The Rights of Juveniles in Custody in Afghanistan

Written by: Naqib Ahmad Azizi

If an aged person commits a crime, and the judicial authority proves him/her guilty, the related organs would send him/her to the jail. If a juvenile commits a crime, he/she would be sent to the Juvenile Rehabilitation Center(JRC). If these juveniles do not know about their rights in the custody, they might face some problems.

The writer/producer AEPO has talked to some juveniles in a JRC in Kabul city.

A boy says: when I came here to JRC, I was afraid that they would beat me and might not give me foods.

A girl says that she was facing the same problems. She says that at the beginning, she was afraid that someone might beat her, therefore she was not talking to any girl in the JRC.

A boy says that as everything was new to him, he faced a psychological problem there in JRC.

Mohammad Fayaz Amini, the director of JRC, Badam Bagh branch, Kabul city says: as some boys in JRC are addicted, they want drugs, do not eat or drink and do not take part in our educational programs. They also face us with some problems.

Some of these juveniles know about their rights in JRC.

A boy says that he performs five times prayers without any restriction, goes regularly to exercise and learns beads weaving in the JRC.

A girl says: we could visit our family members once a week and we could choose a lawyer to defend our case.

 Another boy says that the authorities of the JRC give them all legal rights.

Mohammad Fayaz Amini says: the juveniles in custody could take benefit of all rights which the laws and regulations of the country give to other citizens but only some restrictions are applied to their freedom. Among these rights are access to judicial services, health care, education and others.

A number of Juveniles are kept in JRC who break the rules and they would be kept as long as they rehabilitate.