Several civil organizations have banded together to voice concern over government plans to institutionalize and rehabilitate children who commit crimes.
This comes in light of a serious bullying incident that emerged from Alifu Alifu Rasdhoo last week where two boys (aged below 15) physically and verbally abused another minor in the toilet of a mosque on the island during Tarawih prayers.
The attack, which was caught on camera, has propelled the government to consider lowering the age of criminal liability from 15 years to 12 years. Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusan has said that the government would be proposing the appropriate changes to the law to bring about these changes.
In a joint statement by Transparency Maldives, Uthema, Advocating for the Rights of Children (ARC), Family Legal Clinic, and Hope for Women voiced deep concern about the incident reported from Rasdhoo.
The Organizations called for proper psychosocial support for the victim of the incident and to prevent further acts that would harm the dignity of the child.
They also said that they believe that it is important to work together with the community to find solutions or justice to such issues.
The organizations welcomed the decision of the relevant agencies to work together to prevent such acts from happening or do a lot of prevention work but expressed concern over calls to detain or institutionalize minors involved in such cases.
The statement also noted that institutionalizing causes irreparable psychological damage and exclusion from society. It also said that institutionalizing is not achieving the desired results due to a lack of human and infrastructure resources, budget, and technical expertise.
They also said that the impact of lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 12 years should be discussed with the community and a decision that would protect the basic rights of children and reintegrate these children into society is the best way to address the real issue.
