goal in setting up the workgroup was the establishment and improvement of the juvenile justice system in Azerbaijan to meet international legal standards.

"The OSCE will continue to provide moral and material support for the reforms of the juvenile justice system in Azerbaijan," said Jose-Luis Herrero, head of the OSCE office in Baku.

He added that Azerbaijan should continue to work towards the creation of a network of rehabilitation centres for children who commit crimes. In addition, there is a need to create children's legal clinics in the country, one of which was created in Azerbaijan on 15 September 2007 by the ombudsman's office, the Baku offices of UNICEF and OSCE, the British Embassy, the NGO Alliance for Children's Rights and the public association, Rule-of-Law. The clinic organizes events to promote children's rights and raise public awareness in this field, it creates an environment for cooperation between lawyers specializing in juvenile law, provides legal support to children, organizes the legal defence of children's interests in courts and so on.

"Of course, this is not our only recommendation in this sphere. I think that the operation of children's clinics will act as an incentive to create a firmer basis for the protection of children's rights in Azerbaijan's legal system and the involvement of the bar in these issues. We very much hope that juvenile courts in Azerbaijan will start to function within the framework of ongoing reform, and that the pre-trial centres in the penitentiary system will create special juvenile establishments. We must understand that crimes committed by children are not simply illegal acts by a particular child, but also a result of the social system of the given country and upbringing. This is why the adults who created these systems should also be responsible for the children's actions.  We must understand that there is a huge difference between the justice and juvenile justice systems. I think that Azerbaijan has already realized this. I want to note that the work done in this area has been successful, but I hope that even greater importance will be attached to juvenile justice in Azerbaijan," OSCE mission head in Azerbaijan, Jose-Luis Herrero, concluded.

It is worth noting in conclusion that research by US experts shows that 60% of juvenile delinquents who have been imprisoned commit crimes again after they served their term, compared to only 17% of those sentenced by courts to alternative methods of punishment. Most countries of the world have decided that the most effective punishment is to give children the opportunity to correct their mistakes and to remain normal members of society.