Philippines: Continuing Child Detention with Adults in Police Lockups, Arbitrary Detention of “Rescued” Street Children, and Extrajudicial Execution of Children Accused of Violating the Law

Abstract

Authored on behalf of the Coalition to Stop Child Detention through Restorative Justice, this shadow human rights report gives recommendations to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child on how to curb the nefarious practice by the Philippine government of jailing children with adult crime suspects and the rounding up of street children, as well as steps to stop extrajudicial executions. Submitted to the Committee on the occasion of its 52nd Sessions, from 14 September - 2 October 2009, in Geneva, Switzerland, this report clarifies the core issues besetting children accused of violating the law (CAVL). It discusses the various types and categories of CAVL as well as the procedures and processes they go through upon contact with officers of the Philippine National Police and subjection to the criminal justice system.